17 Finding Out What Is In The Research Lab

Raiden's POV:

After we finish talking with George, he tells us exactly down to the littlest detail on how he escapes the lab. Then we get a call from Kevin as we start heading further in the tunnels.

"So the kid got into the sewers through a drainage channel?" Kevin questioned.

"Yeah. He says the channel is super tight, but there's some kind of shutter next to it." I tell him.

"Got it. That must be where they dump the waste." He says with excitement in his voice.

"There's something else... It sounds like a Desperado exec was on-site yesterday. If a sentry cyborg was on hand for the meeting..." Marie says but is interrupt by the good Doktor as his screen came up beside Kevin's.

"You both should be able to review their video log, provided you both can find a server-access terminal. That would give us the evidence we need... as well as a little peak at the level of their technology." Doktor tells us.

"So what about the kid?" Kevin asks us.

"We made sure the area was secure and we told him to sit tight. Can you pick him up?" I ask Kevin/answer his question and Marie gives him the puppy-dog eyes to add effect.

"Sure, I'll send a couple agents for him. You both just focus on getting into the lab. If what he said is true, about the organs... We need to hurry." Kevin tells us.

"Agreed. Raiden and Nightmare out." I tell Kevin and Doktor as their screens disappear.

We then turn left and get onto solid land. Marie grabs her sword, cutting the door 45° three times, before kicking the cut pieces in for us to go into the next area. We go down two flights of stairs and there is no light on the walls until we get to the bottom of the stairs.

"Heavy UG activity ahead. It is possible they are conducting test operations while the lab is closed." Wolf says through our comm-links.

As we cut through the second door.

"They're not gonna make it easy to get into that lab...Is there some way you both could sneak past?" Kevin suggests to us.

"It's... It's boxes. How's that gonna help?... Oh, it's for medical supplies? That could work actually." Kevin hints to us.

After Kevin suggests the hint to us, I cut the door, which Marie found the boxes in, down. We then head down a flight of stairs and at the bottom, there is another door for me to cut down.

Once the door pieces are out of our way, we quickly put on the boxes over our bodies. We slowly creep closer to a bridge, which happens to go down, on our left to solid ground then all the way to the metal wall. Then we have to wait for a few of the UGs to not look in our general area. When we notice no one is looking through our psychic eye. Marie quickly gets out of her box, grabs her sword and cuts the door down.

Once the door is out of our way, we quickly move to the next room, but we have to stop short for a ledge is in front of us. But we jump over the ledge and land in more sewer water.

"Raiden, Nightmare, I have determined the approximate location of the lab based on the boy's information. It is marked on both of your soliton radar." Wolf tells us through our comm-links as we head northeast to the wall with the stairs.

We move up the stairs and onto the catwalks. We wait for the UG to pass our area. When we see it past the corner, we jump off the catwalk. I scan the area the UG went to and I see a part of the wall glow blue. I run to the area with Marie behind me. I then bring out my sword and cut at the piece of the wall. The wall then loses its projection on it and became a door.

"So a fake wall projection...Pretty well hidden, I gotta say..." Kevin says through comm-link.

Marie spots a camera, grabs her glock and shoots at the camera until it blew up. I run past her and spot another camera. I jump up and swing at it about three times before blowing up.

Once both cameras have blown up, we turn left at where the second camera is at. I scan the area up ahead of us and notice there is another two more cameras in the area up ahead of us too. Marie is on my right. She still had her glock on her. She took aim at the camera that is 23.9M away from us. Then aim for the camera that is 22.7M away.

After the second camera blew up, it is clear for us to move in. We run up to the flight of stairs and Marie opens the door, by pressing the first yellow button. We start to head in, but is interrupt by a call from Doktor as we continue walking down the hallway.

"Ah, this would appear to be the UG maintenance area. You both should find a terminal there--something they use to upload mission parameters to their UGs." Doktor informs us.

"And something we can use to access the lab's main server?" I ask him with Marie nodding in agreement to what I said.

"Perhaps. But first you both need to take a DOOMP." Doktor tells us and causes Marie to start laughing her butt off.

"We...Wait, what?" I said with confusion in my voice and Marie continues to laugh her butt off.

"A DOOMP? A digital-optical output mounted proxy. You'll both need one to interface with the terminal. Most any UG should suffice--a Tripod or the like." Doktor helps us to understand what he is trying to inform us.

"We'll see what we can come up with. How do we use it?" I ask him.

"Simply connect to it. You should be able to use your communications outlay to control the proxy UG." Doktor tells me since Marie can't do this part.

"All right, let's give it a shot..." Marie tells him as communications end with him.

