| Chapter Twenty-Two: Red Climate The day had stopped being humdrum for Caligula around six in the evening, around the time that most of the intelligence department, except for the operators of special projects going on at night, called it quits. It could be argued that during the days before a major military operation things were hardly routine, but this was not necessarily so for the Chief of Intelligence. He had a lot more to worry about as far as intelligence gathering and report filing, but even that got regular after a while, and the days went by in the same repetitive, if not hectic, way. He’d been in his office closing up for the night when Kevin Seitz had entered unannounced, which was something one rarely did to their boss. He carried a relatively tiny patch of paperwork for what seemed to be so urgent a situation. Caligula hadn’t known then that most of the papers were merely passes to see department chiefs and a hastily handwritten scenario report usually filled out by officers returning from a mission. Commander Archer, ever the professional, had not gone straight to Signas with the information he possessed, something he would certainly have gotten away with under the circumstances, but instead had gone to Kevin Seitz, and from there to Caligula and finally to Signas, making the whole thing seem routine. Caligula would later appreciate this—Archer had stopped panic from arising sooner than it had to. “What’s up…?” he’d asked his protégé immediately. “You said you wanted a quote from Archer when he got back,” Seitz had explained dryly, handing out the papers. “You’re getting much more than that, though,” said Archer himself, walking in behind Seitz. Caligula had known right away that the papers he held in his hand were not meant to be read, at least not now. He was very curious, but did not question the look on Archer’s face, or the one on Seitz’s, for that matter. “Right,” he’d said as he snapped his briefcase shut and whisked his brown trench coat off the coat tree in the corner of his office. “Let’s go see the boss.” Signas, too, was adept at reading people’s faces, and when he received Archer’s file from Caligula he’d merely set it down on the table and seated himself. He motioned for his guests to do the same, and then Archer started talking. Precisely thirty minutes later the four Hunters had left Signas’ office with new tasks. Signas and Archer went to find Dr. Cain, while Caligula and Seitz had returned to their wing of the building and got to work on a very long list of chores. There was much to be confirmed, analyzed, and determined. Caligula had told Signas that he’d need at least an hour to get enough of the information that the Grand Commander wanted, but now that seemed like wishful thinking. It took the Invisible Men about two and a half hours to form a situation report and return it to Dr. Cain, who was busy calling together the Hunters who’d need to be in the know. About an hour before Caligula finished his work, Full Colonel Alan Kitao of the Megacity Army arrived at the Hunter Headquarters and met with Cain and Signas. The human was anxious to get down to business, and insisted that he had his own intelligence to rival anything Caligula could turn up, but Cain calmly instructed the colonel that this affair was stressful enough, and that the Hunters were not about to make it even worse by spreading misinformation through their ranks. They had to be sure about this. Hunters throughout the base noticed that one of the pricks from the Megacity Army had arrived, complete with his own protective detail, but most of them blew it off. It was wartime, or it soon would be, they reasoned. The guy was probably here to discuss arms shipments or engage in some more of that damned financial maneuvering—wining the Maverick Wars were not enough anymore: you had to win them without spending a lot of money. With any luck, some figured, this meeting might signify a concession by the government to let the Hunters go ahead and wipe Seraph Castle off the globe. They’d never know how right they’d been. ____________________ Zero tended to go to sleep later than most of the other Hunters, and tonight was no exception. He’d trained all day with his team, and was feeling rather beat. He rarely asked his soldiers to do something he wouldn’t do himself. Running, for a Reploid, was merely a way to get the Reploid into a status of higher alert, and so Zero opened every training session with a bit of running, but not a lot, since all you needed with a team fully composed of Reploids was about ten minutes to get them ready for what Zero called the “real work”. The real work involved fighting battles inside the Headquarters’ training room against computer-generated opponents in computer-generated environments. They’d been focusing more and more on infiltrations since, like X’s unit, Unit 0 was most likely to be sent to directly infiltrate Seraph Castle, rather than to lead any infantry movement. Zero did it with them, mostly to keep himself in practice. His soldiers were all in Unit 0 because they were born fighters. Therefore, they had absolutely no qualms about the increased training regimen, and in some cases found the training situations to be more fun than anything else their current lives had to offer. Zero wondered if that was because they enjoyed the thrill of combat, or just because it had been years since they had lost in a training situation. He’d been sitting on his bed, flipping through channels on his television set when X had let himself in. “Anything good on?” the azure Hunter asked casually. “Don’t you ever knock?” Zero replied, not unpleasantly. “What’s the fun of having a key if you still have to knock?” X was the only one, besides Signas and Zero himself, who had a key to Zero’s quarters, mostly because many of the missions undertaken by the combined forces of Unit 17 and Unit 0—and there were quite a lot of those—were planned in this room by the two commanders as they snacked on pizza. Sigma would have fallen over if he’d ever learned how casually people plotted his defeat. “Good point. Come on in, then, unless you have a special preference for my doorway.” “No can do,” X said, his eyes plastered on Zero’s television as he tried to figure out what the program was. “The boss is gathering all the major unit commanders and department chiefs in the conference chamber.” “Which boss?” Zero had queried. “Both of them.” “No shit…?” After blinking a few times, Zero had lurched off his bed and deactivated the television. He threw on the officer’s coat he never really used except for policy meetings, noticing that X was wearing his. What was this about? Fifteen minutes later he found out. The conference chamber was a large, rectangular room that sported soundproof walls and a very long table lining the center of the chamber. X and Zero took their seats near the head of the table, simply because that was where they usually sat. By and by others began to arrive. Most were the commanders of the larger Hunter units, but eventually all of the department chiefs besides Caligula were seated at the table with everyone else. Dr. Cain shuffled over to his seat at the head of the table, nodding to X and Zero as he did so. “We’re waiting on Caligula’s report,” the doctor explained. “It’ll be here shortly.” A human colonel who looked vaguely Oriental snorted slightly at that, Zero noticed. He sat below Cain, opposite Zero’s side of the table. Zero didn’t recognize the man himself, but he did recognize