Cybernova, page 22
No one answers, which makes sense, considering Dex is face-to-face with the enemy and Ash and Zeke are desperately trying to pass as crates of weapons. It still makes me feel incredibly nervous.
Through the comms, I can hear Dex talking to the obstinate guard. I watch nervously through the camera feeds, unable to do anything more for them at the moment. It’s a terrible feeling.
“Explain the reason for the delay,” Dex demands, “this shipment of weapons is due to the barracks in exactly three minutes.”
According to Dex, formalities and pleasantries are all but nonexistent among CYBR Corp employees, especially when dealing with Retribution. These guards, just like all Retribution, are inhuman killing machines, stripped of all emotions other than rage.
Needless to say, when we prepped for this moment, Dex made sure we all understood that any attempt to be friendly, joking, or anything human with these guys would be cause for suspicion. And we all know they need very little reason to kill someone.
“Reason for entry acknowledged. State your vehicle identification number.” Replies the guard.
“VN082367549.” Dex recites without a moment’s hesitation.
“Acknowledged. Proceed.” The guard relents, stepping back from the truck.
Thank fuck.
Dex, cool as a cucumber, rolls up the window of the truck and slowly pulls through the gate, officially entering CYBR Corp’s facilities. In the camera feed, I swear I can see him smirk as the window closes.
With them officially inside, I have an unexpected dilemma to deal with: do I hit the gate button again, closing the gate as the guard would expect, or do I leave it open, sticking to the narrative of malfunctioning gate controls that I’ve already established?
Wait, but he demanded that I fix it at once, so how fast is that supposed to be?
Deciding that “at once” is literal in the eyes of a soulless CYBR Corp goon, I press the gate button. Or, should I say, the ADMIT button? That’s right. You press the same button, labeled ‘ADMIT,’ to open and close the gate.
I stand up from the guard station as the speaker crackles again.
“I see you’ve fixed your station, seven four two nine. I expect you will file the proper report with management.”
Oh great, you again.
“Correct, eight nine three six, it is already filed,” I reply.
I wait for a moment, there’s no response. To be fair, replying to that and actually finishing a conversation would be a form of pleasantry.
With that taken care of, I take one final look around the guard tower, looking for anything we can use as we further infiltrate CYBR Corp’s headquarters.
On the top floor, there’s a ton of grenades, guns, and tech scattered around, but unfortunately, my little grenade escapade has all but definitely ruined every piece of tech in the whole place.
Wait, swords!
In my panic, I almost forgot to grab my swords. Luckily, the lights are on, or at least the ones that didn’t explode, so it’s much easier to look for them now.
I find the katana first. It’s a couple of steps down the staircase. Then, I see the wakizashi at the bottom of the steps. I switch on the arc units on both of them, and to my relief, they hum and spark to life, working perfectly. I switch them off and sheath them at my waist.
I’ve got approximately no time left, but I take a quick glance around the bottom floor, desperately looking for something useful.
Let’s see, more useless arc grenades and guns, some lockers, cleaning robots… Wait!
I rush over to the lockers and open one of them. Inside are guard uniforms of every size. It’s precisely what we need. Dex already has his old uniform, which he was wearing just now, to infiltrate the gate. I’m looking for one that will fit me. They’re listed in standard small, medium, large, etc. sizing.
Great, this means nothing. Am I large? XL? XXL? Medium? Who’s to say?
I grab a medium, a large, and an extra large and hope for the best.
I open the rest of the lockers in a frantic panic, finding more uniforms, fried tech, and weapons. Among the broken weapons are some basic arc shock batons. I remember hearing somewhere that these batons are resistant to arc or EMP interference for maximum crowd control.
Crowd control, aka beating peaceful protestors mercilessly. Something both Ash and I have experienced on multiple occasions.
Time for some sweet revenge.
I grab three of the batons, one for each of them. I consider grabbing one for myself but decide against it. After all, I already have my daishō.
I quickly dig through my backpack, seeing which of the grenades and taser units are still good. Each one has a blue indicator strip that turns red when it’s been compromised. Unfortunately, all of my arc grenades are toast, but the EMP grenades and taser units all seem to be okay.
I suppose I could check each indicator strip on every piece of tech here, but I definitely don't have that kind of time or patience.
I toss the arc grenades, shoving the uniforms and batons into the empty space as best I can. The good news is I needed the space in my backpack. The bad news is I’m down several weapons.
Time to go.
I go out the back door of the guard tower, moving silently. I slowly peek around the corner to see if the guard is paying attention on this side of the gate. It looks like they’re arguing with the outside gate guard over something, probably whether or not they should have let in that truck just now. Or who’s the bigger asshole. Whatever it is, it’s my chance.
I crouch-run as quickly as I can, holding my backpack and daishō in a way that they make as little noise as possible. I need to make it to the weapon storage building, which is our meeting place. According to Dex, it’s three buildings down from this guard tower, along the west wall of the complex.
