The V.I.C.I. Diaries: Valley of the Damned (Part 22)

[DukeNukem 2417]

Reaver couldn't help but chuckle as the Field Medics carted Aaberg out on a stretcher. "Lawson must've done a number on him," he mused. "As soon as they were able to bring him back to consciousness, he just started babbling about witches and dark magic....he must think she's some kind of---"

"Some kind of what?" V.I.C.I. teased.

"He probably thinks the ALPA is something from beyond this world," Saturn joked. "Hell, he probably thinks we all came from Hogwarts!" The Field Agents shared a brief laugh; "To be honest," Vicki admitted, "all I did was follow the advice of the late, great Freddie Mercury: Thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightning." She held up her hands, allowing arcs of bluish lightning to dance between her fingertips. "Well, more like 'screwing with the lightning and hitting him with Detaining Grip', but you get the idea...."

Her words trailed off as a second stretcher was wheeled out of the building, bearing the unmoving figure of Leah Chambers. After a pause that was far too uncomfortable for anyone to admit, she spoke up again: "Did the doctors say how badly she's been damaged?"

"No," a familiar voice cut in, "but they did say that her last words before passing out were 'tell Vicki I owe her one'." Oberon sighed as he watched the Medics load Leah into an ambulance; "She'll probably make it through the night and most of tomorrow if we let her stay active," he muttered, "but any longer than that and she'll end up a vegetable....that, or her artificial components will undergo a cascade failure and shut down at any given moment----which would not be a quick and painless way for her to go, despite some idiots insisting that it would be. Still," he added, "if she keeps herself in a state of rest for...well, the rest of the month, we can have her prepped for the procedure by the beginning of September."

Vicki didn't ask what procedure the ALPA Chairman meant, mainly because she didn't want to know.

"If it's any consolation," Oberon added quietly, "it's not your fault. Aaberg was firing hollow-point rounds; one hit would've taken off a limb if he'd have shot you. As it stands, she would've died instantly if she'd still been 100% human---her enhancements took most of the damage. Her passing out was just a failsafe---her system was giving her brain a 'sleep' command, like you'd give a computer to keep it from using up too much energy, and to keep her from getting any vital artificial fluids into the wound."

After another uncomfortable pause, Vicki nodded. "I'm guessing Aaberg's finished here, then?"

"He is," Oberon nodded. "He'll be flown to New York tomorrow; they'll give him his court date, and he'll spend every waking moment until then in a cell. As for his little operation...." The ALPA Chairman rolled his eyes. "If some people hadn't taken the Rambo approach, we'd have enough to trace every client he's ever had---"

"DO NOT START," Major Tom bellowed, limping over even as Kimiko Mori tried to guide him back to his seat near the fleet of SUVs that had arrived ten minutes prior. "Do NOT go pinning that whole thing on me! I told my team to check their fire and---"

Both the Major and Oberon tensed as they felt Vicki's hands on their shoulders---and mild electric shocks going through them. "I call that setting 'friendly persuasion'," she informed them, "but I don't have a problem with ramping it up higher if you two insist on arguing..." Her stern expression lapsed into a giggle, prompting a wry grin from the Chairman and a groan from the Major. "Now that is a wonderful method for dissolving a tense situation," Oberon mused, clapping the gynoid Field Agent on the shoulder. "And for the record, Major, I wasn't going to 'pin the whole thing on you', as you so charitably put it....though I will have to ask you to send me the names of your squad members for this op, so they can receive mandatory firearm training."

"Fair enough," the ex-NASA operative grunted, shaking Oberon's hand. "So, are we all taking the SUVs, or..." He stopped, noticing Oberon's smile---and another Field Agent leading a horse into the parking lot. "Oh," he muttered, "Oh, God, no....."

Even as the Major started swearing, Vicki couldn't help but laugh.
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"So.....Aaberg has failed us."

Michael Innes Grade and Anders Stahl tried their damndest not to look into the shadows that seemed to engulf everything behind the Baron's desk. "With all due respect, Baron," Stahl replied, "Aaberg had deliberately defied the orders I gave him---orders you personally told me to give him---"

"He defied you, Stahl....unless he received his orders from me personally, he only ever defied you."

The banking guild manager nodded quietly, taking a step back.

"There is...other news to report, Baron," Grade stated. "It seems that one of the fembots left by Hannsen wasn't actually a fembot---well, not one of Bradford's---"

"I am well aware of the intruder who used the attack on ALPA Headquarters to infiltrate their building," the Baron intoned. "What I do not understand is how this individual's presence escaped your gaze, seeing as how both of you carried out an inspection on every single fembot delivered to us, as per my orders..." The pause that followed those words was almost more deafening than any scream, roar or shout could've been. "I was told that you oversaw the inspection personally---"

"You were told wrong," Grade snapped. "We....we didn't have time to inspect the fembots. Aaberg wanted to deploy them---"

"Björn Aaberg does not answer to me," the Baron growled. "The two of you, on the other hand......"

Again, silence filled the room.