the garb he wore as belonging to the officer corps of the Megacity Army. The Megacity officers, as far as Zero was concerned, were a bunch of useless bureaucrats who couldn’t direct a campaign properly to save their lives. If another war between human nations ever broke out, Zero was certain that the Megacity System wouldn’t last too terribly long. Signas seated himself across from the colonel, next to X, who was next to Zero. The crimson Hunter acknowledged Signas with a nod, which was returned soberly. Whatever it was, Zero was sure that it was something big to require so large a gathering of Hunter bigwigs. Then again, Signas was new. The big Reploid had Zero’s utmost respect, but Signas simply didn’t have much real experience in commanding an army just yet. He might be getting worked up over something that wasn’t quite as fearsome as he made it out to be. Zion sat next to the human colonel, across from X. The Reploid seemed to be trying hard not to look to his right, lest he offend the human with his distasteful stare. It was briefly amusing how uncomfortable Zion was next to the colonel, Zero thought. But not very, he admitted, since he wouldn’t be acting much differently were he in Zion’s shoes. The two Hunters’ eyes met and they exchanged silent greetings, and even a brief smile, which was something Zero avoided in a meeting and something Zion avoided period, making it all the more notable. The two were linked by their pasts, and while Zero and Zion didn’t cross paths much anymore, the respect and camaraderie that the two survivors of the Yates Forest ambush shared hadn’t dwindled any over the years. Zion had distinguished himself as an infantry tactician during all four wars, and if anyone was going to be advising Signas about the move on Seraph Castle, Zero couldn’t think of a better candidate than his old comrade. There was an empty seat next to Zion, across from Zero. The Hunter figured that this one would be reserved for Caligula. Archer was in the chair next to Zero, but Zero didn’t offer any greeting. The alabaster Reploid seemed to be deep in thought. He also looked a bit older than the last time Zero had seen him, which was something he could never explain in Reploids. Archer was an old veteran from the early wars. He’d been a daredevil in X’s Unit 17 during the second and third uprisings, and shortly afterwards had been named the commander of Unit 5, a unit which drew in many new Hunters to mingle with more experienced soldiers, in theory producing soldiers who were young but more capable. Here, Archer had revealed his responsible side. He’d at one point cared very much about a particular Huntress—something he’d never told anyone before—who’d been misread by her commanding officer and sent into a situation she hadn’t been able to handle. After her death, Archer’s daredevil ways came to an end. He forced himself to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each and every soldier he commanded, fearing that if he didn’t he’d send them off to fates similar to the one that had awaited his girlfriend. As a result, Archer tended to get to know his soldiers on a personal basis, and while he generally kept his position as a commander intact, he took the loss of his soldiers rather hard. There wasn’t anything terribly wrong about this, but Zero worried that the Hunters might someday lose the competent commander that Archer was because he wouldn’t be able to handle a sudden decimation of his unit. His soldiering skills were still up to snuff, though, and if necessary his old daredevil tactics would come back into play. It was said that every jaw in Unit 5 would drop if they knew what their calm, composed commander could and would do when the odds were against them. Commander Mason of Unit 3 sat across from Archer. He and Zero exchanged a look of mutual confusion as Mason sat down. The two were an unlikely pair of friends. Zero tended to be a bit laid back with his men when the world was at peace, but Mason always followed the same strict training regiment. If anyone in the Hunter organization could pass as a drill sergeant, it was Mason. But he was effective, after all, and a good friend if he let you get to know him, which was not a privilege he often extended. Mason commanded a fairly large unit, which was probably why he was ahead of two department chairs in this particular mission. That meant that whatever was going on was more military than anything else. The two said department chiefs were Tiberius and Douglas, seated right across from each other. Tiberius acknowledged everyone in the room with his sweeping gaze alone. He was, to Zero, merely the chief medic. They had little to no communications with each other, since Zero didn’t know many of the medics, and dealt with Lifesaver when checking the status of his wounded team members. Douglas, on the other hand, was well known to Zero. He’d come aboard with Signas after a long stretch working for one of the production factories that supplied the Hunters. Douglas had met Signas when the Grand Commander was a fledgling Reploid assigned to evaluating new weapons sent to the Hunter army. The two proved to be quite a pair, and so when Signas was elevated to his current rank he’d brought Douglas right along with him, assigning him control of the jumbled Research and Development department. Because of Douglas’ organizational skills, the Hunters were now far more along in the technology department, and every Hunter who fought with an issued weapon was grateful for that fact. Zero didn’t see Douglas often, but he rather liked the no-bullshit approach that the mechanic used when dealing with anything. Below the two chiefs were the commanders of the more significant Hunter units. Next to Tiberius was James Taggart, the commander of the Hunter air force. Taggart, a human in his early 30s, was one of the most skillful jet fighter pilots in the world. Because of this, he overtly hated his rank. He was in charge of all of the aerial assets loyal to the Hunters, and therefore he rarely got to fly anything. He gave the orders and drafted the plans, but he was still too young a man to not resent his inability to do the job himself. Occasionally he would manipulate the system in order to get in on a mission, and during an uprising he refused to stay on the ground, but that still wasn’t enough for the man of the air. Taggart was very effective in his profession, much as he resented it, and there really was no better man to control the Hunter air force, which still wasn’t as large as most people would have liked it to be. Erich Zegmann, the other human commander present, was seated across from Commander Taggart. Zegmann was a soldier who’d lost most of his family to Mavericks early in life, and as a Hunter he had been brutally efficient. Some had feared that he’d become a machine hater, and fight Reploids indiscriminately, but Zegmann had proved to be more level headed than people gave him credit for. The commander was in charge of Unit 15, a team responsible for what the Hunters called “heavy ops”. If there was an explosion to cause, you left it to Zegmann. If ever there were a heavily fortified enemy encampment, Zegmann’s team would take it out. The commander kept mostly to himself, and Zero wouldn’t question that particular behavior. The crimson Hunter was well acquainted with the angst that had probably plagued Zegmann since the loss of his family. Commander Damia of the Unit 8 light infantry sat next to Commander Taggart, and was the