I’m currently running north. The gate we entered through was the southwest entry point of CYBR Corp HQ. We chose it because it’s one of the two south towers, which are the farthest from the main HQ building, where the higher-ups are. Also, this tower is near the most relatively unguarded quadrant of the facility, which is the storage quadrant. According to Dex, there are four quadrants of equal size: storage and training in the south and research and command in the north. Each quadrant is approximately the size of a city block. Our goal is to move from the southwest storage quadrant to the northeast command quadrant. Preferably undetected, but, ya know. I’m not holding my breath on that.
I run along the west wall of the complex, making my way behind the next building in the row: a guard bunkhouse. All CYBR Corp employees are required to live on the premises, with the guards in various military-style bunkhouses such as this one.
I slow my run to a crouch-walk as soon as I’m behind the building, now out of the immediate field of view of the gate guards, should they decide to stop arguing long enough to turn around.
The good news is that this building has no windows or security cameras on the back side, considering they would be looking directly at the grey stone wall to my left. The bad news is that I’m squeezing between said brick wall and the bunkhouse, a space no human was intended to enter, as far as I can tell. It can’t be more than a foot and a half of room.
When we discussed this in the tunnels, Dex assured me I’d be able to fit in this space ‘no problem.’ It’s just now occurring to me that he may have either forgotten how small this was or was lying to me to make me feel better.
Alright, Oliver, time to shimmy.
I take off my backpack, holding it out in front of me with my right hand while I hold my daishō out with my left hand. I proceed to shimmy my way along this building. It’s incredibly dark in here, with the middle being almost entirely dark, the only light coming from distant fluorescent lampposts on either end of the building.
I have no idea how long this building is, but it feels like a mile by the time I shimmy out the other side and into the space between this and the next building.
As I finally come out from behind this building, I cautiously walk around the corner, making sure no one sees me.
My face is plastered on every CYBR Corp most wanted poster, and I’m not wearing the uniform yet. I realize now that I should’ve changed back in that guard house, but it didn’t occur to me at the time.
Alright, the coast is clear. Time to get to the next building.
As I make my way to the next building, I try to remember what Dex told me this one is, but I honestly forgot. I remembered the bunkhouse because he said it was the most dangerous, with the most people likely to be there. I also remember the weapon storage building because that’s the meeting point. But this second building? It could be anything, to be honest.
Doesn’t matter. It's time for more shimmy. Here’s hoping this isn’t a bomb factory.
I slide into the narrow gap between the second building and the wall, now much more skilled at the art of the shimmy than last time. I made it from one end of the building to the other in half the time it took me to make it past the bunkhouse.
Having cleared the second building, I try not to get too excited and rush to meet up with everyone. There doesn’t seem to be anyone in between these buildings either, but it doesn’t stop me from feeling nervous. My palms feel sweaty, and my heart beats fast again.
Just one wrong move, one misstep, that’s all it takes to ruin everything. No, shut up, Oliver. You can do this.
I take a second to calm my nerves, breathing deeply as I lurk just around the corner of this building. I look up and see the full moon in all of its pale glory.
It’s a rare sight to see any part of the night sky unobscured by clouds, smog, or both, so the moon catches me off guard for a minute.
It really is beautiful. When was the last time I even saw the moon?
As I take a moment to stare at the full moon, catching my breath, I lose a bit of awareness of my surroundings. One moment, I’m staring at the moon. The next, a patrolling guard is walking through the street, passing by the alley I’m in, mere yards away.
How they didn’t notice me, I have no idea, but I duck as quickly as I can behind the building before they have a chance to turn around.
That was way too close. I have to be more careful.
After a few moments, I come back out from behind the building, slowly rounding the corner as I look out for more patrolling guards. I don’t see any, so I rush to the third building. There should be a secondary entrance to this building on the north side, an entrance Dex assured me he would open before I got there. I’m hoping that’s true.
I slide behind the building like I did with the others, and then I round the corner, moving with renewed caution thanks to my close encounter in the last alleyway. I’m greeted with a sight that makes me extremely grateful that I chose caution: the space on the north side of this building is a large, open courtyard teeming with CYBR Corp guards, employees, and vehicles of several kinds.
Not just the guards but also the seemingly non-combat personnel are all extremely armed. The vehicles all seem to have at least one turret mounted to them. The reddish hue of the lampposts casts a hellish glare over everything. It’s terrifying.
For a moment, I stand there, frozen. My fight or flight response has definitely kicked in, and, unlike usual, I desperately feel the need to run, to sprint in the opposite direction as fast as I possibly can. It’s actually a rather unique sensation, or at least it would be if I wasn’t filled with fear and adrenaline.
What am I doing? Do I honestly believe I can take down this entire megacorporation with three friends as my only allies? Look at me. I’m shaking in fear over what, twenty guards? But I can’t fail now. We’ve come too far and gotten too close. And what kind of friend would I be if I brought them all into this mess, only to bail when shit hits the fan?
I spend another minute or two between the building and the wall, trying to calm my breathing. I feel like curling up into a ball, but there isn’t enough room back here for that. Plus, that would be one hell of a way to get discovered here.
