Darkness surrounded Porter as he was guided along. A hand clutched his arm, making sure he didn't stray from the path he was taking. As he was shuttled out of the Jade Fang's base, blindfolded for insurance reasons, he thought over what had been discussed with Ling Shi...
"Now boys," Ling Shi said, addressing them with his friendliest smile, "the Jade Fang is quite interested in assisting your goal of discovering the whereabouts of this former Enian general. If you would allow it, we would like to commit our resources to helping you, in exchange for your freedom and recognition."
"But you're not getting anything out of this deal," Chase stated. "You let us go and we get the general. I don't get it."
"Notoriety my friends," Ling explained. "That is the goal of the rebel. We want to be known. We want actions and events to be tied to our names and whispers of our rumoured deeds to spread through the city like a plague. If your Enian general is freed and we take the fall, it will be the greatest accomplishment in our history!"
"But uhm...what if he is dead?" Porter timidly through out the question while staring at his feet, truly hoping it didn't come to that so he could repay Ardwen for his support.
"Then you are our hostages, sold back to the States' government so that they can in turn give you back to Enia, provided any of them agree to take you back at all." Ling Shi clasped his hands together and put on his smile, as if his words were frivolous and trivial.
"Or if we can't break him out?" Porter's second question was answered with the same grin and look, meaning the answer hadn't changed. The teens gulped down the fears they had always had lurking in their minds, that they wouldn't be able to rescue Ardwen's brother or, worse, that he was already dead.
"I believe you have settled to be a part of our new operation then?" Ling Shi tilted his head sideways with his query, fully knowing what was going to happen. The boys nodded anyways to give the gang leader reassurance. "Wonderful then. Let me explain how we work then..."
Porter had the blindfold pulled from his eyes, shocking him out of his memories as he was blasted by light. Chase was standing next to him, rubbing his eyes to try and erase his daze. The pair had been left in front of another library, one that shared many traits with the last, though it featured twin statues of koi fish at its entrance, with a thin moat running around the exterior where the real fish lived.
The pair had to cross an ornate, little bridge, completed with a red paint finish to match the colour of the building. A couple of soldiers stood at the entrance to the library, eyeing the different robed scholars who came in and out, keeping their guns strapped to their backs so as not to appear too intimidating. "This library is where you will find the kinds of military records you're looking for," Ling Shi whispered into the ears of the two boys. He placed his hands on their shoulders and leaned in between their heads to speak with them. "We like it for our personal use whenever we feel a need to keep up on our government friends. But we obviously cannot go in it, as you can see." Ling nodded at the guards as he talked. "Normally we use patsies to do our dirty work, but I fear the soldiers are starting to catch on. You look suspicious enough as it is in your outfits, as foreigners, but if there's one thing the Eastern United States is known for, it is for the hospitality it displays to its preferred allies. Show them that you are Enian generals and you may get a bit of a special treatment."
"Oh so this will be easy then," Chase declared, a little too loudly for Porter and Ling's liking. A few people passing by took a gander at them but didn't think much more of them.
"Not exactly." Ling Shi's grip tightened enough on Chase's shoulder to make him squeal a little (to which Porter snickered). "Special treatment means escorts. Escorts mean questions. Questions are our enemy. So we have modified your insignia, changing it so that you are classified as lower level diplomats, ministry workers for the Enian Federation. You don't know how to pilot Goliaths or fire guns or do anything of the sort. You just work for the Kaiser, that's all. If any of them want to know anything in specific you'll have to get creative."
"Good, I can do that," Chase said, rubbing his hands together with glee. "I'm very good with creative."
Ling Shi shifted his eyes over to Porter and the two exchanged glances. The Jade Fang leader had caught on to Chase's antics quite quickly. "Don't worry Ling, I'll handle the excuses then."
"Excellent. I must return to the Fang, but do not worry. You are always under surveillance from some of my finest men, and, if they see a safe opportunity, they may rescue you from any difficulties you encounter. Good luck."
"Thank you." Porter turned and looked over his shoulder but found Ling Shi had melted back into the crowd, disappearing in an instant. Impressive. "No time to dawdle then I guess Chase. Let's do this." The new "diplomats" strolled up to the library with faked confidence, pretending to chat with one another before nodding at the guards as they attempted to pass them. A hand crossed their path though, barring their entrance.
"Hello good gentleman," one of the guards said with extreme difficulty. He struggled to get around the pronunciations of this foreign language and was very clearly stating a pre-planned line. "May I ask your reason of entry?"