only female present at the meeting. The Reploid had distinguished herself as both a spy and an effective guerilla combatant, making her the perfect choice for the leadership position at the head of the Hunter light infantry, which was composed mostly of scouts, spies, and in some cases assassins. Upon taking command, Damia had been worried that she would not be able to match the skills offered by her troops, but after Unit 8’s missions during the fourth uprising, there was not a single soldier in Unit 8 that questioned Damia’s abilities, and she had the full respect of each member of her small, subtle unit. This was fortunate, since as covert operatives they often had to function exceptionally well as a team. If anyone was going to covertly infiltrate Seraph Castle, Zero guessed, then Unit 8 would either be the infiltrating party or they would lead the way for whoever was going to do the job. They were all professionals, but their activities were rarely heard of—something they, as guerillas, took pride in. Fittingly, Damia and Caligula, the secrecy-obsessive Chief of Intelligence, got along rather well. Even though Cain had said that Caligula would be with them shortly, it took nearly thirty more minutes for the leader of the Invisible Men to take his seat across from Zero. Caligula was a career spook, having been involved in every uprising after the second. He’d made a name for himself by running agents inside the Maverick ranks and personally going in after them when things started looking bad. For this Zero respected him greatly, but despite that he didn’t really get along with the chief. Caligula was secretive and distrustful, and didn’t hang around unit commanders unless he had to. The soldiers and the spies were in different classes, and Caligula tended to think that his branch was more important, just as Zero and the other unit commanders thought otherwise. Even so, Caligula generally put aside his personal feelings when dealing with a crisis, and this prevented any kind of real hostility from brewing. The human colonel was overtly annoyed at Caligula’s tardiness. “Are you sure you don’t need any more time?” he said, quite sarcastically, when Caligula came to the table. “Yeah, I don’t much like you either,” the Chief of Intelligence responded unabashedly, momentarily shocking the colonel, who expected a more civilized response. Zero found himself approving the response. Dr. Cain, too, was slightly amused but didn’t think it was the time to start trouble. “If we may get down to business,” the old man said with a tone of command that was impossible to ignore. Caligula passed him a file full of papers and sat down across from Zero with his own much larger pile of images and reports. “Hunters,” Cain began soberly, “what you hear in this room does not leave it. You will not tell anyone—not your soldiers, not your friends, not even your mothers,” he added, with a look towards Taggart and Zegmann. “Eventually the time may come for others to know, but now is not that time. Now, I want everyone in this room to keep their heads. No matter what you may think, always keep in mind that it is not as bad as it sounds. Do you understand?” The rows of heads nodded in quite some confusion, and more than a little anticipation. “All right,” Cain nodded in turn and motioned to the colonel. “This is Colonel Kitao of the Megacity Army. He is here to help us decide on our course of action. You see, we have quite a situation on our hands.” “There’s no sense in beating around the bush,” Kitao took over, annoying Cain but not really caring. He produced a diagram of a missile from the file he’d brought with him and started it around the table. “This is a schematic for the SCBM 19-7, the Self Contained Ballistic Missile, otherwise known as the ‘Buzzbomb’. The United States army developed it before the advent of the Megacity System.” Kitao spoke slowly, as though he were addressing children. “The Buzzbomb was designed to pass as a regular missile during detonation, at least in the initial stages. The warhead used on the Buzzbombs was the miniature model used in conventional nuclear bombs—meaning, ones assembled on the ground and left in buildings, not attached onto missiles. These warheads had the power to create a nuclear blast that was confined to a rather small area, given the nature of the weapon. Everything within a radius of perhaps eight to ten city blocks from the detonation site would be instantly destroyed, meaning the United States could surgically remove any one area of a city that they wanted to without razing the entire city.” Kitao cleared his throat and tried to breeze past the next part. “When the Global Nuclear Reduction Treaty was signed, the USA failed to make quota for the amount of dismantled Buzzbombs it had, and so to cover it up they merely deactivated the warheads on the intact missiles and buried them in select locations around the country.” Kitao held up a picture of a landfill that most of the Hunters present recognized. “This is Megacity Landfill XRE, and it is one of the places where the Buzzbombs were hidden. And this,” he said while producing a recently snapped photo, “is a rather large hole, right where the missiles should be.” The gathered Hunters all reacted with stunned realization. Zero understood right away where this was going, and it served to totally drain him of energy. “Our Commander Archer,” Caligula broke in, earning a cold glance from Kitao, “was at the landfill several hours ago, where he met with a major in the Megacity Army. All of this was confirmed, as well as the probable identity of the thieves responsible for lifting the nukes.” “Probable…?” Commander Zegmann asked. “Well,” Caligula went on, not about to give the floor back to Kitao, “the nukes were smuggled out of the landfill by train. That train stopped at a certain station and unloaded its cargo, where a certain man took very good care of it until certain other people showed up on another train to collect it.” He glanced at X, Zero, and Zegmann. “I’m sure you understand.” “No way,” Zero breathed before he could stop himself. “Cartwright? That’s what the Mavericks were smuggling?” “Yep,” Caligula nodded. “Blackstar 5041 left the Steel Alley station with the Buzzbomb components aboard it, and the Mavericks made it back to base with all the cargo intact.” “Except for the box that X destroyed,” Zero piped up again, since X was too much in shock to speak for himself. “Wait a minute,” James Taggart said. “Just spit it out, Cal. You’re saying that the Mavericks have nukes?” “Yeah,” Signas spoke first. “He’s saying that the Mavericks have nukes.” None of them took that well. X went rather pale and stared through the table, his eyes as blank as his face. Zero crossed his arms and lowered his head, his mouth slightly ajar as he began to comprehend exactly what this meant. “Remember,” Cain said evenly, bringing them all out of their trances, “it’s not as bad as it seems. Did I not tell you forgetful folk that not five minutes ago?” “The doctor is correct,” Kitao said, regaining the floor. “The Buzzbombs that the Mavericks have were not just dumped into the earth. The warheads were disabled, though not removed, and even if the Mavericks were able to reactivate them the missiles themselves are old and outdated, and the skill needed to restore them is, well…unless Dr. Doppler is back in action, I doubt that anyone in the Maverick army is smart enough to fix these things.” “Still,” Zero persisted, “the possibility is still