Get it together, Oliver. You’ve done so much to get here. Everyone believes in you. You just have to trust that they know what they’re talking about. It’s not like they’re just telling you that because they don’t want to be rude. Right? No, definitely not. Telling someone you believe in them when you actually don’t is not the kind of lie you infiltrate the most dangerous place on Earth for.
They believe in you. Now, believe in yourself.
With newfound resolve, I straighten up, roll my shoulders, crack my neck, and step out from behind the building.
All eyes turn to me.
“Hey! You can’t be here!” a guard shouts.
Fuck.
I sprint toward the side entrance. I can see it now. It’s about halfway down the north side of this building. If I can just reach it, I’ll be safely inside with my friends. And if I can’t…
“You have three seconds to drop your weapons and come forward with your hands up.” The guard shouts again.
I turn for a split second to look and see approximately thirty guns aimed directly at me. There’s no way I’m surrendering, so I sprint harder for the door.
After what seems to me like a lot less than three seconds, they open fire.
Well, this is it, then.
The door is still several paces away, and fighting back is pointless, so I just press my back against the wall and wait for my inevitable demise. As the sound of thirty charging arc rifles fills the night air, I close my eyes and try to imagine it’s the sound of a spaceship blasting off or something. I don’t know, don’t ask me why. You stare down the barrel of imminent death and tell me what you’re thinking.
Only I don’t die. Not only do I not die, but I’m entirely okay. I open my eyes to what may be the most confusing and wonderful thing that’s ever happened to me: thirty arc rifles charge, fire, and then, nothing. The massive wall of charged plasma screams toward my face, ready to end my existence, only to disappear a mere few inches from my nose without so much as a puff of smoke.
The CYBR Corp goons look just as confused as I am, only instead of pleased, they’re decidedly pissed off. A few of them angrily smack their guns while others charge another volley and try once again to unsuccessfully end my life.
I decide it’s best not to tempt fate any longer, so I start running toward the door again, making sure to hug the wall like my life depends on it. Because it does, apparently. I don’t know why it does, but I’m pretty confident that I owe my life to this wall.
I reach the door as the angry mob begins rushing toward me, realizing their guns are useless. I try to open the door, but it won’t budge. Also, I don’t know how to open it. There’s no handle, and it doesn’t seem to be automatic.
“Come on, come on! Stupid door. Open!” I yell.
I poke and prod at every part of the door, hoping to find a button of some kind. Finally, a little panel opens when I press it, and a fingerprint sensor reveals itself. Without a second thought, I press my right index fingertip to the sensor. If I was religious, this would be the time to pray.
The sound of thirty pairs of boots rushing toward me is growing closer and closer. They were only around twenty yards away when I last looked.
After a moment, the panel slides back shut, and the door slides open. I rush inside and slide the door closed behind me. The closest of the guards are mere feet away as I slam the door shut. Their hate-filled eyes are the last thing I see.
“Oliver! Thank goodness.” Dex greets me, standing at a control panel a few feet to my right. He aggressively presses some sort of big red button.
“Lockdown initiated. Security reinforcements inbound.” Cerulean’s voice says over the building’s speakers.
There’s a pair of unconscious guards next to the panel.
“So much for stealthy infiltration.” He comments.
“Dex! Man, am I glad to see you. You’re not gonna believe what just happened to me.” I say, leaning down with my hands on my knees, catching my breath.
I look up to see Zeke and Ash walking toward us from the front of the building. Another pair of guards lie on the ground near the front door.
“Hey! Guess who’s alive!?” I shout to them, elated.
“You damn well better be alive, or else what am I even doing here?” Zeke replies as they get closer.
I let myself feel happy for a minute, rushing over to give Ash and Zeke a hug.
“Get in here!” I say, looking at Dex. He hesitates, then comes and joins the group hug.
For a moment, everything is good.
“Alright, but I have to ask, did any of you know this building had a force field?” I ask.
“Well, not to be rude, but I did tell you about this building in the briefing while we were planning this attack, did I not?” Dex replies.
To be fair, I do remember him telling me about this building, how it’s full of weapons, relatively low-staffed due to it being automated, and protected by some sort of electrical field—
“Wait! That’s what you meant by electrical, whatever field? I thought it was some sort of EMP protection or something. Not a literal forcefield that can stop arc rifles!”
“Yes, well, it’s designed to protect the building against any sort of attack. Since the walls themselves are physically nearly impenetrable, they felt it would be important to also protect against any sort of electricity-based attack.” Dex replies.
“I guess it’s a good thing I literally had my back against the wall, then.”
“Indeed. It’s called an electromagnetic dampening field, or EMDF. Many buildings containing dangerous or precious items or personnel have them.”
“Huh, I’ll be damned.” I sit in stunned silence on a nearby crate of something probably explosive.
After a moment, I reach into my backpack and toss out the uniforms and shock batons.
“These won’t be much use anymore, I guess. Sorry about the not-so-stealthy entrance.” I say, feeling like a disappointment.
