Chapter 15. Catch up.
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An underground lab. It was buried deep within and the study faction found it after years of searching for remnants of the war. With the aid of Meta Mammals, the door to it was easily opened and low and behold what was inside. The laboratory was a final effort by the humans for survival, a project and research for a way to live through what they had brought. There were desks, exam tables, shelves that held files and containers, and a backroom. It was quite a large room despite how far underground it was and there was evidence of multiple humans being down there due to the remains along with evidence of human testing. Furthermore there were also vines outstretching everywhere in the room, all trailing from the humans’ remains, a multitude of them leading into the backrooms. Curious, the mammals there went to the rooms to find what was inside. To their shock, they found capsules, pods meant to hold and preserve a specific amount of people. Each one had a thread of plants coming from it, or rather towards its interior. With no surprise, they found more human remnants inside the pods entangled in the plants. With that they also came to a realization that all the remains above ground also had some foliage surrounding them, only thinking them coincidental due to the passing years but thinking on it now there was an increased amount surrounding them.
The mass of greenery around the corpses were something to investigate but first they attempted to access the computers that were around. They were luckily still operational with everything intact. Their suspicions were correct, the facility was used to study the nuclear radiation and find a way to prevent it. There were human tests, not major fatal ones, the people in charge being careful in not further endangering the lives here. Therewere videos, a spreadsheet, patient files, and test files, all neatly categorized. They decided to save it all on a drive and take it back to their own stations. This was a major step in realizing their creation and the world's change…and soon no one would ever know about it.
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The drivers of the trucks were held together by metal braces that were placed on their wrist and ankles.
The ferret that stopped them was talking with Nail Maker. “I heard the APB and saw the truck so I stopped it for you. They were driving pretty erratically too so I figured I'd stop them.”
“Thanks for that,” Nail said to him, “you see any others around?”
The ferret shook his head. “Nope, didn’t see any.”
“Damn.”
“Well we got one at least,” Mitch consoled through the comms, “The cops should be there soon to pick them up and take the truck.”
“Should someone go with the pick up, just in case?”
“You and Red-Storm can. Link him in so we can give him an update.”
“Alright,” She took out her M-key and faced Red-Storm, “Link up.”
Red-Storm taped the key and linked himself. “Hello?”
“Hey, RedStorm, this is Gina, an overseer from Nix agency,” Gina responded.
“Overseer? Was this a joint operation?”
“Yes. We’d like it if you could accompany Nail with the pickup of the truck, we need that cargo protected.”
“Yeah I don’t mind but what about those two?” He gestured at the drivers.
“We're gonna have Peace follow along with them.”
“Alright.”
“Everyone else, go ahead and head back to your agency.”
“What about the drones? They still there?” Jackson asked.
“They're gone now,” Nail said, looking into the sky, “They left as soon as we got the truck.”
“Sorry, if I was there I could’ve gotten one,” Life Witch apologized.
“It's fine, not your fault.”
“We’ll reserve you all a Resting Room when you get back,” Jerry said, “afterwards we'll reconvene and review everything.”
“Sounds good,” The sound of Talia stretching and groaning was heard, “This has been an event.”
They all split up, Redstorm, Peacewolf, and Nailmaker all doing escorts before they headed back to their respective Agencies.
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Jackson fell to the bed of the resting room and took breath, keeping his suit on and closing his eyes for a moment. He felt tired to say the least and irritated to say the most. “Just when we get close to this, something comes in at the worst time.”
The door opened with Mitch and Anet coming in.
Mitch greeted with a, “Hey!”
“Hey, Artisakat!” Anet added.
“Hey,” Jackson replied, rising from his bed.
“Where’s Jackson?”
“I, uh, told him to go home already.”
“Oh ok. How are you feeling?”
“I'm alright, just a bit….frustrated.”
“Yeah?” Mitch pulled up a chair, sitting next to him.