there.” It was as much a question as a statement. “Yes,” Kitao conceded reluctantly, “the possibility is still there.” “How in the hell,” blustered an angry Commander Damia, “did the Mavericks learn of these Buzzbomb things in the first place?” “That,” Signas said when no one could answer, “is not a question for the Hunter Corps to answer.” He didn’t look at Kitao, but only because he didn’t have to. The human colonel sighed. “We…we do not know. Whatever happened, that landfill was under our jurisdiction, so it’s our fault. The people who actually knew of the Buzzbombs are few and far between, and I know who most of them are. This data wasn’t even stored on our mainframes, so even a computer hacker couldn’t have gotten access to the knowledge.” “That would imply,” said Commander Zion, speaking for the first time at this meeting, “that there is a leak in your upper echelon.” He spoke evenly and didn’t avert his gaze from his folded hands, which rested atop the table. “Yes,” Kitao said at length. And I’m virtually positive I know who it was, he didn’t say. “It doesn’t make sense,” Douglas said. “The Megacity Army is human based, for the most part, especially the upper ranks. Why would one of them tell the Mavericks, who want to destroy all humans, about nuclear weapons?” “Money,” Kitao said with a detached shrug. “More than likely, if someone leaked the info, it wasn’t to the Mavericks. A more likely situation is that they sold the information to the Gold Serpent, and from there it was sold to the Mavericks.” Which was a lovely lie, he decided, especially since the man he suspected wasn’t human at all. “So now what…?” X said. He hadn’t said anything since the news had broken, and his face looked oddly—and unnervingly—peaceful. “The Buzzbombs are meant to take out specific areas of a city.” “Yeah,” Zero nodded, getting the picture. “Three guesses as to which area of Megacity 5 the Mavericks would like to neutralize.” “My God,” Taggart breathed. “An attack on the Headquarters now…this is the site where most of the worldwide Hunter artillery is stored. Our air force…our ride armor mechas…” “It goes a lot further than that,” Chief Mechanic Douglas added. “Put bluntly, people, if one of these Buzzbombs hits Hunter Headquarters it will be the end of the Hunter organization. The Mavericks will have free reign of Megacity 5. At that point,” he nodded towards Kitao, “it will be all up to the good people Colonel Kitao represents.” “I do not know if the Megacity Army has the training or the firepower to defeat the Maverick terrorists,” Kitao conceded. “Then,” Zion said coolly, “we must make sure that the Hunters cannot be devastated by just one blow.” He looked towards Signas and Cain. “Is it worthwhile to consider the evacuation of Hunter Headquarters?” Cain answered almost immediately. “I’ve already thought about it, Zion, and I must recommend against it. For one thing, we have too many assets to remove for it to be done in a timely fashion—by the time we’re done, we could have mobilized to attack Seraph Castle and end the threat altogether. Plus, the Mavericks seem to have friends in high places this time, and no doubt our actions would not go unnoticed. The Mavericks would then merely wait until another attractive target showed up, or for us to return to the Headquarters, and then launch their attack.” “Fine,” Zion conceded, “but what if they do fire missiles at us? Do we have anything to defend ourselves with?” Douglas grimaced. “I know of a few things, but they’re definitely not failsafe.” The green Reploid inhaled slowly, and let the breath out just as slowly as he spoke. “The most obvious thing to use, of course, is the missile interceptor unit we have access to. This thing can lock onto an incoming missile and deploy small rockets to take down the incoming projectile.” He took another breath. “The problem is, Seraph Castle is literally right in our backyard. Assuming that they use a conventional launcher as their deployment method, the Buzzbomb would probably be coming at us too fast for the interceptor to have time to do its job. I mean, it might work, but…” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, people, but I just can’t guarantee anything.” “So,” Signas sighed, “the only real option for us is to destroy Seraph Castle as soon as possible.” He smiled without humor. “I guess this is the ‘shove in the right direction’ that the Hunters have been hoping for.” “Destroying Seraph Castle will not do any good,” Commander Zegmann pointed out. “Seraph Castle is not what can destroy our Headquarters—it’s the Buzzbombs that can do that. Unless we either recover or destroy the Buzzbombs, then any assault mission will be a failure.” “That’s right,” said Damia. “So, why wait? We have aerial assets, don’t we, James?” Commander Taggart nodded. “We know the key structural points of the castle. We can rain bombs on the place with our Ravens.” “Indeed,” Kitao agreed. “We can back you up. We’ll surprise Seraph Castle…we won’t give them a chance to take us out.” Enthusiasm for that plan was rapidly building. “No.” All heads turned towards Commander Archer, who had been silent this whole time. He’d had more time than anyone to contemplate the situation, and he had gone over something like this in his head many times already. “Respectfully, sir, that plan is a terrible idea.” “And just why is that…?” Kitao all but scoffed. A Reploid was rebuking him? What was this world coming to? “Think,” Archer ordered everyone. “Does anyone here know for sure what the Mavericks want to do with their new toys?” “I know what I would do if I were one of them,” Zero replied, but across from him Caligula was smiling. The chief spook understood exactly where Archer was headed. “Yeah,” Archer nodded, “that’s the obvious thing to think, that they’d attack us here. But then what? Look at them. All they have is a small collection of soldiers. Yeah, they’re highly trained and elite, but so what? A handful of troopers can’t take over a Megacity. Seraph Castle is no match for the full force of the Megacity Army. If the Mavericks obliterated Hunter Headquarters and the Hunter organization with it, the Megacity Army would immediately respond by launching an all out assault on Seraph Castle…am I right, sir?” “Yes, you are,” Kitao replied warily. “Right, then.” Archer rubbed his temples as he selectively chose his words. “The Maverick stronghold would vanish, and probably its leaders with it. Another Maverick outbreak might occur in the future, yes, but by then the Hunters would have had a chance to rebuild their ranks, thus negating the Buzzbomb effect. It just doesn’t seem likely to me that the Mavericks would deem it in their best interests to attack the Headquarters…not just yet, anyway.” “But what, then?” Signas asked, curious. “I don’t know,” Archer admitted. “Maybe they intend to merely use the Buzzbombs as bargaining chips. ‘You leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone.’ That kind of thing. Or maybe they’ll exchange it for something or someone we have access to. Maybe they even have a better target than Hunter HQ…who knows?” “Have you ever considered,” Zion suggested, not condescendingly, “that they might have a backup base somewhere?” “You mean,” Taggart waved for them to wait, and let him catch up, “someplace that they can evacuate to, after they launch a nuclear attack?” “The thought has crossed my mind, but I haven’t elaborated on it.” Archer frowned. “It’s another possibility. All they’d need is a way to smuggle themselves to wherever their hidden base is…and so far they have not lacked for resources.” “Also, given their small numbers,” Caligula pointed out, “it would be very easy for them to accomplish this.” It was a very valid idea, they all thought. “This just puts us back on square one,” Mason frowned. “We have one objective, and that’s to secure the Buzzbombs from Seraph Castle.” “Yes,” Archer agreed, “but I do not support an immediate plan that focuses on only one branch of our forces.” “It’s because that wouldn’t be foolproof,” Caligula explained before anyone could ask the question. “We have to take action against Seraph Castle eventually. We agree on that. But when we do, it has to be a crushing deathblow that combines everything both of our armies has to offer. There has to be zero percent success opportunity for the Mavericks. If we come after them with some unfocused bombing raid, well…” Caligula looked briefly at every member of the little council. “Right now, we have a sort of stalemate. The Mavericks aren’t attacking us because it is not yet in their best interests. This could be because they lack a contingency plan, or maybe because they don’t have a method of delivery for the missiles—it doesn’t have to be conventional launchers either, you know. But if we attack the Mavericks and fail to remove their offensive capabilities, then they will feel very threatened, and, well…there was an old saying among the old nuclear powers. It went ‘use them or lose them’. You can bet your lives that they’ll use the Buzzbombs if they think they might lose them.” “So,” Signas elaborated, “we have to hit them with a completely focused attack to knock them out of commission for good.” “Yes,” Zion began. “Infantry, air units, heavy artillery, the works. We’ll also probably want to insert a few Hunters into Seraph Castle to make sure we get the people we need to get…mainly the new Maverick kingpins. Having soldiers inside the castle will also give us a better chance of recovering the Buzzbombs.” He didn’t mention X and Zero, nor did he look their way, but the two veteran Hunters knew damn well that if anyone was going to get stuck crawling into Seraph Castle the hard way and killing the Maverick leaders, it would be them. “This, then,” Cain said in a tone that let everyone know he needed their input, “seems to be the plan we should develop: a massive, coordinated war effort with three objectives, those objectives being the destruction of Seraph Castle, the elimination of the Maverick commanders, and the recovery or destruction of the Buzzbomb missiles.” “Figure a missile defense program into that, chief,” Douglas piped up. Cain nodded and looked around the table. Even Colonel Kitao seemed satisfied. “You can count on the aid of the Megacity Army,” the colonel stated. He looked to Signas. “I can organize an emergency meeting of the Megacity Council in Sub-City 3 as early as tomorrow, or the next day. Come, or send one of your subordinates, and tell us what you will need.” “Give us a few days to get a rough estimate of what plan we’ll use and what we’ll need to do it with,” Signas replied. “Then, I will be at that meeting. Sub-City 3 is also the location of Alden Military Base. They have reinforcements that can be used to defend the city if things go haywire…we need to put them on standby.” Zero’s mind raced. “The commander of that facility is an acquaintance of mine, sir. I can do the talking for you, if you want.” Signas thought for a few minutes before nodding. The nod, for whatever reason, was very heavy. Some premonition of dread had just flashed through Signas’ mind, but he didn’t pick up on it. “Zero will accompany me to Sub-City 3, then.” “It is decided,” Cain stated. “We’ll develop a plan to defeat Seraph Castle.” “To do that,” Caligula pointed out, “we’ll need better intelligence. James, can you rig some of your Ravens for spy duty?” “That I can, Cal.” Taggart thought for a minute. “Tremont and Delgado are the perfect two for the job. What exactly do you need pictures of?” “I need as detailed a shot at the area as you can get me,” the intelligence chief responded. “If they’re constructing launchers anywhere on or around the castle, we need to see if we can pick them up. If not, we need to see if any new outer defense mechanisms have been set up.” “Got it,” Taggart nodded. “What are we calling this one?” Cain asked, though he wasn’t sure whom he was asking. “How does BROKEN HALO sound?” Zion responded immediately. He’d thought about this one already. “BROKEN HALO?” Zero got it right away. “I like it, Zion.” It subtly referred to the destruction of Seraph Castle—they’d shatter the power of the seraph angel that guarded the Mavericks. “BROKEN HALO it is,” Cain acknowledged as he gathered his papers together. “Well, it’s been a trying night. For now, just get your thoughts together and figure out how to prepare your troops. That’s what’s always worked in the past. Just be sure to run something by me if it might result in explosions.” The council began to disperse, with each member attending to his or her own individual duties. Taggart and Caligula met near the door and immediately began discussing the coming aerial reconnaissance. Signas met Colonel Kitao on his way out and stopped him for a brief moment. “About this meeting,” the Hunter Grand Commander began, “can you make sure that Gate is there?” “Gate?” Kitao asked, somewhat distastefully. The colonel didn’t like Gate much at all. “He’s always at these kind of things. Why exactly do you need him there?” “I think he might be able to help us,” Signas replied, guardedly. Kitao immediately knew that Signas was holding something back, but he didn’t press the issue. They excused each other and went their separate ways. “This is a new one,” Zero said to X. They were the last to leave, aside from Dr. Cain, who was still collecting his files. “Tell me about it,” X replied, a bit dreamily. “This is too much at once.” “But it can’t be helped,” Cain butted in, walking towards the pair. His tone was strangely sharp. “The fools who were supposed to dismantle the Buzzbombs…for God’s sake, they should have known what would happen! The damned things shouldn’t even have been built.” Cain was a known enemy of nuclear power, in all its forms. “Nervous?” Zero asked. “Whatever happens happens,” Cain replied with a shrug. “I’m getting too old for this shit,” he added. X was the first one to catch the subtle hint behind that, and it brought him out of his little trance. “Say what…?” Cain sighed, somewhat sadly. “I’m sixty-six years old. My heart isn’t going to last forever, you know…I’ve already had two heart attacks.” The two Reploids knew about that, of course. Both were minor, and had been caused by stress during the first two uprisings. “This kind of stress, all over again…it’s not good for an old man, you know?” “What are you saying…?” Zero asked, though he was pretty sure that he already knew the answer. Cain smiled weakly. “It means that I’m retiring. I’m turning full control of the Hunter forces over to Signas. This will be my last mission.” Throughout their lives, both X and Zero had relied on Dr. Cain for more than they could add up. They knew that the man had to retire sometime, but they had still always feared the day it would happen, and the shock was unpreventable. “Doc…you can’t retire yet,” Zero protested lamely. “The organization is going through a bunch of changes as it is, and…” “Yes,” Cain nodded with the weak grin still on his face. “So, you