Post by jackalope on Jul 7, 2011 0:58:06 GMT -5
Ultimate Wonder Women #7
World of Wonders part 7: Cyber skirmishes pt.2
World of Wonders part 7: Cyber skirmishes pt.2
“Give me specifics.” Cale's face was fierce with determination. The security official looked at her, then nodded towards the other CEOs. Cale rolls her eyes. “Yes you can talk in front of them; they're going to hear about it anyway.” At that moment several cell phones went off in the room. The CEOs reached for them, some with two flipped out, but all seemed to become angry with the outcome.
“Fucking static.” Robert Kane threw his cell phone on the ground and stamped on it.
“Jamming, it’s being jammed.” The security officer spoke up.
“No shit genius,” John Deleon said, sarcastic and angry, “...seriously Veronica where do you find these people?”
“Shut it John, at least my security aren't having panic attacks.” Beside John a black suited security guard was heavily sucking on an inhaler.
The security officer continued, “There was a bomb in the lobby, it triggered the fail-safe, unfortunately it meant that we are trapped inside without any outside backup. The terrorist, the metal one, he appeared from the floor. Must have breached the basement floor somehow. He has company. We got visuals on at least five other beings, they may be humans, robots, we don't know yet.”
Derrick Haverly stepped in. “Escape routes?”
The security officer shook his head. “Roof, that's it. They have at least the bottom seven floors covered, possibly wired to explode.”
“What the fuck Cale!” Robert shouted. “You invited us into a fucking death trap!”
Anna Red started to cry.
“Great Robert, look what you did!” John's voice exasperated.
“Enough!” Derrick shouted holding his hands in front of him. “You are acting like children. Now let’s just get out of this. Now do you have some sort of escape exit stairs?”
Veronica nodded.
George St, Gateway City
“So what are you thinking- docks?” Harold Champion asked before biting into his subway.
“Makes sense,” Mike said. He turned the steering wheel to move into the passing lane. Silence passed between them as Mike remained focused on driving.
Harold looked at him. “What's up man?”
“It's fine.”
Harold takes another bite of the sandwich, mouth full he keeps speaking, “Itsh about the girl, I know that much.” Mikes mouth twitched. Harold frowned. “Look, I've met those type of girls before.” Mike briefly looked at him, eyebrow raised. Harold paused chewing, then went on. “...You know, wild, enigmatic, uh...untouchable. Know what I mean, she's there, but it's like she's from another world.” He looked back forward at the road. “Trust me man, she's just a whole lotta' heartache.”
The radio suddenly blares, “All patrols, all patrols, we've got possible red situation, 33 confirmed, Cale building on main, code 3. All available units are needed on ground.”
“Shit,” says Mike, “terrorist attack.”
Harold picks up the radio, “10-4, we are on our way.” Mike flicks on the sirens, and swiftly pulls a U-turns. The screech of the tyres gives way to the rumble of the engine as they take off.
44 Fathom Road, apartment 6
When Diana came down stairs her dinner is waiting on the table in front of the television. Aria and Iris sat patiently waiting on the chairs either side of her. Diana walks by them and sits down. She picks up her plate and then freezes, looking at each in turn.
“Why do you look me like this?”
“Diana,” Aria started, “Iris says, you've been acting strangely.”
Diana turned to Iris, brows furrowed. Iris now looked uncomfortable. “You were hiding something in your room; you wouldn't let me see something.”
Diana nodded, “Yes, secret.” She smiled and then winked.
Iris looked at her, trying to decipher some meaning but it was impossible, it was like watching a dog trying to drop a hint– her face was serene but unreadable. “...Ok, I guess that’s fine.”
“Good,” Aria said, turning on the news.
The footage is shaky, showing at the bottom that it was a live feed. The ground lobby of a building has the glass blown out with smoke and dust still rising from inside. The camera zooms out to show a column of armed police men in bullet proof vests and helmets approaching the entrance. 'Terrorist Attack in Gateway City' scrolls across the lower edge of the screen. The front police man signals the column to stop. Weapon drawn he slowly walks forward. Another signal and two other policemen are on either side of the doorway, guns up and ready. The front cop counts down with his fingers, three, two... He disappears. The police stand, shocked, unsure what to do. One of them opens fire, and soon the rest follow suit.
“Oh, no...” Aria murmurs, hand over her mouth. Iris sits, mouth open.
Another cop disappears inside. This time more visible, the metallic tentacle around his foot. The footage slows and is repeated and the metal whip can be clearly seen. Police shout. One of the cops by the doorway makes a signal with his hand and lobs some sort of grenade into the doorway. There is a bang, a bright flash from inside. The police jog forward to the entrance, the front man shooting as they enter. With a thud they collapse back, one of the earlier grabbed cops is thrown back at the charging group, making them fall like dominoes.
Out of the dust cloud at the doorway a shape moves. Those cops able to grab their weapons release bursts of shots at the shadow. The body moves further out to reveal that it is the other taken cop, hanging by his neck from a metallic tentacle, now riddled with bullets. It hung dead. There is a cry from behind the camera and it tilts sharply. The final shot, almost angled at 90 degrees, shows a metal suit, disproportionately bulky torso, a seemingly missing head, thin bird-like legs, and long arms ending in whipping tentacles.
