Exo's exploding showed the difference between an experienced DOCI agent and an inexperienced DOCI agent. Those who were experienced knew simply to step out of the way of the splattering green goop and wait for Exo to piece himself back together, whereas those who were inexperienced freaked out and began to rush to the exploded Acirian's aid. A swarm of drones went after Eris, giving Engineer a perfect opportunity to escape. He rolled past Jenny and before anyone could stop him went tearing off through the smoke and across the lake in his car. Three police cars chased after him, but none of them caught up. He used his wrench to make one of their batteries explode, causing the car to smash through the side of an office building.
Myre and Hadron stepped out of the way of Exo's splatterings just as Myre read his name on the envelope. He shrugged and tore it open. Inside was a piece of paper. He read it slowly as he walked towards the squad car, a look of perplexity spreading across his face (he took his helmet off after Exo blew up). About halfway to the car, he stopped in place, his mouth agape.
"Son of a b*tch!" he seethed.
"What's wrong?" Hadron replied. Myre now had two unfamiliar expressions on his face; perplexity and fear.
"But...no, this isn't possible." he muttered "God dammit I killed them back on Mars! There were no survivors! All of them died, every last one! This has to be a joke!"
"Myre, what's going on?" Myre stopped and looked up at Hadron, who for the first time saw fear in his partner's face. His heart hit the floor.
"Evacuate the area." Myre said "no one is safe. We need Task Force 666 now! Immediate military intervention!"
"What the hell is in that letter?!" Hadron cried out. Myre paused a moment, as if for dramatic effect, and said one single word.
"Mimics."
---End of Act One---
The Next Day, 3:15 PM
It is raining. It might be odd that it would be raining on an artificial world floating on the edge of the Lumien Consulate, but yet rain it still does. The architects wanted the city to be realistic, and so they made satellites with massive water tanks orbit the city and drop rain around once a month onto the mini planet. The temperature is around 55 degrees, and a chilly wind blows through the rain. The sky is covered in artificial cloud cover. The city is on high alert, and police cruisers roam the skies. All government buildings are still in lockdown mode, with metal doors closed over their windows.
Despite the rain, the bar on the deck as Poisson is still full of veterans draining beers together and telling stories about their fighting. Pescus is leaning back in his usual seat under the palm tree (which is genetically engineered to repel rain, thus keeping him dry). Dorox is behind the bar as usual, listening in and occasionally throwing in a few words himself. Jeremy is playing guitar on the end of the deck, though not too many people listen. Billy Hadron is now sitting at the other end of the semicircular bar opposite Pescus, a beer in his robotic hand. It is his lunchtime, and sitting in front of him is a platter of what appears to be sushi. To his left is Gun Officer Aslin Blarev of the Lumien Colonial Navy, a vet whose entire left side is bionic. His skin appears to be covered in armor constantly, armor that he cannot take off. He has a beer bottle as well, and a piece of what appears to be fried catfish on his plate. Two seats to his left (the seat between them is empty) is Karo Kryx, a Saffryan veteran with bionic ears; his real ones were blown out by a supersonic shockwave during the war. Pescus is telling a story now, something about boarding a Red Legion submarine and blowing it sky-high. As usual, the bar is a peaceful place filled with an air of relaxation. There are three seats still open at the bar for any other people to come over and have a chat.
---
"What do you mean redeployed?" Myre screamed at the AI projection of Athena in the middle of his office "How do I get redeployed when I'm hunting terrorists?! This is literally what I do for a living! I blow up terrorists!"
"I don't know, Myre!" Athena yelled back, throwing her hands up "I didn't do this! It was by executive order! The Consul sent a message to Sralov asking for your redeployment to this case!"
"Why does the Consul of Internal Affairs care about one stolen painting?" Myre shouted.
"Wrong consul."
"THAT corrupt sleazebag? Since when does the Consul of Foreign Affairs control the DOCI?!"
"I don't know! How about you go take it up with Sralov then?!"
"Maybe I will!" Get him on the phone, now! And where the Hell is Exo?"
Dawn of the Cyborgs Act Two: Sleeping Dogs