see, it’s the perfect time for me to step down.” “But, you…” X stammered in turn, “you’ve been here since the beginning. You’re the only one who knows the finer points of this organization.” Cain shrugged. “Signas knows them too, now. He’s a Reploid, so the government might not be so warm and cuddly towards him, but he’s the right man for the job. I know it.” Surprisingly, the feeling of resentment toward Cain’s decision that the two Reploids knew they’d face didn’t last very long at all. They found themselves quickly accepting it as something that had to be, and both nodded, though still somewhat reluctantly. “You’re an old dude,” Zero pointed out with a weak grin of his own. “I guess it’s about time you started living on Social Security, like the rest of the old dudes.” “Thank you very much, you ass.” Cain laughed. “So,” X said thoughtfully, “what are you going to be doing when you leave this place?” “I never said I was leaving this place,” Cain pointed out. Zero blinked. “But you said…oh.” The scientist nodded. “I’m stepping down from Hunter command, and I’m turning over the vast majority of Cain Industries to my partners. My business life will be less frantic, and I intend to relax in a cloud of lethargy, like the old dude Zero says I am. But I’m still going to be hanging around the HQ.” “Doing what?” X wanted to know. “Whatever I want.” He grinned. “To a certain extent, anyway. I’ll have no real authority, but most people here who are in charge like me well enough that no one will feel insulted if I want to help them with something, or provide my ‘expert opinion’ on certain matters. It is, after all, a transition phase in our organization, and I imagine there will be plenty of questions that only I can answer.” Which meant, Zero realized, that there were still issues to be resolved in the intelligence department. Cain had been the only one since the Hunters were established who’d been privy to every piece of information that the Hunters had collected, and there were some things only he knew about. “I see, then.” X was visibly relieved. Cain grinned evilly at the robot whose discovery changed the course of his life. “I wouldn’t leave you alone here, X. I know how much the other Reploids like to pick on you.” X’s face flashed with confused embarrassment. “What the hell are you—“ “Now, X,” Zero said, forcing himself not to laugh, “what have I told you about anger management?” X, in all his defensiveness, was about to snap back a retort but calmed down before it could happen. “Look who’s talking, Captain Kill’emall,” he said with a lopsided grin. Zero blinked, very innocently. “I hope you’re not implying that I enjoy the thrill and exhilaration of hand to hand combat, or anything.” Cain laughed again. “No, Zero, never! You’re just a fluffy teddy bear waiting for hugging.” And for once, the doctor saw with amusement, Zero didn’t have a witty retort to counter with. “Well, Doc,” X got back on track, “why now?” Cain shrugged. “Too much stress. In the ‘old days’, the mission was simple—wait for a Maverick revolt, and then quash it. Now, though, we have to make a bunch of damned decisions. We decide who the Mavericks are before we send people in to get them…because the Mavericks aren’t making the first move anymore. They no longer can.” The old man rubbed his eyes, which were begging to be closed for 8 hours or so. It was rather late. “Repliforce, too. I know we technically had no choice but to fight them, but still I feel guilty about letting it happen in the first place. I mean, the Repliforce was my idea to begin with.” “You couldn’t have stopped the revolution from happening,” Zero said firmly. “Sigma outthought all of us that time. At least you gave those Reploid soldiers the pride they’d been looking for, if only for a while.” Cain nodded distractedly. “No matter how many times you say that, Zero, I still feel guilty about it.” He looked both of his Reploid companions in their eyes. “We can talk more about this later. For now, we’ve got a much more serious matter on our hands.” They both nodded, and Zero took the opportunity to ask a question that probably wouldn’t have been fitting conversation during the meeting. “About these Buzzbombs, Doc…how worried are you?” Cain breathed a very long sigh, taking his time while considering the answer. “Really, Zero, X, I don’t know. I don’t have any real feeling about this.” He sighed yet again. “That, above all, is why I’m leaving. I don’t have any hunches or gut feelings anymore. It’s all become too routine for me. The Buzzbombs, in theory, can be the undoing of the entire Hunter organization. All they need is some fine-tuning, and while it is difficult, it is still possible. Fine, I accept that. It should worry me, though, and the worry isn’t there. Signas, on the other hand, is as concerned as he should be. He’s still got the vigor in him to do this job, and that’s why he can do this better than I can at this point.” Everyone was silent for a while. X finally nodded acceptance and let out a sigh of his own. “All right. So, the current thing is BROKEN HALO. Let’s just worry about that for now.” “Yeah,” Zero agreed with a nod. “What’s next with that?” “A lot of waiting, believe it or not. We need intelligence and we need time to mobilize, and all that takes more time.” More time than we might have left, his eyes said. Zero and X both caught the message, and they knew right away that while Cain said for the most part that things were routine for him, even he could recognize the threat the Buzzbombs posed, and he was, indeed, rather worried. “All right,” Zero confirmed. “I guess we’ve got some training to do, then.” Cain nodded affirmative. “Keep yourselves on alert. No one knows what may happen in the next few days.” ____________________ A meeting between top ranked figures in both the Hunter Army and the Megacity Army required some setting up, even in this grave situation. In order for Signas and Zero to meet with the Megacity Council, the Sub-City 3 location had to be finalized, requests had to be filed, etc. The meeting would of course take place, but without proper notification for both sides there would be, of course, quite some confusion. The communication was handled by computer, like everything else these days. Men in the intelligence department encrypted the messages in the usual fashion and sent them via x-mail to fronts used by the Megacity Army. The term “x-mail” referred to a type of e-mail that was considered to be absolutely secure. It was nothing like the e-mail used commonly by surfers of cyberspace, since the program was composed of a confusing series of codes in order to assure security. The recipients, of course, knew how to break the code and read the message. It was a simple, everyday process that, the Invisible Men thought, was better suited for secretaries. The analyst overseeing the message transfer reread what had been written—indecipherable lines of code that, when translated, equated to COMMs SIGNAS/ZERO, w/DETAIL: SUBCITY3, ASAP. MEET w/COUNCIL TO DISCUSS ISSUE. GATE REQUESTED. It seemed rather sparse, as usual, but the other side always knew what to make of it, and upon further reflection the analyst decided that the less words there were to confuse things, the better. He gave the okay to send the message through their secure line in cyberspace. About a mile away, in an office used by the intelligence wing of the Megacity Army, another analyst decrypted the message. Commanders Signas and Zero, with a guard detail—probably