By
Brad Marsh
Kane's
SIN Eater sprang out and slapped into his palm but he held his fire. His finger
poised to stroke the blaster's trigger and unleash a wave of death and violence.
But Lex's voice rang out for order. The reaction of the two dozen or so armed
figures that had surrounded the group was to instantly stand down but they
continued to keep the group covered with a mix of battered and old hand blasters
and riffles. Kane even spotted a couple muzzle- loading muskets that must have
been ancient before the War to end all Wars.
"Stand
down, they come in peace, there hear about the Leader and his Generals. They
dusted eight rulers in less than half that amount of time." The boy warned,
in authoritative tone that was use to being obeyed. " There will be no
violence while they are here. Anyone that disobeys my commands will have me to
answer to." The boy shouted so all could here him. "I brought these
people here to talk with Ferret. If our people and the rest of this city are
ever going to be free of the Leader and his Ruler thugs we need these people.
They have not threatened us therefore they are under my protection. Is that
understood?"
A
chorus of affirmatives rang out across the chamber that Kane and his friends had
entered with Lex. The crowded parted and guns where lowered as Lex waded through
the group with Kane, Grant, Domi, and Brigid in tow. Kane spotted the thrown
situated on a raised concrete platform in front of what appeared to be a loading
bay that had been used at one time for receiving deliveries into the building.
Kane barely contained a chuckle as he got a better look at the so-called throne
and realized it was the farthest thing from a throne as one could get. It was
high backed black leather office chair, the leather ripped and stained from
years of neglect. Surrounded by tattered pillows and several rotting pieces of
living room furniture Ferrets throne area made the cafeteria back at Cerberus
look like the oval office in the White House back before the war. The man that
sat atop the makeshift throne was dressed in pair of patched and dirty blue
jeans, a homespun gray shirt, a stained Boston Red Sox baseball cap, and a pair
ragged, and tattered sneakers. His strands of his greasy black hair fell from
beneath his cap, and a pair of cracked Five-dollar sunglasses hid his eyes. When
he spoke his voice was barely a whisper but it carried as much authority as any
Mag.
"Who
are these people Lex?" the man demanded
"They
are the one's I told you I heard the Rulers and the Leader talking about a few
hours ago." Lex replied as he pointed to Kane with his right hand.
"This is Kane. I watched him personally dust eight Rulers all on his own.
His friends provided covering fire while he dealt with the Rulers. I understand
now why the Leader and his Generals are so afraid of this one man and his
companions. I've never seen anything like these four in my life."
"Then
you are vouching for these four?" Ferret asked.
"Yes."
Lex replied and stepped back behind the quartet he had escorted to the chamber.
"That
is a very good recommendation seeing as you are getting it from my top
lieutenant. Lex there may look young and wet behind the ears, but he has the
life experience of someone twice his age. He is a very experienced soldier, he
has almost as many kills as myself."
"Your
Ferret?" Kane asked. "Lex told us that we have a common enemy, though
he would not answer more than a few of my questions. He kept telling me I had to
talk to you or as he called you ' the boss man.' So if were going to be able to
help each other I need some questions answered first."
"Lex
is very loyal to his comrades. His loyalty is the reason he brought you
here."
Kane
took two steps across the oil stained concrete floor and up onto the rise that
Ferrets throne sat on, before anyone in the room except Grant could make a move.
Servo's whined as Kane's SIN Eater slipped into his hand the barrel instantly
pointed as Ferrets head. "Don't fucking lie to me asshole. I had a long
talk with Lex and one of those questions I mentioned him answering for me, he
told me the reason he wanted our help. It is about loyalty but it's not about
your or this rabble, its about blood. Its about revenge for the deaths of his
father and brother. You lie to me again or pull anymore of that high and mighty
bullshit with me again, I'll chill you and get the truth from one of your
fucking minions." Kane snarled "Now tell me about the Generals.
Starting with who they are and then tell me everything you know about
them." Kane stepped back from Ferret just out of reach of the greasy self
styled leader, but close enough that if Ferret tried to make a brake for it or
try anything he could be dealt with swiftly and safely.
"Lex
please enlighten Mr. Kane, about the Generals." Ferret announced. His anger
and resentment towards Kane clear in his voice.
"From
what we've been able to piece together over the last few months, the General
were thefirst of the Rulers to be built before Skydark. There are six Generals,
who where the commanders of the Rulers, each with a distinct duty and function
with in the chain of command. As its told, each General was once a leader of
some kind who was given the chance to be immortal. One was said to be a
president, another is said to have been the Commander of the Armed Forces at the
time of the war, another was said to be a Governor. One was a Senator, one was a
rich Comp tycoon who fought the government in court over his companies size and
power over the comp industry. The last two were said to be a CIA Agent and a
famous businessman who owned an empire that had Amusement parks and made movies,
and cartoons. It been said he was frozen in a cryo unit after his death and he
sat frozen for fifty years before he was thawed out and used as a template for a
General. Personally I can't see the government using a guy who made cartoons for
a living, including one's with a mouse, a duck, and two different dogs, one of
which talked."