Once it is done Marie went to the door opener, hit the yellow button, opening the door, as I grab a grenade from the box. As we continue onto the next room, I scan the room and see there are three cyborgs on the level below us. I jump over the ledge, while Marie shoots at the other two's heads.

"Yes! Ah, you both make me proud!" Doktor quickly says to us.

Marie jumps and I catch her. As she gets out of my arms, she quickly runs to the door on the right wall. While she hits the correct button to open the door, she side hugs me as thanks.

Once the door opens and we walk through, we see a bunch of glass containers, but we couldn't see what are inside of them. The glass light up and we see the little cover things go up. And we see is a bunch of brains, each with two eyeballs to go with it. Then all of a sudden all the eyeballs look at us. Marie mumbles she is going to be sick. But we hear someone behind the door say, "Find them." We both then head back to the room, we were just in.

Once we did, about three enemies are inside the room. We fight them, but a few more come at us. As the last one is defeated and blown up, we get a call from Boris.

"Is it over?" He asks us.

"For now, yeah. But that room...Those were cyborg brains casings." Marie says as she grabs my left hand in fear.

"Da. We saw." Doktor tells us.

"George said that they were harvesting organs from kids." I say.

"Yes, this must be why they are harvesting children. Perhaps other organs are being sold elsewhere, but they are definitely taking the brains." He assumes to us.

"Jesus...Are they making these kids into cyborgs?" I ask and then Kevin's screen comes up.

"Wait-the cyborgs you've both been fighting...Did they seem like they might be kids? You both said earlier that child soldiers have a telltale approach to combat..." Kevin asks us.

"Yeah, but we didn't see it here. Those weren't kids." Marie and I say at the same time.

"So...What? Desperado's just doing the surgeries there? Kevin questions.

"We've gotta do something about all those brains. And the other kids George was talking about...He just escaped a few hours ago--they couldn't have taken all their brains out that fast." Marie says with desperation in her voice.

"True. There could still be a bunch of kids they haven't touched yet." Kevin tells us.

"We better move." I say as both Boris and Kevin's screens went off.

We then head off to the door which is now open, we head to the wall which has a rack of Geko UGs. I find one we can use. I grab the connection wire and attach it to my head. The eye on the Geko went from red to blue. I let it go and it goes forward to a vent.

Callista's POV:

I have my goggles on and I see through my left eye on what dad is seeing through the Geko.

"Splendid! It is all ours. Now use it to locate a data-input terminal." Doktor suggests to dad.

"These guys're pretty jumpy now. Any funny business and they might just open fire..." Uncle recommends to dad.

The Ug went forward a little the heads left. It went up behind the enemy.

"Try latching onto cyborg's heads from behind. Then an electric shock should knock them unconscious." Doktor suggests.

So this is what dad did with the little Geko. Then it went under some tubes and turns left to dash to the corner. Then he waits until the cyborg went to the opposite end of the room. This left enough time for dad to send it up onto the catwalks. It went to the corner and looks up, there is a vent for it to go through. The little Geko went through the vent and up to the computer.

"That terminal is most likely designed to download mission data and such into the UGs. Let's try using it to access the lab's server." Doktor says as dad gets it to hook up to the terminal to download the needed things.

After that we get a call from Doktor.

"Raiden, Kind, I've found something. In one of the sentry cyborg's visual logs. Guess who shows up?" Doktor tells us with excitement in his voice.

"Patch it through." Dad and I say at the same time.

"Right away." Doktor responds and patches the link through.

The cyborg is walking down the hallway to relieve the cyborg before it. They raise one hand to say this one is relieved of duty, while the other takes its place. As the one is relieved we then hear a familiar voice come on.

"Then send us what you do have. We've already commended VR training." N'mani's killer says to a Spanish scientist.

"The Sears Program?" The Spanish scientist asks him and one other guy.

"Yup, same one ol' Georgy-boy used the kids in Liberia. Of course it's wired straight to the brain now. Feels as real as anything else." He tells him.

"You work is astonishing." The scientist says to him.

"And your work is late. We need to ship before our cover is blown. We've got some buttholes snooping around..." He says to him.

"We just do not have the full quantity yet. Each brain has its own unique requirements. It's not like we can just pop them out with an ice cream scoop." The scientist says to them.

"All right, you've made your point." The second man says to the scientist.

The scientist runs to him while laughing and says, "Thank you for understanding."

"Send what you have now, and destroy any unharvested inventory." The man says.

¿Qué?! (What?!) But...Have you any idea what they cost?" The scientist questions.

