Operation: Extermination

Chapter 10

       Val flexed her arm. The skin had yet to be fixed, but the knife in her wrist had been reactivated and the hydraulics secured again. It felt about right, and she checked her mental clock. It had taken exactly six hours, fifty four minutes, and twenty nine seconds for this to be fixed.

      She got to her feet as Jaden entered the garage, "Time to go?"

      "Yeah. Fleck stays though. One handed he's susceptible to murder," Jaden said, looking to Flare, "Good job. How's the hand going?"

      "I was expecting him to get nothing done, but he's gotten the entire base set up. If we're being honest, though he seems to have no experience in the field whatsoever, he's almost as good as any EE engineer."

       "Huh," Jaden looked over at Scott, who was jamming out to music through his headphones as he worked, "That dork?"

     "I told you he was good," Val pushed past Jaden, "Now come on. We have a festival to crash."

      "Hey, wait guys," Scott spun around in his chair, pulling his headphones from his ears so they hung around his neck, "Have you guys heard the news? The whole radio's been going on about it."

       "We don't listen to much music," Jaden folded his arms, his eyes resting on Scott with a subtle look of annoyance.

        "No, they say there's a murder going around since this morning. He decapitates people and leaves the bodies to rot in the streets. I just wanted to give you guys a heads up in case you meet him."

       "I think we can handle a serial killer," Jaden headed back through the door, and Val gave Scott a sympathetic look.

        "Thanks for the warning. And don't listen to him, he's an idiot," she added and was pleased to see a tiny smile cross his face.

       It wasn't far to the festival, and they got there just in time for the opening speech. They weaved through the crowd towards the front, their eyes set on the three top ranking scientists standing on the stage.

       The festival was supposedly a "fund raiser" for the company, though a lot of money seemed to have been put into the stage and the cleanup of the park they were hosting it in. There were a number of robots stationed in specific places to be examined, though none of them were even close to Val and the others' tech.

        A large crowd of people had gathered to hear the "big announcement" that all of the signs had been mentioning, and Val glanced over at Jaden through the crowd.

        They had all branched out through the crowd, surrounding the stage. Someone had yet to recognize them as fugitives and escapees, or better yet, murderers. They were coming to kill off the top three scientists standing before them, though Val suspected there was a number of protector bots designed to protect them from potential terrorism.

       She recognized Loraine Crewel as she stepped onto the stage, her blonde hair dolled up and curly for the presentation. Val's lip curled in disgust at the scientist, and she took a slow step forward. Krell caught her eye, giving her a tiny shake of his head.

        Val's hand clenched into fists, and she felt her vision cloud with anger. This whole "revenge thing" may be right up her alley after all.

         "Welcome one, welcome all!!" Crewel raised her hands above her head, and the crowd's voices rose up into a tremendous cheer. Val's glare didn't waver. "Welcome, to Enigma Enterprises presentation of what we've been working on for the past few decades!"

         Val paused, her eyes locking onto the scientist. This presentation couldn't be good news.

        "We have decided to create something truly incredible," Crewel continued, "Using not only my experience, but that of both Dr. Lou King and Dr. Marin Cidd." She indicated the men on either side of her, "We have created the next soldier for war. We have combined extreme intelligence, speed, strength, and durability of a robot with a piece of a living, human brain. But not the entire brain, and here comes the beauty of it all. It has only a portion of the human mind. It doesn't feel fear in the heat of battle. It doesn't question orders. But it gives the bot the ability to improvise, think outside of the box. It gives it the strength of passion, of courage, and of a determination to accomplish its missions unlike that seen in any robot before!"