Despite Reez's numerous precautions, Old Bunker #45 was empty of life.
His idea of bringing binoculars had only shown his paranoia about the job. There were not even footsteps in the sand outside the entrance.
That bunker had been a good hiding place. The wind was constantly blowing, easily masking the movements of its inhabitants as the traces vanished in just a few minutes. Highway 13 was quite a few miles off to the south, and the location was straight in the middle of a no-man's land between the outermost walls of New Colombus and the bulk of the Reli horde.
Various boxes lay around the installations, most of them empty and covered by tarpaulins. The only notable item was a broken energy turret, the cannon sliced clean off.
The door was unlocked. Or more precisely, the lock was broken...
There was no power inside. For a moment, Reez felt like the victim of a horror movie as he slowly discovered the items lying around haphazardly in the room. A dozen rifles and swords of different types had been placed on the wall near the entrance corridor. The next five walls of the octagonal room had a doorway each, only the second and fourth of them being unlocked and leading to crude bedrooms. Placed against the seventh wall, just to his left, was a table with a laptop computer and a few boxes piled up on and under it.
He opened one of the boxes. Syringes, just as Mr. Karl had described...
More were stored in the other boxes. The ones under the table led to a more gruesome discovery: large, putrid pieces of flesh bathing in blood so dark it was almost black. Only Reli monsters had blood this dark.
"That means there has to be vials somewhere..." he whispered to himself. Examination of the entrance led him to a larger box he hadn't seen on his way in: a freezer. He opened it up and retrieved a few vials. They were still cold.
He gave the discovery some thought. Karl called him up right after lunch. Reez arrived a half-hour later at the bunker. The freezer was cold, but barely, warmer than a fridge for sure. That meant whatever element had cut the power to the bunker had done it somewhere at the end of the night or early morning.
"At least we're getting somewhere..."
He got out of the bunker, turned his cellphone on, and called.
"Mr. Karl, Reez Lokk here."
"Ah yes! What can I do for you?"
"I'm at the bunker. I found pretty much whatever you were talking about. The power's been cut sometime during the night so I don't know if the vials I found in the freezer are gonna be okay."
"You got an icebox?"
"No."
"Then stick 'em back in the freezer! Coldest place you'll find for now."
"All right... and when will the army or whatever come by and get the results of my little investigation."
"There's no army, my friend."
"No army? Then who the hell found that bunker?!"
Karl chuckled. "We did. The Department of Technology!"
"You do the army's searching job now?"
"Not really. Unlike them, we know how to operate detection equipment. Actually, we had a bit of luck. Shrike gave herself away with her illegal wireless communication equipment. Thanks to her android telepathy, as she called it, we managed to get a flash of a transmission last night during a calling test for some new headsets of ours, just as she was headin' into town to do her business. All we had to do then was pinpoint the places close to Highway 13. Easy does it, Reez! We kinda got her home a bit too late for comfort but it's still a pretty damn good step forward, right?"
"Right."
"Awesome! Now find a way to get the power back to that old thin' before the stuff in the vials jumps outta there and eats ya! Buy a generator if you need to; I'll cover the costs. Check ya 'round!"
Click, once again.
Reez sighed. He didn't want to get back inside that creepy place. He had been used to full-on street combat and wasn't about to change his habits... Just to make sure, he checked his pistol and energy frame to confirm they were in top working order. At least if someone got the drop on him, he'd get to sustain a hit or two before having to worry...
The bunker seemed even scarier than before.
He had his pistol pointed straight in front of him. Three doors, all of them hiding a potential danger. If he made too much sound, whoever might have been hiding was sure to catch him by surprise if he chose the wrong one.
How was a standard bunker made again? That one was a full-under, no windows, how were they arranged, how the hell were they arranged?...
The door to the right was closest to the entrance.
He took out his energy saber, jammed it into the lock and kicked the door open. Nobody.
He turned around. Nobody.
Quickly, he went to the left door, tore down the lock and kicked it open. Big room, nobody at first glance.
One door left. With all the noise he had made, no one had come out. If someone was hiding, that someone was definitely behind that last door. And if that someone hadn't tried to have a go at Reez yet, it meant that someone didn't consider himself up to match.
Reez felt more confident. With a steadier hand, he cut up the lock and busted the last door open.
Another bedroom.
And nobody.