"What
else do you know about the Generals?"
"We
rarely see them leave the Old FBI building, and when they do they don't venture
far and there never gone for more than a few hours. They look and act just like
the Rulers except they seem to move slower and their skin is lighter color,
almost transparent if the light hits it just right. There are four left, at our
last count."
"What
happened to the other two?"
"I
personally smoked one myself with a homemade firebomb made out of used motor oil
and low grade gas. The other one just collapsed in the middle of the street a
few weeks ago and just exploded for no reason. Took his four body guards with
him."
"Have
the other Generals figured out what caused it?"
"Not
that we've been able to find out. But the same thing has not happen to any of
the other generals. We've see them roaming the streets several times since the
explosion. They all seem fine and in perfect working order."
"
Why such a wide diversity in the backgrounds of the generals? I mean there are
former soldiers, comp tycoons, government officials and a cartoon maker.
What’s the purpose?" asked Grant "It seems too wide a range for the
Generals to be able to work together effectively."
“Each
General has a certain function to perform. Take the General Gate, the Comp
tycoon. He designed all of the software used in the Ruler Project. Everything
from the software that runs the Rulers to the software in the comps that repair
and maintain the Rulers. In a sense he is the head mechanic.” Lex replied “
General Walter the cartoon maker, designed the protective membrane that serves
as the Rulers skin. Its bullet proof and resistant to punctures from knives and
other edged weapons. But as you discovered it is not resistant to heat or
fire.”
“General
Caldwell and General Reese were politicians. General Norman was the commander of
the armed forces at the time of the war and General Martin was president of the
Ruler project. They were responsible for the creating the template for the
different parts of the Rulers personality and the knowledge they possessed was
integrated into the software that was used in the Rulers programming. Things
like fighting, shooting, negotiating, diplomacy, and other basic combat
training, was installed into the rulers minds like the software that was
installed into a computer. The knowledge was accessible to the Ruler almost
instantaneously. “
“Instant
soldiers with minimal fuss and their ready for combat in a matter of hours
instead of months. Ingenious design, to bad we have to destroy it all. Fifty
rulers on our side and we could end the Rein of the Barons in a matter of months
instead of years or decades.” Kane stated.
“That
brings problem of how destroy.” Domi replied from Kane’s left.
“Napalm
worked better than I hoped.” Kane replied “But I only have three canisters,
no where near enough to commit an all out assault on Government Plaza.”
“I
know where you can get something just as good as Napalm and it will have the
same effect. But it’ll cost you.”
“I
want to see what I’m getting first before I strike any deals.” Kane replied
“I don’t want any rusted, leaking two hundred year old garbage that may or
may not work. Our lives are going to be riding on whether this shit works or
not.”
Ferret
nodded. “Lex please so Mr. Kane our special stock pile.” Lex nodded once and
motioned for Kane and his companions to follow him. As he passed a tall clean
shaven teenager in green canvas pants and a gray wool sweater, the young boy
fell in step next to Lex, as he pulled a faded by remarkably clean blue Boston
Police hat from his pocket and pulled on as they walked. When the teeager
glanced over his shoulder Kane got a better look at the hat and the face under
it. The hat sported a light blue rectangle with a drawing on police Headquarters
Kane assumed with the worlds Boston Police written in canary Yellow above the
drawing and the phrase A.D. 1630 also in yellow, written below. A pair of deep
set eyes gazed blankly back at him from a thin angular face sporting a two inch
white puckered scar that ran from just under his left nostril to the edge of his
chin. He barely gave Kane a passing glance, before turning forward once again,
once he verified that Kane and his friends were following them.
Lex
and his shadow took them through a concrete archway and into a smaller chamber
that looked like some kind of storage area. They crossed to a closed set of gray
steel doors a par of tarnished brass handles. Lex pulled a key ring with at
least a dozen keys or varying sizes on it from his pocket and extracted the one
he need from the pack. He opened the opened the door there rusty hinges
protesting loudly. Lex entered the room without hesitation and flicked a switch
on the wall just inside the door, and the room beyond was suddenly flooded with
light from several fluorescent lights strung along the ceiling. Kane began to
smile when he saw what lined the shelves of room’s walls. Hundreds of empty
glass bottles of all shapes and sizes, but it was the boxes that sat stacked in
the center of the room that had made Kane smile. There were a couple hundred at
least and their contents were all clearly labeled on the side of each box.
After-shave lotion’s and hair gel, hundreds of bottles of after-shave and
cologne. Hand lotion and shampoo, and with the bottles they had instant napalm
cocktails. All they had to do was mix things together in the bottles and insert
rags of wicks of some kind. He turned to Lex and smiled. “Let’s go see
Ferret. We have some things to discuss before we put this stuff to good use. “
Lex
nodded. “You’re the boss.”
Grant
and Domi were smiling as well. “Where get all this?” she asked from behind
Lex.