"Last I checked, vagrant children weren't exactly rare in this part of the world. Millions of them in fact. You can get more once we've set up a new lab. They lead lives to hunger and pain. We're performing a service here-- for them, and the cities they burden." The man says, which causes me to ball my hands into fists and I start to shake in anger.

"But just gathering the donors required a significant investment--." The scientist complains.

"Yes. Yes. You'll get the money. Accounting will be in touch." The man says.

"Gracias. I assure you will dispose of our inventory the instant we can confirm payment." The scientist says.

"Are we done here. I've got a full slate today...Tecumseh is a demanding mistress, and America has suffered long enough.' The man says.

"Oh yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Let me see you out." The scientist says to them.

As the log is finishes, I punched my metal fist into the floor. And dad says, "You see that Kev, N'mani's killer..."

"Desperado's chief of operations. Goes by Sundowner. The Californian Wildfire..." Uncle informs us.

"The kids..." I ask uncle with a little hope in my voice.

"Think we're too late?" Uncle says back.

I grab dad's left hand in comfort.

"Only one way to find out. George was still alive...Maybe the payment hasn't come through yet." Dad says to uncle as he squeezes my hand back.

"Maybe. But you heard what he said: They're already started some brains on VR training." Uncle says to us.

"There must be more than just what we found here...What about the V.I.P. in the suit?" Dad says/asks uncle.

"I'll find out. He definitely seemed familiar..."Uncle says to us.

"Right. We're going after the kids." Dad says for the both of us.

After dad said this uncle's screen goes away. I put my goggles back on top of my head. Dad and I head a little further down the hallway we are in. I release dad's hand when we see little Geko UGs coming at us from the open door. Dad swings at one as I swing at the other.

Once we beat the two Geko UGs, we head on into the room. I spot a cyborg up ahead with my psychic right eye. I motion to dad there is an enemy up ahead and I am going to take him. He nods and I sneakily run to the cyborg with my rapier's blade pointing up to the ceiling and behind my back.

As I get to my opponent, the cyborg didn't see me. So I went up behind him and slit his throat. But I shove my left hand into the cyborg's back to grab the nano-repair unit. When I feel it in my hand, I yank it out and crush it to repair my damage metal limbs.

Once I am done with this, I give a signal to dad the coast is clear. But I didn't comprehend there being a second one until dad runs up to me with sword ready to attack.

"Move Nightmare." Dad exclaims.

I do and see dad kill a hidden cyborg I didn't see with my psychic right eye.

"Thanks Raiden." I tell him after the cyborg blows up.

He nods and we then head left, but another cyborg comes up. So dad takes care of him real quick, while I take care of a few random Gekos who came form the area, we are about to go in.

After all the Gekos are beat and the cyborg blows up. We head to a door which is by some stairs which happens leads up to the catwalks. I press the yellow button to open the door.

Once the door opens, we head into a hallway. But before we could turn the corner, we get a call from Courtney.

"Bad news, Raiden, Nightmare...We can't find George." She tells us.

"What?!" Both dad and I say at the same time.

"Maybe the coordinates you sent us were off?" She questions us.

"No way. I merged the GPS location with Nightmares of our entry with all of our movement data from that point on." Dad tells her.

"This is bad." She tells us.

"You think they got to him first?" I ask her.

"I don't know...I'll have our guys sweep the area." She tells us.

"Thanks. We better keep moving." Dad and I both say to her.

Then her screen went offline. We round the corner to the left and head on down the hallway. We then had to turn right before we got to another set of doors. I stop at the door with dad behind me. I press the yellow button to make the door open.

After we head in, all of a sudden rockets are being shot at us by an armored tank. I quickly grab my iPod and play "Rules of Nature" again, then put it back into my pocket for it.

Raiden's POV:

While Marie is messing with her iPod, I am thinking of a way to try and pass the tank. I decide with the fact we should run to the side, so no rockets could get to us.

When I see Marie put her iPod back into her pocket with a song playing over our comm-links, I tell her of the plan. She nods in agreement. So we run to the other side and up against the wall. We then go into the next section in front of us without any rockets hitting us, and went up against the wall.

Boris then comes onto the comm-link saying, "The b@$!@%d is blocking the way! Push that thing back!"

After he said this, I signal to Marie, we are going forward to the next section across from us. Again she nods and we bolt to the section across from the area we were just at. A few rockets almost had Marie, but she makes it before they could hit her. We both then get to the wall closer to the tank.

A few seconds later, we both charge at the tank, swinging at the front of it. It took about twenty-two swings to push it back, about eleven swings from the both of us. But there are a few times where the tank push one of us back or even the both of us.

Once we get it into the next room, the tank transforms into its other form.