Suddenly, a sickening odor reached his nostrils. As he ran the beam of his flashlight around the bedroom again, he saw a bucket behind the bed, full of a mixture of oil, blood and vomit. The stuff was even splattered on the walls and floor, where it seeped into a drain at the center of the room. The hole didn't gurgle. It was blocked.
Reez followed one of the trails. He realized he had both feet right on it. He turned around. The trail went to the first door he had opened.
That room was a tiny water room, barely enough for one person to fit inside. There were shelves on both sides, full of dusty boxes.
The sink was overflowing with the horrid mixture. Splashes of it had dried up on the mirror, the counter and the floor.
Reez turned around and puked. The smell made him feel even more ill. He bolted right outside.
No one inside to fight... but stupidly beaten by his own stomach.
He took a few moments to catch his breath and wipe his mouth. He knew that if he wanted to do a good job, he'd have to get back in there and retrieve some of the stuff. Preferably from the bucket or the sink, where it hadn't caked.
He blocked his nose and got back inside, this time to look for the power switch.
It was in the room to the left. He pulled the master switch into position.
*SNAP!*
A flash, and nothing. The breaker had tripped.
He reset the breaker. Another flash, and it went back to the off position.
Something had to be disrupting the electric flow and making the power box's computer go nuts about it...
Reez went to the laptop first, to check on the state of its power supply.
He made two discoveries.
First, it wasn't a laptop. It was an ultra lightweight desktop computer reserved to the military, with the power cord directly relaying it to the plug without going through an external power supply. Second, it wasn't black, but gray in color. The black was caused by a splatter of mixture right on top of it.
He disconnected the cable and went back to the power box. This time, it worked.
The light switches had been left in the on position in the central room and the splattered bedroom. Reez went ahead and turned all the lights on wherever he could find them.
The room with the power box contained a few more empty boxes, and some crates labeled "Radar". The central room had a pivoting command chair right under the lightbulb, and further investigation revealed the bedroom to be old computer rooms; there was a clear line between light and dark shades on the wall, along with some high-power wall sockets and scrapings that hinted the machines had been fixed to the walls for some time.
Now for the bloody oil. A syringe would do the job. He took one out, pulled the thick mixture inside it and stored it into his coat pocket.
The light above the command chair flickered. He reached up to tighten it. It burst apart in his hand.
The bulb in the splattered bedroom followed in a flash. Then the power room. And then the water room. And both other bedrooms. Reez was back in complete darkness, and he couldn't see a thing.
His body felt chilly all of a sudden. His chest hurt, like his shirt had come alive and was trying to crush him. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead in mere seconds. He felt shaky all over again. He could've sworn he had heard a raspy breath right next to him, too close for comfort.
He bolted again. He ran headfirst into a wall. Something shattered on the floor. As he turned around, he bumped into another wall. A crack next to his heart. He had broken a bone! The light, it came from right next to him. He was at the entrance. He rushed out.
Everything vanished. The air was hot and calm. His body felt dry. Light was welcoming him from everywhere. His car was waiting just close by.
He looked at the entrance of the bunker and thought he was looking inside a black hole. The doorway swallowed light as soon as it entered. He threw a small stone inside. Not even sound would come out.
He started the car, and backed up on top of a hill. There, he took a break.
The syringe in his pocket had shattered, coating part of his coat with the smelly mixture. The only items of interest he had left were the few vials he had forgotten to bring back into the freezer. It was better than nothing.
He started the car and headed north.
Reez looked left and right from time to time, hoping to find clues that would lead to anything else, along with giving him an excuse to stay outside. He figured whoever could have been left from Shrike's team would stick away from both humans and Relis, which meant the possible area started at the bunker, and went northwards in a circle around New Colombus until he hit Snow Coast Road next to the shore.
There was a dark form in the distance. He stepped on the accelerator.
The thing turned out to be a Reli creature, half-dead from several slices and stabs. Reez could barely recognize what the monster would have originally looked like. Perhaps a Hacksaw or a Blademaster. It didn't even have the strength to try to kill him, though one of its arms twitched from time to time. There was dark blood all over the creature's hard black skin, and he could smell the stench of the foul mixture from before...
He had left his coat in the car's trunk. The smell was definitely coming from the monster.
He aimed his pistol and shot the creature dead.
He was definitely on the right track...
Just a few miles later, he came across a small pool of oil in the sand. For some reason, it wasn't seeping into the ground.