for Signas, the analyst thought—will meet in Sub-City 3 as soon as possible with the Megacity Council to discuss the “issue”, which of course could be nothing other than the Buzzbomb scare. The Hunters also wanted Gate to be there, though the analyst didn’t quite know why. Nevertheless he forwarded the message to his superiors, who quickly gave him the go-ahead to send the Army’s response: AFFIRMATIVE. WEDNESDAY, 0900 HOURS. CITY HALL. GATE WILL BE THERE. Back at Hunter HQ, the first analyst read the reply. The meeting would take place Wednesday morning at the City Hall building, and Signas’ scientist comrade would be there. He brought the message to Seitz, and from there it went to Caligula, and it was done. The whole point of the secure lines was that a gathering of human and Hunter leaders would be a prime target for Mavericks…especially Mavericks with nukes. Now that everything was official, more specific details could be worked out interpersonally, but even that would have to be discreet. Zero would need to get in touch with Colonel Jones, the commanding officer of Alden Military Base, and set up that side meeting, probably with Caligula’s help. The Invisible Men considered the codes that they used to encrypt the data unbreakable. They’d used Doppler’s root code and from it created the ultimate protection for their data. The UNDINE site was a dream come true for many in the communications business, and so they of course didn’t think twice about using Doppler’s code on this information. Unfortunately, unlike Caligula, Seitz, Zion, and Signas, the rest of the Invisible Men didn’t know that Malevex had already found the UNDINE site. Its discovery had been an accident, but the covert soldier had known a good thing when he’d seen it, and taken all the remaining information back to Cyber Peacock, who’d been rather amazed by Doppler’s genius, and it took a great lot of effort to amaze Cyber Peacock. The self-proclaimed King of Cyberspace easily reproduced the code in various forms, and had soon realized that he might well have the key to unlocking the Hunter code banks. A few random tests on captured data had confirmed this theory, and before long Cyber was using it to break into some really juicy information…which he mostly kept to himself. Another little known fact was that Cyber Peacock really had his own motives and plans for the future, and he wanted some trump cards that only he could use. Against Cyber’s wishes, however, Malevex had allowed the sale of the core code to Kou Cao, the Gold Serpent. Figuring that he owed the man plenty already, Malevex practically gave the code away, and the Serpent had been judicious about its use. He made sure that only certain people in his organization knew the code, and he monitored its usage at all times. If the Hunters lost too much information at once, alarms would go off in their minds and the core code would be changed. The Serpent did not want that, not when he had such an excellent source of information at his fingertips. The first of the two messages sent back and forth by the Hunters and the Army was intercepted during a routine and quite random sweep of the Hunter system by a cracker working for Kou Cao. There had been no warning at all. Through an act of simple serendipity, a top secret and highly sensitive transmission was now in the hands of the black market. Alerted, the cracker had waited for a while and managed to pick up the Army’s response. So, two high-ranking Hunters were going someplace fairly isolated to meet with bigwigs in the Army, eh? This information, the cracker thought, would be worth a fortune. The cracker—he was a human, though he didn’t care about endangering the protectors of his species; he lived only for himself—made another communication with the Reploid who served as his link to the Serpent, and soon received his newest job: walk down the street and hand the captured data, on a floppy disc, to the Reploid in question. It was that easy, and for that simple task he’d be paid nearly ten thousand dollars. Wow. He’d stumbled onto something big, the cracker knew, but he didn’t ever busy himself with details. 10 K…that was enough for him to buy that place in Miami, or, more specifically, Megacity 8. The cracker threw on a coat and walked outside. It was getting late, he saw. The sun was gone and the moon was slowly rising, illuminating the stars overhead, he was sure, though he couldn’t see any stars tonight due to the cloud cover. A light but constant stream of rain fell from the sky, as it had for the past three hours, and the cracker mumbled a curse—he hated being wet. The Reploid, a man named Guyver, was in the predetermined spot. He wore a heavy black raincoat that disguised his innate bulk. Guyver was a strongman, per se, even though the blue Reploid was rather short. He did, however, have one of the best brains in the black market, and for that reason the Serpent was constantly relying on him. The cracker was chewing gum. It allowed him to concentrate on chewing, so he didn’t do anything stupid. The sidewalk was fairly crowded, and no one even noticed the brush pass. Guyver walked off with a disc containing information that certain Mavericks would pay dearly for, he was sure, and the cracker returned to his flat empty handed, though ten thousand dollars would soon find its way into his bank account. After all, how could the Serpent get such a following if he didn’t follow through on his word? ____________________ Two hours later the rain was still falling and the moon was high in the sky, visible through brief breaks in the cloud cover. Guyver once more walked along the streets of the busy metropolitan district, puffing on a cigarette with his hands in the pockets of his heavy raincoat. He didn’t really mind if someone saw him—if anyone asked, he was a rather well reputed auto salesman. He even had the papers to prove it, Guyver thought with an inner smile. The Reploid had no political affiliation, meaning that neither the Hunters nor the Mavericks had his support. Guyver supported Guyver. The fact that Kou Cao trusted him, at least as far as trust could go in this business, meant that Guyver was richer than he’d ever needed to be, and the Kou knew well that his associate wasn’t of the kind to give up on so good a thing. Guyver did a lot of good for the Serpent. Recently he had been responsible for two jobs that his boss deemed to be very important. The first had been setting up Gredam and Malevex, the new Maverick commanders, with the hacker they needed to get their all-important list from Hunter HQ, using the UNDINE code to break into the Hunter databanks, of course. The hacker was still there, Guyver remembered, probably waiting to fulfill some other role in the great Maverick plot. Guyver had also pressured two thugs named Boris and Leonid to harass an old guy named Mortar, at the request of the Serpent himself. Guyver had no idea why the Serpent had wanted Mortar bothered, but the Serpent’s mind was a difficult thing to read, so he never asked questions. Because of his usefulness and general loyalty, Guyver was one of the few people in the world who got to do what he was going to do tonight—make contact with the Gold Serpent. He waited patiently for the light to change and crossed the street in the manner of any tired city dweller. He constantly scanned the streets, looking for the signal. No passerby would ever detect it, but once you knew what to look for, it was surprisingly easy to spot a covert message. Guyver’s