“Feels like we were getting somewhere only to get screwed in the end, and it's not just this either.”
“You talking bout that time in the lot?”
“Mhm,” He nodded, “Almost had them there but they managed to get away with what they stole. Then, just when we got a lead that could find them, this happens.”
“It's not all bad. We managed to get at least one truck.”
“Luckily yeah, but I can't shake this feeling that somethings gonna block us.”
“I get ya, whoever we're dealing with seems like a forward planner, but if JRPG’s have taught me anything it’s that you can’t plan for everything.”
“Like that boss that hypnotized your healer when your main character had one hp,” Anet commented.
“Exactly like that.” Mitch groaned.
Jackson sighed and laid back. “Guess you’re right. When do we meet up again?”
“About an hour. Want some food?”
“Nah, I’ll eat after the meeting, I wanna,” He threw the blankets over him, “close my eyes for a bit.”
“You sure?” Anet asked.
“Yeah, my body aches from that fight with that warping guy. You find out who he was?”
“Blast Warp,” Mitch answered, “He's got this teleport power that allows him to go where we can see in an instant. Weird thing I found out is that he was on parole not too long ago but went missing some time after.”
“Missing?”
“Yeah, was gonna bring it up during review after looking into it some more.”
“Go ahead and do that. Ring me up when we get back to it, K?”
“Sure thing man, Cmon Anet,” He nudged the mouse, “let’s let him nap.”
“Ok! Nap well Artisakat!” Anet told the feline before leaving with Mitch.
With a deep sigh, Jackson took his suit off and drifted to rest.
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“Why would you make something like this!?” The voice of Tania was heard through the emptiness.
“Huh?” Jackson thought. A pair of statically silhouettes showed itself one of a male cat on a desk in front of a computer with a woman of the same species standing next to him. They were full of noise but the outlines themselves were familiar to him. “Mom and dad?”
“I…just wanted to keep it as a precaution,” Adison told his wife.
Jackson couldn't make out any of their features but he could tell his mom was looking at his dad in anger. “What ar-?”
“Precaution!?” Tania yelled, “What precaution would need this kind of precaution!? Do you have any idea of what you made!? How destructive it is!?”
“I know, I designed it after all.”
“Adison!”
“Look I understand how you feel but…I don't want to take any chances with our son.”
“Our son….You aren't…” She moved back, faltering slightly like she couldn't believe what she heard. “You're making this for Jackson!?”
“For me?”
“I am, just for his protection.”
“Are you INSANE!!??” His mother yelled.
“It's not like he’ll use it irresponsibly.”
“I don't want him using it at all!”
‘Wonder what they're talking about?’ A thought that wasn't his echoed inside his head.
“What the-? I didn't think that…that sounded like…my younger self's voice.”
“Adison,” Tania spoke, calm in manner but angry in tone, “if this gets out, do you know what it can start!?”
“That's why he’ll have the only copy,” Adison stated. There was a pacifistic-like tone in his voice but there was a hint of regret in it.
“Oh my god!” Tania walked back, holding her head while pacing around.
“Tania, listen…I don't want him to be given this,”
“Yet here you are suggesting it!” She shot back.
“But I'd rather he have it than not.”
“Why!? What makes you so scared that he’ll need this!!”
“....That man….what he said…I don’t….” He looked away from her gaze.
“...” His shift in demeanor caused her to come in close and hold his hand. “What did he tell you?”
“...The reason he asked for Jackson…was because-”
The silhouettes warbled and a loud screech was heard, startling Jackson. “What the-!? What's going on!?”
Everything returned to normal with Tania now sitting down with her hand over her mouth with Adison’s on her leg, facing his wife.
“Do you…. think he was serious?” Tania asked with a shaky voice.
“He looked way too serious to be lying,” Adison answered.
“....I don’t like this,” She shook her head.
“I know.”
“...We have to protect him.”
“We will,” He nodded.
“...But in case we can’t…”
“I know…It's only a last resort.”