That oil spelled good, relatively speaking. Breez dipped a finger in the liquid. It was good oil. Used, but good.
As he looked down a second time, the pool had just vanished beneath the sand...
He took out his cellphone, hesitated, then gave up on the idea. It was of no use reporting to Mr. Karl unless he had completely finished his trip out of town.
His next stop led him to Old Bunker #21. It was essentially an armored medium turret made to look like an oasis. There was no bunker to speak of unless one counted the minuscule soldier's quarters, which looked like they had been made for just half a man.
Suddenly, he heard shuffling from among the plants. With his pistol aimed straight at them, he yelled "Out!"
More shuffling. He backed up.
"I said get out!"
Then, out of the foliage, a humanoid figure stood up. It must have measured something like four feet in height, thin and largely undefined in curves. A little girl.
Her skin was definitely black. It could be a Reli monster. Reez kept his weapon pointed.
The thing came into full view... It turned out to be an android. A child android. Reez slackened his pose.
"Who's your owner?" He asked.
"No one, sir."
"You're a free droid?"
"Yes."
"Your name?"
"Sierra."
He reached for his cellphone again.
"I need a CO... Thanks. Hello? This is Reez, number forty-five twenty-two. I need a match on a black and blue kid droid named Sierra... Okay, what about the physical description?... All right, thanks."
No results in the UM database. He phoned Karl.
"Hi Mr.Karl--"
"Yeah, Reez, got news?"
"Sort of. I'll leave the details for later - right now, I've got a question. I have an android in front of me called Sierra, a child model, black and blue, no records in the UM database. Is that part of the objective?"
"Hmmm... We were expecting something much more potent, honestly. But if it's a kid, it's a kid. Who knows, some of 'em are programmed to act like adults. Let us have a look at it, all right?"
"Thanks. I'm on my way back then."
"Awesome! Try to get here before dinnertime!"
Click.
If he says awesome during a phone call, that means he's hanging up, Reez thought. Good to remember...
"Okay kid, turn around, get on the ground, hands on your head."
She did so. With a flick of the handcuffs around her wrists, Reez had secured his objective.
"So, where do you come from?"
"...I don't know."
Reez raised an eyebrow. "Do you recognize where we are?"
"Oh, yes... Highway 13, eastbound. And that's New Colombus."
"Correct, good, good... And you have no background, no story whatsoever, not even a last name?"
"I have a last name!" She blurted out. "It's Ilica."
"Okay... And what's the story on the Ilica family? You know a few?"
"No. I made it up. It seemed like the right thing to do. Everything has a family name, except pets."
"That's some logic."
"I'm not a pet!"
"Then what are you?"
He was secretly hoping that'd shut her up for a while and put an end to a conversation that didn't do much more than hint at the android's apparent mental trouble...
"A girl!... Well, a girl droid. No difference." she replied right away. "You, what are you?"
"A human."
Silence! The little kid didn't feel like following up to that one.
He took a ramp off Highway 13 and followed Corus Boulevard north until he arrived at the Department: an imposing V-shaped skyscraper of maximum legal height.
Mr. Karl was already waiting with a wide grin on his face.
"Step into my office, boy and girl! This way, this way. Have a seat!"
Karl sat at his desk and rubbed his hands vigorously in anticipation.
"Hey, she's a pretty sweet lil' girl!" he exclaimed after glancing at Sierra. "What's yer name, cutie?"
"Uh..."
Reez filled in for the android's uneasiness. "I had a talk with her on the way back. Her name is Sierra Ilica. She has a working knowledge of at least New Colombus - actually, she knows as much as any average adult would know, I assume. She could be a bit troubled, though."
Karl chuckled. "I expected as much! Not like the rest of 'em were pretty sane to begin with."
"Anyway, if you could let me finish my report."
"Oh yeah, okay!" Karl leaned back on his chair and nonchalantly waved Reez to continue. "Report, report."
"The bunker was in a relatively undisturbed condition. I brought back some vials - here they are. All the syringes I found appeared unused. I also stumbled on a really weird mixture... I took a sample but the contents broke out in my coat pocket. I don't know if you're interested in the scrapings-"
"We are!"
"-but my coat's over there if you need it. Could use a shot of cleaner too, 'cause the stuff smells like shit."