coat had no hood, so no one would possibly remember him as a man who’d hidden his face, as the Serpent definitely would. Two such men together would stand out in a person’s mind, Guyver knew. He kept looking, and finally there it was: a flickering street lamp. Guyver paid close attention and timed the distance between the flickers, just in case it was a regular malfunction. It wasn’t. Guyver started immediately in that direction. Current street lamp models ran off internal computers that switched them off automatically during the daytime. It was a fairly simple operation to plant a device that would scramble the program at a push of a button, ideally pushed at some remote location. Guyver’s eyes casually swept the street near the lamp, but in the end his vigilance wasn’t needed. A man of medium height wearing a brown, hooded raincoat passed him on the right, brushing Guyver’s arm with his elbow. Guyver took the cigarette from his mouth and casually tossed it aside onto the street. The man to his right sneezed, presumably because of the cold, damp weather, but forced sneezing was something that Kou Cao was getting good at and both of them knew it. “Shitty weather,” Guyver observed. “Well, it can only get better,” replied Kou Cao, the Gold Serpent. “At least it’s not as bad as it was last week. You couldn’t see for shit. Almost drove my car off the bridge.” “Ma Nature’s a bitch,” Guyver chuckled, reciting his lines perfectly. They spoke evenly, not too loud, and not too soft. It was casual conversation to the average passerby. The Serpent’s voice was rather nondescript, Guyver thought. It was possible that the Serpent was disguising his voice, but on further reflection it seemed like quite a hassle. Appearance wise, Kou Cao wasn’t much different from an average human. His face was shrouded in the shadow cast by his hood, but Guyver had no idea if it was gears or bones that lurked behind the raincoat. Even to one of his most trusted associates, the Gold Serpent was a mystery. “How is the family?” “They’re getting along,” the Serpent replied curtly. “Anything new with you?” “Yeah, as a matter of fact.” Guyver fished discreetly in his pocket for the cracker’s disc. “I got a little present from a friend downtown. Wanna see?” In a flash, the disc was out of Guyver’s hands, and both men returned their hands inside the pockets of their raincoats. The transfer had been made, and now it was time for the explanation. “Our friends are coming to see the bigwigs?” Kou Cao asked, guardedly but still casually. “That they are,” Guyver replied in a similar tone. “Blondie and Siggy are paying a visit to the suburbs. The Council’s headed there too.” The Serpent smiled. He found the nicknames for Zero and Signas amusing. “That’s all?” Guyver shrugged easily. “I guess they’ll be bringing some guards along. Nothing serious.” Kou Cao was silent for a while. Then, “You know, I bet they’d do a lot with this information.” Guyver knew who “they” were, and he immediately went on guard. While he didn’t know the complete machinations of the Serpent’s mind, he did know that the Mavericks had nuclear weapons at their disposal…he was the one who’d come across the information as to where the Buzzbombs were buried, after all, courtesy of a Reploid within the government, an aide to that Kitao man. Kou hadn’t been all that surprised by the information, but the Mavericks had leapt on the opportunity like a cat on a ball of yarn. “I’d be careful, you know. You don’t know what will come of this. They’re only supposed to have the merchandise for use as a bargaining chip, remember?” The merchandise was, of course, the Buzzbombs. The Mavericks needed a bargaining chip, and the nukes were it. After all, what else could you do with broken warheads? There was no way that they could be used. Well, Guyver corrected himself, there was no way that he could think of that they could be used. A clever physicist could probably reactivate the Buzzbombs, but did the Mavericks have one of those? Guyver didn’t think so. The Serpent was shaking his head. “I don’t think they’d use the merchandise. But still, it would be a nice opportunity. Getting rid of those two nuisances would be a major step forward.” “Still,” Guyver protested, knowing that the Serpent had already made up his mind but going ahead anyway, “their projects aren’t completed yet. An attack now will just accelerate the Hunter strike, and they’ll be taken off guard.” “They’re already off guard. The merchandise was taken, and the Hunters found out about it. Stalling is no longer an option…our friends have to strike before the enemy does. But not with the merchandise, I don’t think. They have other assets they can use.” “Do you think it will work?” “Who knows?” the Serpent answered. “I don’t have any reason to doubt their intelligence. Besides, they don’t have the final say-so. All they can do is advise. It’s up to someone else to decide whether or not to ever use the merchandise.” “But he’ll authorize it,” Guyver pointed out. “It’s too tempting for him to do otherwise. He’ll order The Team to launch, and then this entire city is in trouble.” The Serpent realized what Guyver was saying. “Yes…this information will accelerate the havoc, won’t it?” They’d been walking for several blocks now, and both were thoroughly wet and miserable. It was time to close off the conversation. Besides, the Serpent had been in the open longer than he’d wanted to be. “I’ll tell them. But, you need to get to work quickly.” The Serpent glanced towards his accomplice. “You know who our more prominent contacts are. Get them out of the city…have them arrange business trips, or something. It would be a good time to go someplace else, for a while,” he insinuated severely. Guyver shuddered involuntarily. If it really happens…if all this leads to the kind of chaos I think it will…if the Buzzbombs are activated, nothing in the Megacity is safe. Yes…it’s time to evacuate. There’s no telling how this will end up. “I understand.” It was that simple. The Serpent had nothing more to say, and turned right at the next corner. Guyver walked forward a few more blocks before catching a cab back to his apartment. He could afford so much better, he knew, but he liked this atmosphere. It was easy, and convenient. No suspicion could be drawn to a common apartment room. He sighed as he removed his coat. He grabbed a towel and dried himself off, trying to smile through his nervousness. Another successful meet. He’d be compensated, he knew, but there was no satisfaction in the night’s work. Instead, a heavy dread had settled in the pit of his stomach. The Serpent knows what he is doing, Guyver reminded himself. He has some grand plan set up, and I’m really just a pawn in it. I’m not supposed to care. I have my money and I’m happy with it. But really, was the fact that the Serpent knew what he was doing a good thing? No one else knew what the Serpent was doing…nobody at all. Guyver had originally imagined that it was a plan to expand his control into the Maverick ranks, but now it seemed somehow like there was something else going on entirely. When the Serpent’s plan culminated…would it involve the use of nuclear weapons? Guyver had accepted the assurances that the Buzzbombs were strictly to be used as bargaining chips, but he wasn’t sure anymore. He wasn’t sure about anything. Would anything be left standing in the Megacity after the Gold Serpent was done with it? Yes, Guyver realized, it was a very good time to leave Megacity 5. |