Porter withdrew the insignia and showed it to both of the soldiers. "We were sent by the embassy to collect a couple copies of documents." The guard snatched the insignia, examining it with great distrust. While he had his clear reservations about the legitimacy of the symbol, probably after seeing so many forgeries from the Jade Fang, but the clearly foreign appearance of the Enian pilots sealed the deal. The hand was withdrawn.
The smell from the last library was gone in this building, along with any books made of paper. This was a completely digital library, with row upon row of metallic hard drives storing information, amidst clusters of servers holding more data in internet clouds. "Well let's get to work then Chase." Porter dragged his partner along, who seemed far more engaged this time than previously, his sense of adventure and danger propelling him along. They accessed one of the many computers with ease, finding this one had their language built right into it. Obviously this was a commonly visited place by foreign parties.
A database scan began, scouring through the vast resources contained within the entire collection. While it went on, Porter thought back again to the discussion between himself and Ling Shi in the base...
"Tell me Porter," Ling Shi mused as they wandered the halls of the abandoned factory. Chase had been left to actually go to the bathroom, something he had apparently been holding the entire time. "Why is it that you wish to see this general freed, really? I can understand the bond of friendship, but I sense something deeper here."
"Well it's sort of a long story." Ling Shi tried to give Porter his reassuring smile in an effort to coax the tale out of the young man. "Like an extremely long story," Porter repeated. "But I can say that my friend and I have had similar lives. We both lost our family to these wars and I had a chance, a brief moment really, where I was given mine back. I want to see if I can give that back to my friend as well, or at least give him closure." Porter withdrew the chain from his pocket that Ardwen had given him. "This belonged to General Carter Veillon. He gave it to his brother and he gave it to me for now. This is the lack of closure my friend has lived with. Clutching to a memory, a tiny shard of hope and that's it."
"We all have lost so much in these wars Porter. That is why the Jade Fang or the Red Scarf exist. We fight against this endless violence, to restore the lives of the families touched by it. This event, this potential break out, is just another step towards that end goal. You are a cog within the endless machine of the military but I feel like you are a bit different from the usual ones. Perhaps your outlook has been warped by what you have seen or maybe this loss of your family shapes your future but I have a very strange belief in you Porter, something I cannot say of any other soldier who has passed through this place." Porter tried to twist his mouth into a smile at the compliment but couldn't shake the burden of his past weighing down on him. Ling Shi was right: he was a product of the past. But with such a sullied past, did that make him a ruined product?
"Don't worry," the rebel leader continued, "we will get the general out if he is alive. And I feel like we will see you again someday in the future after..."
There was a ding from the computer that brought Porter out of his reverie and into reality. The scan had completed, discovering a host of articles, documents, and files that all pertained to the missing general. The list was extensive, but a couple of quick filter shortened it considerably, leaving only the most relevant results. The young man picked out one near the top, ignoring Chase who was pointing out every file he thought looked interesting.
The selected file popped up, displaying an old military document keeping tabs on prisoners of war. It was dated for eight years ago, meaning Veillon would have been alive and in capture at least then. The name was highlighted as part of the search result, making it easy to keep track of it, and so Porter flipped to the next available result. This one was a similar file, but from six years ago. The name still stood out bright on the screen, boldly challenging the youth with its existence.
"So he was still in capture six years ago," Porter muttered. "I guess I will have to go by year to make sure we don't miss anything." Instead of returning to the search, Porter simply began churning through the set of documents, moving from one date to the next. Six years. Five and a half. Five years. Then...nothing. Porter's head bobbed back a little in surprise and he scanned through the file once again in case he had simply missed something or the name had ceased to be highlighted. But it was not there. Simply put, the name had vanished.
"Look at this Chase." Porter waved his companion close to stare at the screen with him. "Right here, five years ago, right on that particular day, Veillon is reported as in custody." Porter then moved to the following day. "And now his name is gone."
"Yeah so he must have gotten released then right?"
"No, not necessarily. Check out some of the other names around him."
"Well how am I supposed to know the different prisoners of war by name Porter? Duh!" Chase flicked the teen in the ear and chuckled before getting hauled right back to the screen.
"The status beside the name you moron. Read those."
"Incarcerated, incarcerated, incarcerated, released, incarcerated, released, incarcerated..." Chase kept on reading aloud, not seeming to make the connection until Porter smacked him on the back of his head . "Oh so they uhm...they...yeah I don't get it."
"If all the other released prisoners stay in the record, why does Veillon's name disappear?"
