Prometheus Vengeance (The New Prometheus Book 4)

by Andrew Dobell

  ‘That’s right. You’ve heard of them?’ she said, surprised that he knew what she was talking about.

  ‘Well, they’ve been in the news a bit more recently and, well, I spend a lot of time online, so, I’ve heard of them. Never been down there myself, though,’ he explained.

  ‘Aaah, I see. Well, I used to try and rope in some of the back alley doctors down there to help out those in the most need. Some helped, others didn’t, but I always tried to help those in the greatest need of help.’

  ‘So, what happened?’

  Jacker Gang attack. I got shot. I would have died, but a local doctor found me and saved me, giving me a new body,’ she explained.

  ‘A new body? So, is everything new?’ he asked.

  ‘Well, there’s not much of me left now. Only what’s in here,’ she said, tapping the side of her head.

  ‘Wow, that’s amazing. You didn’t have any augmentations when you lived here did you?’

  ‘No, I didn’t. Just didn’t see the need,’ she said.

  ‘You’ve gone the other way totally now, though.’

  ‘Something like that. So, um, what’s going on with next door, by the way?’ she asked.

  ‘You mean your old place?’

  ‘Yeah, I see it’s up for sale,’ she said.

  ‘That’s right. I’ve not spoken to Janet about it much, but, from what I gather, she’d had enough of it. Too many bad memories in there, she said, so they chose to sell it.’

  ‘Bad memories?’ Frankie asked. ‘Do they see it as tainted or something?’

  ‘Well, I think she means that you pretty much destroyed it, and they’ve spent a lot fixing it up, and now they want to recover the money they sank into it and move on.’

  ‘Okay, well, that’s up to them. Doesn’t bother me, really,’ she commented.

  ‘And why should it,’ he agreed.

  Frankie smiled. This was probably the most she had ever spoken with Oliver, and she had to say, she liked him. She’d never really given him the time of day when she had lived here. She’d always been polite, but she always had just brushed him off. She was too preoccupied with her mission in the Undercity to spend any time with him. Which, she now thought, might have been a mistake. He was charming and talkative, and she was quickly warming to him.

  A new message icon flashed up in her vision from William and tagged as urgent. She opened it and glanced through it.

  - Frankie, we have a situation. Get to a rooftop; we’ll pick you up on route. Check the news when you have a moment. –

  Damn it, she thought. She had to leave. She shuffled forward on the seat, so she was perched on the edge of the sofa.

  ‘So, unfortunately, I can’t stay. I have something which I need to deal with. But it’s been great to see you,’ she said.

  ‘And you. I was not expecting this at all,’ he said.

  Frankie stood and started to make her way over to the door, stopping when she reached it and turning back to him. ‘You know, you could always ask me out sometime,’ she said.

  ‘Oh, really?’

  ‘Well, you know, only if you want to,’ she said.

  ‘How about tomorrow night?’ he said, almost struggling to get the words out he was speaking so fast.

  Frankie smiled. ‘That sounds great. Where do you want to go?’

  ‘I’ll message you,’ he said, and suddenly a link request appeared in her vision.

  She accepted it. ‘Sound good. See you tomorrow,’ she said and offered her hand.

  ‘Oh, come here,’ he said and pulled her in for a brief hug. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before he let go of her. She didn’t resist and returned the kiss on his cheek, too.

  She smiled as she backed out into the corridor.

  ‘Don’t work too hard,’ he said.

  ‘I won’t,’ she smiled back and set off down the corridor, a happy grin spreading over her face as she thought about how well that had gone. Shame she had to call it short, really, she thought. But, duty calls. Frankie read the message from the A.C.T. director again and then opened a browser in her vision and checked the net for breaking news stories.

  She saw it right away and knew this would be the one as she read the headline.

  “Parliament under siege: Terrorists storm New Westminster Palace and take hostages.”