“...Ok.”
In a flick the imagery changed. Now the computer was right in front of Jackson’s gaze. “What the-?”
“Jackson,” The arm of what he assumed was his dads reached out from the corner, tapping the keyboard, “I'm gonna show you something.”
“What is it?” His younger self asked, the voice emanating right from him.
“Wait…Is this my perspective?”
“Something I'd rather you never use but…just in case,” he paused, “I want you to understand that this is a powerful machine. It's supposed to connect to the back piece of your suit.”
“The back piece?” The young cat asked.
“Yeah, it makes a link of sorts with visor and suit, making it only usable by you.”
An image vaguely appeared before his eyes before it disappeared. “Huh?”
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“But… I hope-”
It appeared again, this time he was able to make out a round cone shaped barrel with a flat end, unable to make out what it was attached to. “What is that?”
“-you never,”
Rapidly flashing were the images of a trigger and back piece he had seen before but this time there was a stand at the bottom, one that was meant to be stranded on with two pedestals on each side.
“-have to use it.” Once Adison finished his sentence a beam of light shot out from the screen enveloping him.
*SHOOOM*
“AAAAAAAH!!!”
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Jackson shot up, the blanket flying off him, “AAAAAAAH!!!” He screamed, shaken and disheveled with heavy breathing.
“Jackson!” Ferris spoke from beside, reaching out to the cat.
“Ah!” He jumped, snapping his eyes towards him.
“It’s me…It’s ok.” Softly, he placed his hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm.
“Uncle Ferris?” He breathed.
“You alright?”
“...” He took a few deep breaths, soothing himself. “I'm ok…I’m ok.”
“What happened?”
“I…had this dream…”
“What was it like?”
“Mom and Dad were talking about something…something Dad was making and Mom didn’t like it. It was for me apparently but…”
“What?”
“Dad showed it to me but I couldn't see it, at least not fully and then some…beam hit me.”
“That sounds scary.”
“...” Jackson looked through the blueprints he had, “Hmmm.”
Noticing the blue ring on his eyes, Ferris asked: “What are you doing?”
“I'm looking at something…This schematic…It's clearer now.” The once static blueprint and parts of it could be seen.
“What do you see?”
“I see a short nozzle like barrel, a foot pedestal, and something for the backpiece of my suit,” He stopped looking through and faced Ferris. “That sound familiar?”
“Hm…Not necessarily.”
“What IS the backpiece of my suit for?”
“Well it's for some special attachments your dad was designing.”
“Lemme guess, never finished?”
“No actually, he has finished a few.”
This took Jackson by surprise. “Really?”
“Yes. I was planning to wait till you had more of your power accessed but it seems like you got almost all your old blueprints back.”
“All except that one.”
“Hm,” He held his chin, looking down with some thought, “I was also gonna wait till you were further along as a hero but…if this situation gets any more dire I might have to change that.”
“That reminds me, how long till we meet up again?”
“About fifteen minutes. I came to wake you.”
“Won’t mammals find it weird if you keep visiting me like this?”
“Noone but Mitch knows. I've made sure I’m not seen on the cameras either.”
“How do you do that?”
“I got access to the security. CEO remember?” He smirked.
Jackson let out a laugh. “Isn’t that an abuse of power?”
“Maybe,” Ferris added his own laugh.
He got up and stretched. “MMMNG! Think I’ll,” He placed his suit on, “head in early. Which meeting room?”
“Thirteen. Don't forget your hair dye.”
“Oh right,” He grabbed the container and dyed the ends of his hair.
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Jackson entered the Meeting Room, seeing Talia, Anet, and Mitch.
“I’m here,” the feline announced.
“You’re early,” Mitch stated.
“Hey Artisa!” Anet waved, “You ok?”
“Yeah I'm fine,” Jackson rolled his shoulder, “bit stiff but fine. How'd transport go?”
“No complications,” Talia replied.