"Right, right, I knew that I was just...wanted to hear it in a different...voice...yeah..."
Porter's eyes narrowed as he stared at Chase before throwing up his hands and returning to unscrambling the mysterious missing name. He continued to push past the date, in case some sort of technical glitch were responsible for the lack of Veillon's misnomer. But any trace of the general was gone past that day. The pilot scrolled back to the last file that held the name, and withdrew the portable digital storage device he had been given by the Jade Fang. Scanning the vicinity for any passing soldiers, of which there were none, he began downloading the files for himself, making sure he at least grabbed the last day with the name and the first without before getting any others.
"So now Chase, what does this mean for us?"
"That we lost Ardwen's brother?"
"More specifically."
"That we..." Chase pondered on this for a bit, holding his chin in his hand. "...lost Ardwen's brother?" Porter restrained himself from throttling the hothead, barely containing the desire using the techniques for controlling his chi he had been taught.
"If we don't have any information to bring back to the Jade Fang on where Ardwen is, we are still their hostages."
"Right, right, I knew that I was just...wanted to hear it..."
"Oh shush Chase," Porter cut off the teen as he began searching through the library database once more, ending the download of any further documents. He had the two that mattered most; he would make do with them. "Let's see if there is any military action on either of those days or some government records going on. Maybe there was an execution or a trade or something and it wasn't recorded properly."
Porter's scouring brought up thousands of results, most of which were beyond useless. Transcripts from court cases, tax receipts, military purchases, news reports, a strike at a factory, and on and on went the documents in a seemingly endless list, all just for two days.
"Wow," Chase whistled behind Porter's ear. "Look at all that junk. I'd hate to be the one sifting through that crap. It'd take forever."
"Well we're going to have to move just a bit faster than that."
"Uhm Porter."
"Yes Chase." Porter's eyes were flying around the screen as he frantically searched for anything that could help him explain Carter's absence. As he came towards the bottom of the tenth page, a couple of the documents seemed a little more helpful to the cause, raising Porter's heartbeat as little beads of sweat formed along his brow.
"You might want to go significantly faster than forever." Chase wheeled Porter around to look at a pair of soldiers moving through the crowded library. They were holding a tiny projector that displayed a holographic recording of Chase and Porter at the entrance of the library, and speaking harshly and quickly in their native dialect. One of the sages they stopped had just pointed over towards the two boys.
"Oh Ishiyama. But..." Porter flipped back to the computer and checked over some of the search results at the bottom. "But I'm getting close."
"Yes, and so are those two guards." Chase was starting to sound a little panicked as the armed men approached, their weapons holstered on their hips. Porter's heart rate hadn't returned to normal yet; instead it was now climbing ever higher. He hastily highlighted every result in the search, all four hundred and sixty-two pages, and started the download again to the storage device. The two teens constantly switched between observing files virtually fly into their little machine to watching the soldiers approaching.
"Porter."
"I know Chase, it's almost done."
"Porter," came the more urgent reply."
"Nearly there Chase hang on."
"Porter!"
* * * * *
Sigma crouched low among the bushes feeling their foliage brush against his cheeks. He wondered if his human form would have had sensations because of the contact. He didn't react. To him, the leaves were there, resting against his metallic flesh, but it did not bother him at all. That was depressing in itself.
The android clutched the knife he had fashioned close to his chest. It was formed from a chiseled rock, strapped to a worn-down stick, tied up with some thin vines. In front of the machine was a moderately-sized cat-like beast that was gnawing on the bone of some past prey. The feline licked up and down the now polished surface of its chew toy, trying to suck out some last bits of flavour.
In a flash, Sigma was upon it, leaping out from the trees into the tiny clearing, knife raised high and striking down...on dirt. The creature had bolted as soon as it had heard the first rustlings, and Sigma cursed his metal frame for the scratching sounds it produced in the forest. But he would not give up on the hunt.
It didn't take long for the cyborg to catch up to his organic prey, his robotic body easily helping him catch the fastest creatures on the island (and any others around the world). He tackled the feline, tumbling with it along the ground, throwing up fallen leaves and clumps of dirt as the pair struggled. The knife came loose though, it's hilt scratched by one of the cat's claws, partially severing the vines. The sharpened rock flew out as Sigma waved the weapon around, watching in despair as it embedded itself in a tree trunk. He had spent all morning making that!
