The Vanishing Warlord - Part 9

[ButchyBoy]

As much as Harry hated to do it, he deactivated Cricket so she easily slid off the loadstone that had her trapped. Then he made a very late night emergency call to a Dr. Charles Browning. The doctor was seemed annoyned at first with someone ringing his personal number in the middle of the night, but his manner changed once Harry dropped the name of one Betty Stevens. He gave Lang directions to his office and told him to bring little Cricket in right away. That was an hour ago.

Now, the young android lay lifeless in what looked to be some sort of de-compression chamber. The sealed room was lit with a red light, and Cricket was floating in the center of the room. Her arms were at her side, her long blonde hair lay flat and stiff, looking like a golden stalk of corn. The light reflected off the synthetic skin of her totally nude body. Every now and then, a toe, or a finger, or some part of her face would twitch, but other than that, she seemed to be in a deep peaceful slumber. Perhaps she was, Harry thought. Or maybe she wouldn't notice the passage of time at all.

Harry just stared through the small single window of the room where his beloved lay. He didn't notice he was alone in the lab outside. He was fixed on Cricket until Dr. Browning enterd and spoke, breaking Harry's concentration on her. "Your very lucky Mr. Lang", the doctor said. "Another few moments exposed to that very large magnet, and her main CPU and memory would surely have been comprimised."

Harry turned to look at the man speaking. Dr. Charles Browning was a tall, handsome black-haired man. Harry thought he looked like that secret agent in those old spy movies he saw as a kid. He certainly sounded lime him with that Welsh accent, Harry thought.

"She'll be ok though, right Doc?" Harry asked with genuine worry in his voice. "Oh yes Mr. Lang", the doctor assured him. "A droid like her, getting magnatized, I get them every now and then. This chamber reverses the effects without doing damage to her main processers or erasing any part of her memory. It was quite the breakthough five years back", he said as he looked in on his patinet. "It's just too bad more techs don't take advantage of things like this", he added.

"They don't ?", Harry asked.

"No", Browning said with a sigh. "Something like this happens, most bot techs would just wipe her clean, personality, memory and all. Damn crime if you ask me."

"Well, I guess that's why Betty insisted on me calling you while we were here."

"Ah yes, Betty", Browning said with a warm smile. Seems that woman gets around, Harry thought.

"Look, Doc, I don't want to seem like I'm rushing things, but is she gonna be much longer in there?" Harry asked.

"Well, it will be at least an hour before I can remove her from the chamber, and then she'll need a full 4-hour charge before she can leave. I do have something of a soft bed in the next room if you need..."

Harry inturrupted him, "Yeah, it's tempting, but I have to do something that won't wait till morning." Harry leaned over a desk and began writing on a pad that was nearby. "Now, when she wakes up, you give Cricket this and tell her to leave when she's ready. That ok with you Doc?" Harry said as folded the note and handed it to him. Browning put the note unread into his lab coat pocket. "Of course Mr. Lang. And don't worry. Mrs. Lang will be as good as new when you see her again."

Harry hated to leave Cricket like this. But for whatever reason, he felt like he could trust Dr. Browning without question. And something had been sticking into his gut ever since he left the meseum.

[ButchyBoy]

It was almost 4am when Harry arrived back at the British Museum. Oddly enough, the night security told him to go right to the China Gallery and that Dr. Benwolf was expecting him. "Of course he is", Harry said with a sly smile.

When Harry got to the China Gallery, it was quite a mess. The blades were still stuck into the loadstone that he and Cricket were chained to some hours before. Dr. Benwolf was there, looking over the damage when Harry walked. "Mr. Lang! Will you be good enough to explain all this....this.....kaos???", Benwolf said with much anger in his voice. Harry seemed unfazed. "Well, Nigel, I was actually hoping you would do the explaning." "I beg your pardon???", Benwolf asked, looking rather stunned.

"You see Nigel, old boy, this whole thing, the big magnet, these sharp blades. It was all a trap. A Cricket trap. And the one in charge of the trap knew who we were, and most importtantly, who and what she was."

Harry leaned in to Benwolf at this point, grabbing him by the arm. His voice got more intense. "Now, outside of you, your assistant, and Inspector Hargrove, not too many people know we're here in London. And very few people are aware of my wife's.......true nature. As a matter of fact, EVERYTHING that's happened to us today smacks of a wild goose chase and a set up. Now what's going on???!!!"

Benwolf was sweating and shaking at this point, like a kid who just got his hand caught in the cookie jar. "Ss-setup....I-I-I haven't the fainest idea what you mean." Harry just looed at him. "Why don't I believe you?"

Just as Bewolf was about to answer, an all too familiar laugh filled the room. "Benwolf, you fool! You are becoming worthless to me! I'm am beginning to regret sparing your life!!" Benwolf was shaking so bad, Harry could feel it. "P-P-Please Master. I beg you...."

"Master???", Harry exclaimed. "You son of a bitch, you are in this. Why us?? Why Cricket??" Harry was ready to choke the answers out of Benwolf when the man calling himself Kiwan Shang made himself visable, fully outfited.

"Nigel Benwolf serves me. As now shall you Harry Lang!!"

Harry suddenly found himself locking eyes with The Warlord. He fought at first, but everything around him soon began to swril. And the dectective found himself entering what would become an overwelming nightmare.

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Next: More of Chapter 9

[DollSpace]

Awesome installment... Can't wait for the next part! I'm in suspense! ^_^

Ryn