"Good, good!" Karl grinned once more. "We'll take a look at the vials' contents and whatever we can rub off your coat. We'll pay for the cleaning too. The cash should be available at the UM tomorrow morning. Oh, kid, stand up and come with me please."
The android didn't budge. Karl ended up pulling her out of her seat, and led her to a door at the back of his office. He pushed her inside and peeked his head through.
"Sierra Ilica, gimme a check with partial battery, please?" he said before closing the door.
Reez crossed his arms.
"So now that the job's done... I got your vials, I explored the bunker, I got the shit scared out of me - can I at least know the link between Shrike, the vials, and the droid I found?"
"Hmmm... Yeah, why not! Get yerself comfortable, it's a long story."
"The police knew Shrike Naïnsev beforehand as a suspected black market dealer. A few people had seen her with a group and raidin' army installations in the desert, but nothing so certain as to build a case against her or the group she was in. The main problem lay in the fact that those who bought black market stuff were mostly United Mercenaries who wanted better weapons without breaking their wallet. So they kept their mouths shut about the whole thing. The only one to be pissed about it was the army, 'cause they kept losing cash over stolen weapons.
"Then, there was an accident. The group deployed a teleportation array from inside a warehouse after they were attacked by Reli creatures during their expedition. Shrike was the last to run for it, but one of the monsters caught up with her, tackled her 'gainst the wall and stepped on the switch. The teleportation array was never meant to correctly identify a Reli creature, so the computer got tons of crazy signals, malfunctioned and tried to teleport as best as it could, which meant with the same ability as someone trying to draw a picture blindfolded. The process crashed midway, part of Shrike got sent to its destination and the rest stayed there. Whatever Reli flesh she hung to bonded with her body. As a result, she found herself with the hands of a Blademaster and a badly damaged computer component. Most of her innards were stuck in flesh.
"That's the reason why the police and the army demanded a hunt in the first place: they had an android somewhere in the city with knives for fingers, and they didn't have a clue of her mental state. But, they had a legal reason to get her now: she had killed the three technicians tryin' to repair her, and had coaxed another 'droid to murder her owner. As if that wasn't enough, she realized she could interface with the Reli at a cellular level. In other words, she could take control of a piece of Reli flesh and instruct it to grow into a being accordin' to her own specifications. She used that ability to turn other androids into hybrids just like she was.
"We knew of six androids total: they had all been witnessed fighting the police or the Unionized Mercenaries. Aside from Shrike, they were identified as Elise, Kay, Kestra, Watles and Asial.
"The way Shrike was believed to work was this: she'd inject a mix of Reli blood and cells inside another android, then hack into the computer, and send an instruction to the cells to reproduce until they reached the desired form. Later on, she managed to develop a procedure of dormant cells, which would start growing as soon as they felt an electric signal, thereby ridding Shrike of the hassle of connecting to another android to do the job.
"That was your first objective, Reez: get samples back so we could get a better idea of the way she worked. Our tests are gonna confirm our hypothesizes, I'm sure.
"Your second objective was to find any remainder of Shrike's group, since we believed there may be at least one android left as a backup. You found this chick just outta nowhere and suspiciously close to the bunker. I dunno about you, but that rings bells in my head! Until further order, we're to assume she's the 'next in line', so to say, in Shrike's hierarchy, and knows everything the group knew.
"Until then, Reez, you're gonna be treatin' her like a loaded gun pointed straight at ya!"
The door behind Mr. Karl opened. Sierra came out, looking uneasy.
"No record, created with name Sierra Ilica," a voice said from inside the room. "Android type I slash N, number seven, blood type R, code D."
"Thanks!" Karl replied. "Do a TSC procedure on the entry and forward it. Keep your report fresh. Append a note: preliminary negative. Check?"
"Check. Be seeing you, sir."
The door slammed shut. Karl turned to face Reez again.
"Well, it seems at first glance she ain't what we're lookin' for. But, she might be interesting in another way I'll talk about when it's relevant. 'Till then your new objective is to find her a place to stay. Can ya do that?"
Reez raised an eyebrow. "You told me to treat--"
"Bullshit, canceled. I didn't know any better when I said that. Turned out I was bein' paranoid. So, you in or I'm gonna have to waste my afternoon briefin' someone else?"
"I'm in, I'm in..."
"Awesome! See, Reez, ya need a little pushin' around, but you're pretty damn good when you're motivated. You're just the way Kod had described you."