"I see now that our failure can be placed solely on Aaberg's shoulders," the Baron muttered. "His refusal to comply, paired with his compulsiveness, doomed this plan from the beginning....if Hannsen had not been incapacitated by the Lawson girl...." His gloved fingers steepled. "There will be time enough for speculation later. Stahl, Grade---both of you are will be given your new orders by Celine on the way out. I have too much work to tend to at the moment....." With that, the Baron gestured for the two to leave. "You are dismissed."

Stahl gave a curt nod and turned on his heel, heading for the door---but Grade didn't budge.

From behind the shadows, the Baron smirked. "I believe I told you that you were dismissed, Mister Grade---"

Grade pulled a Ziploc bag from his jacket and tossed it on the Baron's desk. "Y'know the funny thing about the girl who broke into the ALPA headquarters?" he inquired. "According to the footage from their security cameras, she looks more than a bit like 'the Lawson girl'.....and that eyewitness got at least fifty pics of a girl matching that description near the San Jose International Airport two nights ago. Took my people half a day to catch up with him, get the SD card and compare the pics...."

Silence.

"I'm saying we can find this girl," Grade continued, "get her to tell us what she knows---"

"You are dismissed, Mister Grade," the Baron thundered. "That will be all."

Any protest Grade could've used in his defense died on his lips as Stahl nearly shoved him towards the door; the two left without another word, leaving the Baron to turn the bag over in his hands. "So a new player has chosen to enter the game....one with no connections, no ties....."

He held the Ziploc bag to the light, a brief flash of gold piercing the darkness.

".....and no idea what kind of a world she has just intruded upon."
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"....and the papers you gave them had the tracers in them, correct? Wonderful. Thank you for the update, Cel, we'll be in touch." Richard Baker sighed as he ended the fifteenth phone call he'd answered since arriving in San Jose; "What I wouldn't give for a bottle of cognac right now," he muttered, settling into the chair that had been abandoned since Celine's departure.

"If it helps," Oberon volunteered, "Tawny's great at making herbal tea....but I have a feeling you're in the mood for something with a bit more kick to it." He grinned. "Anyways, seeing as how we both know each other, I assume we can skip the formal introductions and get straight to the heart of the matter...." His grin faded. "I've been told that one of Hannsen's fembots wasn't who or what she appeared to be."

Richard nodded, handing over a folder. "Other than the fact that she looks remarkably like your Agent Lawson, we've got nothing on her---and we both know Vicki wasn't near the server room at the time."

"Indeed....which makes this all the more troubling." Oberon frowned as he leafed through several pictures from the folder. "She was spotted at the airport beforehand, even posed for a picture with some tourists and one of our undercover men---" He removed a folder of a brunette girl smiling and standing next to a few other college-age girls, all of whom were posing near a silver-clad (and painted) man with a cane; "It's not like we found him in the bathroom stall missing his wallet, or anything," he added. "We got a call from him about some idiot trying to vandalize a payphone, but other than that....nothing." The ALPA Chairman sighed. "Might as well get some of that cognac now---Celeste kept a fully-stocked minifridge behind the third bookcase."

The admission prompted a chuckle from Richard. "I'll be surprised if she didn't bring it all with her..."

Oberon shook his head. "She didn't take anything other than clothes, her ID papers and a few keepsakes from the old days. Everything else had tracers on it---well, everything other than the car."

"You let her take the Bentley?"

"Wasn't my call to make." Oberon pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling the makings of a migraine coming on; "The worst bit about it," he muttered, "is that we all got it wrong. Even me. I thought he convinced her to run off to Florida or wherever, but it turned out she wanted him to go. She pulled the same thing with me...."

"And you had the good sense to say 'no'," Richard finished. "She tried it with me, too, if it matters."

That remark nearly made Oberon fall off his chair. "You're joking. While you were with Sylvia?"

"New Years' Eve, 1993," Richard chuckled. "She tried to write it off by saying she was drunk, but I knew..."

Oberon shook his head. "I knew she had a type, but I never thought she would've gone after you the way she went after Jake, or even the way she went after me.....somehow, I thought she would've respected a little thing called 'holy matrimony'---"

"She did," Richard admitted. "Said she would be fine 'sharing' me with Sylvia....anyways, you and I both know what was taken from the servers, and what will happen if any of that information gets leaked---and this isn't a situation where it gets leaked 'to the wrong people', because anyone who may find themselves getting a hold of that information could potentially be 'the wrong people' even if they're on our side." He grabbed a bottle of cognac from the hidden minifridge; "We even breathe the wrong way on this," he muttered, "and we lose."

Before Oberon could offer his reply, the door to Richard's office opened. "Call for Oberon," Tawny declared.

The ALPA Chairman sighed. "Looks like the night is just starting for both of us."

"Indeed. Hopefully, this one's good news for a change."

"Despite my doubts," Oberon murmured, "I sincerely hope you're right."
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[DollSpace]

And even *MORE* Questions? I love the suspense; hope you get the next part posted soon!

[Uhoh]

Nice work leaving just enough loose ends to keep guessing, another great installment
But that Vicki look-alike holds the most of my questions...