"It has switched to biped mode. Careful! It is whole new battle now!" Boris tells us on our comm-link.

So we to up our game. We would take swings at it, then try to block the attacks it sends at us. We continue to do this until we are given the shot to go free-style swinging mode to cut off a third of its armor off of it. We did this one more time to get off another third of armor off. I take a few more swings at it before it lands on it's butt. I let Marie have the honors on finishing it off. She takes swings in the front then I get behind her and toss her up to let her get to the roof too.

After the final swing she gives to the tank, I run to a spot I predict she will land. She comes falling down after somersaulting in the air and lands directly into my arms. I reposition Marie so she is sitting in only one arm really quickly because I hear the ringtone which means someone is trying to contact with us.

As I am repositioning her, she puts her rapier back into its magnetic sheath at her hip and then puts her goggles over her eyes. I see the caller is Kevin, so I answer the call.

"Raiden, Nightmare! I knew I'd seen that guy before! Steven Armstrong. As in Colorado Senator Steven Armstrong. They're already talking about him as a shoo-in for the nomination in 2020. And get this: Two years ago a federal grand jury investigated his ties to a certain private--." Kevin states, but we interrupt him, "World Marshal, one of the biggest PMCs out there. We remember."

"The biggest, ever since the Big Five split up. Not to mention the single largest investor in military cyborgs R&D in the world. Guess that answers the question of who's backing Desperado..." Kevin continues on.

"Marshal and Desperado In Bed Together...Should make for some fun headlines." Marie says and chuckles as I smirk at her.

"Headlines?! This is World Marshal and a US Senator we're talking about. There won't be any headlines. Even without the Patriots' filter, no major media outlet will investigate allegations like these. It'd be financial and political suicide." Kevin tries to persuade us on the issue at hand.

"So we just what?" I start to say and Marie continues where I left off with, "Sit back while they keep carving up kids? Stand aside while they build an army of cyborgs?!" I then continue from there with, "You heard them: We shut down one lab, they build another. They're planning something big, Kev--We can't just wait for it to happen." Then the both of us finish it off with, "We need to hit 'em first, and hit 'em hard...Where it counts..."

"No Raiden, Nightmare? No. I know what you two are thinking, and...just no. Colorado is in America, and America has these things called laws." Kevin starts scolding us.

"Mm-hmm. And law enforcement in Denver was privatized and farmed out to..." I say then Kevin finishes for me with, "Marshal! Yes! So what! There are still laws! And it's their headquarters for chrissakes. You'd both be heading right into the heart of a raging crapstorm!"

"We didn't say it would be easy. We'll figure it once the kids are safe." Marie and I say at the same time to Kevin.

"Jesus Chri--. Kevin out." Kevin says with anger in his voice.

Once his screen went offline, Marie put her goggles back on top of her head. While I gently place her back onto her feet. We then head back of the room of the area, we are in now. Marie opens the door by pressing the yellow button on the dashboard.

As soon as the door opens, we head on down the hallway then right before we had to turn left, Marie stops me from going any further. She quickly heads to a red box, she smacks it with her right foot, causing the lid to open up. She then grabs a flash grenade.

"The reason why I stopped you from going any further, dad, is because there are two cyborgs on guard duty. Here is the plan I have came up with. First I am going to toss this flash grenade by the cyborgs. Then after the flash goes away, you and me are going to take one cyborg each. Kill them quickly and head on forward as if the enemy wasn't there in the first place." Marie tells me and I nod in agreement.

We commence with the plan and nobody got hurt. Well except for the enemy cyborgs. I killed mine with free-style cuts, but Marie tortured hers. She first cut off both arms and legs on her cyborg target. Then she slits her target's throat, so deep that the head is nearly cut clean off the shoulders. But what is crazier is she never got a single drop of blood on her person or on her clothes.

"You almost act like a cat, Nightmare. My reason is because you love to play games with your enemies like a cat does with a mouse. Another reason is your eyes turn to slits when you are very angry. Are you sure, you told me everything from when you got kidnapped?" I ask her with caution in my voice.

"Yeah I am sure I told you everything that happened to me." She tells me to my face and I do not see any lies in her eyes..

"Okay I trust you." I tell her.

TO BE CONTINUED...

(A/N): Hey everyone PrincessWolfhunter here. Also I am sorry if a few parts get a little gorey close to the end of the chapter for you to handle. But I cannot wait to start writing the chapter with Monsoon in it. I have already figured out what I am going to do for that chapter. I just need to get to it to be able to make it happen. As a disclaimer for everyone, I do not own the main characters of this story, but Callista. Lastly I will try to get more chapters posted and I will howl to you wolf pups later . *Howls*