  4.05

  Frankie saw an open lift up ahead and ran into it, skidding to a halt inside. She was still feeling on something of a high from seeing Oliver and knowing she was going on a date tomorrow night. Providing everything went well on the mission today, of course, she thought.

  Cancelling on him was the last thing she wanted to do, but the lives of people in danger came before a meal out. She wasn’t sure what she would say if she had to cancel, but if this was going to go anywhere long term, she would need to explain that her job did this quite a bit.

  As the elevator rose through the building, she focused back on the image in the browser she had opened up after checking the news. She was looking at a very fetching little black dress that seemed to be quite figure hugging. It looked stunning, and she felt sure that Oliver would love her in it.

  The elevator stopped and the door opened with a ping. Stepping out, she strode through the corridor to the door that led to the roof. A swift kick broke the lock, allowing her to climb the stairs on the other side as she gave some thought to her choice of dress. Stepping out of the door, she saw the A.C.T. flyer bump down onto the landing pad a short distance away. Knowing they were on the clock, she jumped up to the pad and jogged inside to see Gibson, Veronica, Cole, Kalypso, Xenox, and Dion in there, with William standing at the far end of the cargo bay. An icon in her vision flashed up, letting her know she had just joined the group link.

  ‘Thanks for joining us,’ William said over the link as the flyer's engines roared, lifting the aircraft up.

  Frankie hit the buy button on the dress, making sure to request delivery for tomorrow morning before she closed the browser down. ‘Sorry I’m late,’ she said.

  ‘No problem. Get changed,’ William said.

  Frankie nodded and moved to the small travel locker that all the A.C.T. flyers had. She pulled out her stealth suit and proceeded to remove her clothes before putting on her mission gear.

  ‘Okay. For the benefit of those just joining us, the situation is this,’ William said over the link. ‘A terrorist group has infiltrated the New Westminster Palace and taken hostages. Parliament was in session at the time, and we know that the prime minister was in there. So, it’s entirely possible that she has been taken hostage, too. No demands have been made as of yet, but that might have changed by the time we get there. The police are on the scene and are attempting to contact the terrorist group.’

  ‘Any idea who they are?’ Frankie asked.

  ‘Not yet. We have some images that were pulled from the buildings security cameras, but it’s nothing conclusive. So, until we hear from them, we have no idea what they want.’

  Frankie nodded as she pulled on her stealth suit and then started to attach her webbing as well.

  ‘We’ve been called in, in case this is a Corporation issue, but until we know otherwise, we will sit this one out,’ he said.

  Frankie finished up getting ready, attaching her weapons to her webbing and screwing on the suppressors to her guns to match the rest of her team as the flyer dropped and finally came to a landing on the heart of Neo-London. The rear hatch levered open, and William led the way outside. Frankie followed with her team behind her as she took in the vista before her. She had seen this place before, and had even visited it as a kid, but it had been awhile since she was last here.

  The New Palace of Westminster was a huge steel and glass building that had been modelled on the old palace. The shape was similar, complete with a new version of the Clock Tower that housed Big Ben. The ancient bell had somehow survived the nuclear attack of World War III and was now installed within this new tower.

  The building was much bigger than
the previous palace, though. At about double the size, it sat atop a huge platform with lush green gardens surrounding it as well as roads that sprouted from the edges of the platform and curved out between or into the surrounding taller buildings and platforms, linking the heart of British government to the city it served.

  Today, the whole area had been cordoned off, and the blue lights of countless police cars flashed in the shadows of the nearby looming towers.

  Police men and SWAT teams, along with paramedics and firefighters, were all here, helping out or getting ready to swoop in should the situation call for it.

  As they trotted down the ramp of the flyer, an officer walked up to William and exchanged a few words. Seconds later, the officer was leading them through the emergency vehicles, around the police cars and ambulance flyers until they reached what looked to be a hastily set up mobile base that consisted of a table, some portable terminals, and several harassed looking officers. A police officer who looked incredibly pissed off stood nearby. The officer who had led them here, went to speak with him before the man made his way over to William and Frankie.