“We
raid this stuff from some warehouses over near the piers. Not far from the
Aquarium and that ancient clipper shipped called Old Iron Side. Places were full
of food, cloths, and other shit that we’ve long since used. But we could never
figure out what this stuff was for, until Ferret took over. He knew all along
what it was used for before Skydark and what we could use it for now. But like I
said were no warriors, were scavengers. We can fight but Combat Trained
opponents would wipe us out. So this stuff has sat here for more than ten years
waiting for the day it may be needed.”
Federal
Plaza: Two Hours Later.
The man in the spotless black
business and polished black wing tip shoes strode into the control room followed
by a man with close-cropped hair dressed in an olive green army dress uniform. A
man dressed in a navy blue business suit similar to the one the man he had
summoned was wearing. The man was seated in front of a bank on monitors and
comps, a large eight sided chamber stood dark and silent behind him.
“Agent
Morris, this better be good.” The man in the black suit rasped
“It’s
about the scouting party you sent out to find Kane and his friends.”
“What
about them?” The man known as the leader demanded.
“They
where attack not far from the common by an unknown force. The last report we got
was from the leader of the party. He reported heavy loses, and that he and one
other where all that remained functioning from his command. That was fifteen
minuets ago and all attempts to reestablish contact have failed. Agent Kern is
still trying, but after so long without contact I felt it would be prudent to
inform you of the situation.”
The
leader nodded. “You where right to call me Agent Morris. How far from the
common was the party?”
“Three
blocks, sir.”
“Do
we have a stand by party we could send after them?” The man in the Army suit
demanded.
“The
party that was attacked near the common was our stand by party, General Norman.
Our main party was destroyed during the altercation with Kane not far from here.
It was a chance meeting.” The leader replied
“How
many units lost does that make?” Norman demanded
“Sixteen
sir.” Agent Morris replied “What now sir? Do I assemble another team to try
and take them by surprise.”
“We
send out two parties of eight, one will come in behind them and once Kane
engages that party the second party with flank them and sweep in to take custody
of them. After which Kane and anyone with him will be brought here. General?”
“I
don’t understand why you want Kane alive.” Norman replied
“Because
we need to know how much he and his comrades know about what we are really doing
here. But more importantly we must obtain the location of their base of
operation from them. Without it there will always be a viable threat looming
over our entire endeavor.”
“Understood.”
Copley
Square: Thirty Minuets Earlier.
Kane
moved along the darkening streets towards Copley Square, passing the bear once
more. For the hundredth time since leaving the Common he glanced over his
shoulder, even though he couldn’t see them Kane could feel their pursuers
slowly closing in on there back side. Kane knew that farther behind them back on
the edge of the common a battle was raging between Ferrets followers and a group
of eight Ruler drones. Kane and his companions could still hear the low chatter
of auto fire that singled that the battle was still ragging, and that was what
had Kane worried. He wasn’t use to relying on anyone but his friends, it was
this anxiety that clouded his senses and prevented his point man instincts from
alerting him to the fact they were being followed. Domi slid up next to him from
her position at Grants side covering their retreat, and whispered urgently to
him.
“Two
Rulers on our trail. Fifty yards back. Auto fire has stopped too.”
“Your
sure their Rulers?”
“Yeah. Saw them both a few minuets ago slipping from pile to pile.”
Ok,
I’ll take them and take them quick. Brigid, Grant, and you head over to
Trinity Church and cover my retreat just in case.”
“Can’t
take them alone.” Domi argued.
“I
took out eight of them back on Somerset Street ad few hours ago. Two of them
will be no problem now that we know their weakness.”
Domi nodded tightly and led Brigid, and Grant towards Copley Square. Grant placed his index finger next to his nose and snapped it off in salute. Kane returned the salute for their old Mag days, it was a salute which he and Grant had reserved for missions with a one percent chance of success. He watched his friends slip out of sight behind a pile of rubble. He turned his attention back to approaching threat, as soon as the two Rulers came limping into view Kane knew that beating them was going to be easier than he had thought. They were walking relics of battle, bullet ridden and barley standing as their ungainly gate carried them down the street. Kane tensed as the duo moved by him their Smith and Wesson hand blasters drawn. Kane felt a pang of guilt because he had no doubt Ferret’s followers where dead if the two Rulers had gotten past them. He had not want innocent people to die but he had known there was a chance of it when he had accepted Ferret and Lex’s help in holding off the first wave of Rulers. But he was about to have his chance to avenge those deaths. A rum bottle in his hand, Kane stepped out into the street with a smile on his face. He let out a long shrill whistle, causing the two Rulers to turn and face him. But his home made Napalm cocktail was already in the air before the echo of his whistle died away. It slammed into the Ruler closest to Kane, its contents splattering across the front of both Rulers in a flash of flames. Kane was sprinting towards Copley Square and his friends before the two Rulers had dropped to the ground. The Final battle was about to begin, with Federal Plaza as ground Zero.
TO
BE CONTINUED
COPYRIGHT
FEBRUARY 2001