The transmission cuts and returns to the news studio where a journalist sits. He shifts uncomfortably on the seat. “Ahem, shocking stuff. Of course this is happening in real time and we will return to the scene shortly. If you have just tuned in, the Cale building in Gateway City has just suffered what people are calling a terrorist attack.” The image of the frozen robot appears onscreen behind him. “The attack happened only twenty minutes ago. It seems a bomb was released in the building; the number of dead is unconfirmed. As you can see, police have been unable to breach the building as of yet...”
Aria looked to Iris, tears in her eyes. Iris eyes look pained also. It took a moment before they realised the person missing between them. Her plate sat on the kitchen table behind them, empty of food. They hear the door slam shut. Iris stood only to catch a glimpse of the running woman. “...shit...” she whispered.
“Iris,” Aria called. Iris looks down at Aria pointing. The television shows an image black and white, of Diana, blurred but recognisable. Underneath the words read, MANHUNT FOR KILLER.
“This...” Iris said, “...isn't good.”
Cale Building interior
The stairs spiralled upwards in a large rectangle, leaving a central gap that went right through down to the first floor still obscured by dust and smoke. The executives were running up the stairs still surrounded by their security details. The end group stops.
Robert Kane is panting rapidly, doubled over and red. “Goddammit Cale,” he said, trying to recapture his breath. “Why the hell, d'you have to make this building...” he stood upright, “so fucking tall?”
“Jealous Rob?” John Deleon called down, “because it really isn't the siz...”
“Shut up,” Derrick shouted. He looked down between the floors. Rapidly approaching, a robot sprinted up the steps, making precise turns at each corner. “Fuck, everyone get going.”
The group sprinted, adrenalin coursing through them collectively. Cale looked up, only two more flights. Below, the machine was gaining momentum. Its arms moved back and forth, light reflecting off the long blades that took the place of its hands. Anna Red stumbled but Derrick swiftly picked her up, half carrying her under her arms. She screamed. One more flight to go. The sound of the approaching robot, its whirrs and buzzes, became louder. The leading security guard reached out for the exit door. He turned, visibly red and shaking.
“It's locked.”
Anna screamed again, and Derrick dropped her. He looked at the rest of them. “Honestly...” He paced back a couple of steps then shoulder barged it. There was a crack sound in the hinging. He paced back again and a guard joined him. They charged. The door opened and they fell through onto the concrete roof. Derrick looked up, the side of his face bleeding. Dr Cyber's metal mask-plate looked down at him.
“You just needed to knock.”
Below
Mike and Harold leaped out of the car before the engine had fully shut itself down. Making their way to what looked like the temporary command station. Three high ranking police officers stood around a table, pointing and shouting over a mapped layout of the building. The Chief was chain smoking and yelling into a radio.
“What can we do?” Mike asked him. He turned glancing at them and then turning back to the building.
“Crowd control, like everyone else.” He lifted his radio. “WE NEED FUCKING SWAT NOW! We've got ten minutes tops before the FUCKING FBI show, and this whole thing turns into more of a shit-storm then it already is!”
“Please Chief, there's gotta be something more we can be doing then cro...”
The Chief turned face red. “THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR YOUR PUNK-ARSE HEROICS YOU HORSE-FUCKING-SHIT-STAIN-OF A HUMAN! WE'VE GOT DEAD FUCKING COPS, DO YOU GET THAT? NOW FUCK OFF!” Harold pulled Mike back, as the Chief returned to abusing his radio.
“Come on.”
They walked towards the surging crowds a few hundred feet away, which seemed equally terrified and inexplicably entranced by the situation. Thousands of camera phones pointed up at the building. Journalists too, they stood in front of cameras, mics in hand. The cops had their arms out and were getting them to move back slowly. Mike and Harold approached, ready to join them.
Along the street running parallel to the street on which they stood a shape blurred towards them. Mike stopped, squinting at the figure. Unnoticed by the crowds until she leapt, sailing over them, black leather boots stretched wide apart as if doing the splits. She landed not losing any speed, and sped towards the Cale building. Mike turned, his eyes stuck on her. Harold watched him, and then her as she leapt once more over the police command and the dead cop bodies, and then into the smoking entrance.
The smoke still bellowed around from some of the still burning desks. She quickly scanned the room noticing robot immediately. Its whips cracked and swung towards her. She dodged right, senses fully alive within her. She rolled left behind a table as another crack fell where she once stood. The table smashed in two inches from her arm. Quickly she slashed the end of the whip off, and grabbed the attached part with the other hand, holding tight. The robot whipped back the tentacle and she was pulled towards the machine with it. Teeth bared, she let go, the momentum pulled her into a mid-air backwards flip, and she landed on the machine's torso. She stabbed her sword down between her legs into the machine, sending white-blue sparks fizzing.
Suddenly the active whip was wrapped around her body and she was thrown out through the entrance, on to the pile of dead policemen. The crowds gasped. A whip came down on her, but she was on her feet to the side. Before the robot had pulled it back, she had twisted it around her metal covered wrist. She wrenched it using her full body. The robot flew over her and slammed into the concrete on the other side. Its internals exploded out of it. She walked over to it and pulled out of her sword. She looked over at the police command and raised her eyebrows.
She ran back into the building.
There was a sudden clamour in the crowd. Everyone was talking. Even the police seemed to be talking to each other. Mike looked at Harold. Harold shook his head. “No.”
“There's got to be another way in there...”
“No.”
Mike ran. Harold stamped the ground, leaving a crack in the pavement, and followed.