  ‘Director Forrester?’ the officer asked.

  ‘That’s right,’ William said.

  ‘I’m Deputy Commissioner Peterson with the Met,’ he said.

  Frankie raised her eyebrows. He was second in command to the highest ranking officer in the Met, the commissioner. At least, they were taking this seriously, she thought.

  ‘Pleasure to meet you, shame it’s under these circumstances,’ William said. ‘This is Frankie, leader of our strike team.’

  The deputy commissioner nodded to her before focusing his attention back to William. ‘Thank you for coming. It seems we will need your group's expertise after all,’ he said.

  ‘Corporations?’ William asked.

  The deputy commissioner pressed his lips together. ‘Ex-Corporation, actually,’ he said with something of a scathing tone to his voice. Frankie narrowed her eyes a touch. Did he just take offence to William’s suggestion that the Corporations were to blame for this?

  ‘It seems we have a rogue group, formerly in the employ of…’

  ‘…Nano Technic,’ William interjected.

  The deputy commissioner raised his eyebrows in surprise. ‘That’s right. Impressive.’

  ‘We have our sources,’ William said. ‘Have they been in touch?’

  ‘Not yet, but we have been going through the images we have of the group, and our systems managed to generate a match on several of them. We have no idea what they want, but we know the PM is in there, so we need to get your guys in there.’

  ‘Do you have a plan for that?’ William asked.

  ‘We do. The platform the palace is on is roughly thirty to forty-feet-thick and riddled with passageways and access tunnels that are near impossible to guard entirely. That said, I know they have deployed roving groups of Doll’s into the tunnels. Probably to act as a deterrent.

  ‘Dolls? They’re using androids as guards?’ William asked.

  ‘Unfortunately so. The terrorists brought a force of androids with them and hacked others that were on site. It’s why we can’t get any closer. They shoot anyone who approaches the building. They’re on the platform supports beneath the building, too.’

  William turned to Frankie. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘We’ll take it on,’ Frankie said before she turned to the deputy commissioner. ‘Can you get me the buildings network access codes?’

  ‘Of course,’ he said, and nodded to a guy standing next to him.

  ‘Excellent. So, how do we get into these tunnels?’ Frankie asked.

  ‘We have officers down there already. We’re trying to keep this as stealthy as possible, so we have a van over there with an access hatch in its base. It’s sitting above an access panel in the road we have opened that leads to the service gantries beneath, which in turn lead to the tunnels. From there, you’re on your own,’ the deputy commissioner said.

  ‘Understood,’ Frankie said. ‘Sir?’ Frankie asked William.

  ‘Go to it. We can’t have them holding the country hostage with the prime minister in their custody,’ William said.

  ‘Yes, Sir,’ she said and turned to her team. ‘Okay, you heard him, let’s go’ she said.

  ‘The access codes are being sent to you now,’ the deputy commissioner said as she turned away. A second later, an icon in her vision flashed, indicating a new message. She opened it to see the codes she wanted.

  ‘Thanks,’ Frankie said over her shoulder as she continued to head to the nearby van. An officer next to the rear door opened it up as she approached with her team behind her. The van was huge and could fit her and her team in several times over. As she stepped up into it, she could see the open hatch in the floor along with three other officers in here.

  ‘Here you go, you can climb down here,’ one of them said.

  Frankie moved up and looked down, seeing that a ladder extended from the van down through the elevated highway to a gantry beneath. ‘Thanks,’ she said as she grabbed the ladder and slid down it, her boots squeaking as she fell before she dropped to the metal grating of the gantry with a thud.

  ‘Ma’am,’ said another police officer standing at the base of the ladder. ‘If you’d like to head that way, my colleagues are at the far end.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Frankie said as she moved away from the ladder, allowing Gibson to follow her down.

  She waited a short distance away from the ladder for her whole team to make it down before she continued on. Walking along the gantry with its metal grating floor was very disconcerting. Beneath them was nothing, just open air for hundreds of feet above the city below. She was used to walking on these precarious walkways having done it for a long time, but even so, it was something that still felt a little scary.