The beast attempted to escape, wriggling its body and hissing, slashing out with his its claws at Sigma's body. The android narrowly dodged the swipes, hearing the air blow past his face (and again wondering what sort of sensations that could create on a normal person). He wrapped his arm around the cat's torso, climbing up its body as he pinned it down with his own. Slowly, he began to squirm higher, drawing himself closer to the feline's neck as it hissed at him, baring its fangs in a hopeless attempt to scare him away.
Sigma rested a hand on either side of the animal's head, its body now completely trapped beneath him. He whispered soft prayers to Ishiyama for the cat's spirit before twisting sharply, feeling the crack between his fingers. The beast's body went limp instantly, and he threw it over his shoulder with ease, not a sign of fatigue on his mechanized body.
"I do not understand," Allyson stated blankly, analytically staring at the corpse of the feline. "Why is it's neck broken? And some of its ribs as well," she noted, her eyes picking up the anatomy of the creature.
"Because that's how I killed it," Sigma explained, tossing the body down next to the fire that doctor Roth was tending to. The trio had constructed a hut out of the natural resources they could glean from the area, mostly for the doctor's benefit, and Sigma had begun going on these daily forages for food. This would be the first time he had brought back any meat, discounting some fishing he had done before.
"Why didn't you simply shoot it using any of your weapons? Such an attack would have been much faster and efficient, and would have brought about the same result. It would have also been less painful for the animal." Allyson spoke with a calculated calmness that reminded Sigma of an earlier version of himself, when he had first awakened. The problem with Alpha of course, was that she would not slowly regain her human side; it was long gone.
"I don't know Allyson," Sigma said, sitting down on the ground next to the fire, his eyes rotating slightly to gain focus on the flames. "I just like to feel a little more human sometimes, like my old self. I want to get some of that back, to the best of my abilities." Roth watched Sigma carefully as the android spoke, making sure that a nervous breakdown wasn't about to be triggered.
"Why would you do that?" Alpha asked without discretion, and Roth cringed a little, fearing the response. "And as I have said each time, while I am not opposed to being referred to by pseudonyms, my name is Alpha, so that you may correctly discuss my operations with military personnel." Roth flinched again at this statement, knowing it upset Sigma each time she said it. But he had never stopped referring to her by her old name.
The android took in a deep breath and let out a long sigh. "It is part of my personality Allyson. To call you by that name and to want to be a little human every so often." Sigma tilted his head back to look up through the trees at the stars above.
"What is a personality?"
Sigma was a bit taken aback by the question, but when he saw Roth about to interrupt the conversation, he silenced him with a wave of his hand. "It is the thing we are going to build in you Allyson. It is what takes you from being Alpha the machine, to Allyson the person." Before Alpha could reply, Sigma turned his attention towards the doctor. "She has nothing in there does she?"
"I'm afraid not Sigma. It's empty. She can only do the basics of her programming and that is all."
"Then why does she ask questions? Why is she so curious? It's like there's still a part of her inside Roth, like she wants to get out and understand and figure out what's missing from her but she just can't find that way out yet."
"Maybe she is just attempting to grasp concepts not inserted in her original programming. You were both created to be able to learn, though that did primarily draw from the more human aspects of your brain."
"Learning is human Roth. Personalities only come from learning. That's what a personality is. You aren't born or made or crafted in any particular fashion. Out you come into the world and whatever you learn is what's going to make you. Every little experience, every fact, every exposure, it all culminates in you. Everything that has ever happened to me has not just helped me to bring back pieces of my personality, but to create new ones. We are always changing Roth, and that's how I will bring her back."
"You'll never recreate her. The perfect set of experiences could not be duplicated to the level you want. Sigma, you can do your best to replicate the Allyson you know, and to tell her all the things she loved and hated and feared, but you'll never completely bring her back."
"Well I'm going to try my damn hardest to come as close as possible." Sigma shot up onto his feet, clenching his fists tightly at his sides. "I'm going for a walk now." Roth nodded in understanding, letting the cyborg leave to vent his frustrations and go through his internal struggles. The android stomped off into the forest, no longer caring about the noise he made as he headed for the ocean.
"He'll never bring you back Alpha," Roth said, not expecting any reply from the android. "I know he won't because I have already fought with this as long as he has. He only lost a lover. At least he does not have the blood of killing his daughter on his hands..." The fire crackled and popped, sending sparks twirling up into the night sky, fluttering with the smoke as ashes were carried along by the sea winds, far and away from the refuge the three had created.
A/N: Danger lurks in every corner of Beijing! How will the dynamic duo escape this time?