  The walkway continued on for another fifty meters or so before it reached the Westminster Palace platform, below which she could now see the huge white support struts that sprouted out the top of the building below the palace at forty-five-degree angles to support the platform above. She could also make out movement on those struts as well, which she guessed would be the android guards the commissioner had spoken about.

  Frankie didn’t wait to see if these Doll’s would see her, and continued on, picking up the pace to move at a steady jog towards the platform. As they passed beneath the near side of the platform, the walkway ended, opening up into a larger area with a metal wall on the far side and an open hatchway leading to tunnels inside. Several officers waited outside the hatch, most of them carrying guns. She could see two guys sitting on the floor to her left: one of which had been bandaged, the other was still undergoing treatment from a paramedic. An officer walked up to them.

  ‘Hi, you’re the ones going into the tunnels?’ he asked.

  ‘That’s right,’ Frankie said. ‘Did you run into some trouble?’ she asked, motioning towards the two wounded officers.

  ‘They went inside to check out the tunnels close by and ran into an android patrol. One of them didn’t make it out,’ he said.

  ‘Yeah, but we kicked their arse,’ one of the wounded men said, overhearing their conversation.

  Frankie smiled at the injured man, and then looked back to the officer standing next to her. ‘Okay, we need to get in there,’ she said.

  ‘Be my guest,’ the officer answered her and walked up to the hatch with her. ‘Good luck.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Frankie said, and climbed inside, bringing her night vision online. She stepped into the tunnel a short distance before grabbing the plastic case from her belt with the drones inside. She opened it up, and six of the tiny robots buzzed into life and rose up from the protective foam inserts as they registered with her cyberbrain.

  Frankie set them to map the area and remain stealthy before sending them on their way.

  Looking back as she tucked the box away, she saw Cole, the last of her team, step through into the tunnel. ‘Okay, let’s go,’ she said, and start
ed to walk along the tunnel. In her vision, a small digital map began to appear as an overlay, marking her position and that of her drones.

  ‘How far do we need to go?’ Veronica asked over their shared link.

  ‘The palace is straight ahead, maybe a couple of hundred meters?’ Frankie answered her. They soon reached the first four-way junction and found a pair of destroyed Doll’s on the floor and a single dead police officer. All three sported obvious gunshot wounds, and there were further bullet holes in the walls, too. Ahead, the tunnel changed from a circular tube into a square corridor with a metal grating floor from this junction onwards.

  They moved forward as a team, each of them holding their guns up and ready, moving at a steady pace. Frankie felt on edge. She knew there were Androids in here and she was almost itching for them to put in an appearance, as the thought of them appearing out of the darkness and shooting them was clearly worse than the reality would be.

  ‘Come on, come on,’ Gibson muttered over the link.

  ‘We’ll run across them soon enough; let’s not be wishing for gun wielding robots to appear, hey?’ Frankie said, humour in her voice.

  They approached the next junction like they had the last one, moving slowly and inching around the corners to check the side corridors. Suddenly, gunfire exploded through the tunnels as shots were fired at them from the tunnel on the left before Frankie had moved fully out to look down it. Everyone ducked back as the metal and concrete wall exploded next to them.

  Frankie didn’t like the idea of a protracted gunfight and wanted to deal with this as quickly as possible. She pulled a grenade from her belt, armed, and threw it down the tunnel, bouncing it off the far wall. Her cyberbrain had a good idea of how far their attackers were down the tunnel, and she was able to judge her throw pretty well… She hoped.

  BOOM!

  Dust and smoke kicked up by the explosion billowed into the junction in a rolling wave that obscured their view of the tunnels, but Frankie wasn’t going to wait to see what was happening. She jumped up and stepped into the tunnel, taking a few steps through the smoke to where she could see two Doll’s on the metal grating, both of them shattered by the explosion and struggling to move.