“That's a relief.” He sat at the table.
“If everyone’s ready I can log us in,” Mitch stated, “Who knows, maybe they got in early too.”
Talia nodded. “Go for it.”
Mitch typed on the computer. “...Alright, looks like we're just waiting for Peacewolf.”
“Anything on the workers we found?” Jackson asked.
“They’re fine. They were sedated but luckily that was all.”
“That's good.”
“Oh, Peace’s team just signed in. Meeting starting up!” He turned on the big screen.
The faces of Jerry with Lifewitch and Nailmaker and Gina with Peacwolf appeared on the screen.
“Greetings again!” Jerry greeted.
“Good to see you all,” Gina waved, “How are you all feeling?”
“Bit stiff?” Jackson said, cracking his neck.
“How about you, Talia?” Jerry asked.
“I'm fine,” Talia stated.
“Good, now lets go over everything,” Jerry brought up a spreadsheet, “At 8am today we started the joint operation of looking into a possible infiltration related to a worker in Delta whose computer was used to send in a work order which was related to the hijack that happened which was also a part of the attack on Wells Robotics. The Investigation led to an old warehouse where some containers were held in which Talia was held captive and a fight against some Meta Villains and machines ensued. During this, the pick up team of Black Stream was sedated and impersonated with the cargo taken. Luckily one of the trucks was stopped and we managed to capture some of the impersonators thanks to RedStorm. Afterwards we successfully transported the cargo to Nix Agency to be searched and the impersonators to the police station to be interrogated.”
“Police station? They were normal mammals?” Jackson said.
“From what we can tell, yes, however we are keeping a close eye on them but it's highly unlikely they are Meta’s.”
“Why do you say that?” Mitch questioned.
“Before we get into that, let's first go over what we found in that cargo.”
“You managed to open it?”
“We did,” Gina spoke, “The workers of the Nix Agency managed to break through it. What was found inside was…well let me show you.”
Gina presented an image on screen. It showed the structure that was taken but now opened up on its face, revealing the inside. Inside was a large metallic claw piece. I was a top claw and it was almost as large as the whole container, the back end of it having some connectors and wires sticking out. The bottom teeth were short and stubby with flat ends.
“What is that?” Anet asked.
“Looks like a claw,” Nailmaker stated, “It's so big.”
“It is, and that's why we're so concerned. This is only one piece and from what you can see it belongs to something quite huge.”
“It's almost as big as you dude,” Jackson stated to Mitch.
“So does that mean everything that was there belongs to whatever this machine is?” LifeWitch asked
“It's a speculation but with how much was taken we don't think everything was there,” Jerry said.
“What do you mean?” Peacewolf inquired.
“There may be another warehouse.”
“Another!?” Nearly everyone gasped.
“Wait, I think we're getting a little ahead. How did they get something like this?” Peace decided to ask.
“Are there any records of something like this being made?” Mitch added.
“That's being looked into. At first we thought it was sent the same way from Delta but the hacking was only recent,” Gina stated.
“So it's possible other Agency workers are compromised.”
“I'd like not to think that, but for now it's under assumption.”
“Keep this under wraps however, we don't want to cause a panic,” Jerry informed.
Everyone nodded agreement.
“Now onto the drivers. I'm just going to tell this now, the reason we don't think them to be Meta’s is because they've been proven to be a part of The Equalist Movement.”
“No way!?” Mitch said in astonishment.
“The Equalist Movement?” Jackson said in confusion, “What’s that?”
“You don't know!?”
“Artisakat,” Talia informed the hero, “The Equalist Movement is a group of normal mammals that believe that there's an inequality with the treatment of normal mammals compared to Meta’s. They’re activists trying to fight for what they think is discrimination against the unpowered.”
“Haven’t you seen their protests? There was that one a few weeks ago that we passed by, remember?”
“Hm…” Jackson thought back to what he could mean, “You mean those mammals holding signs and yelling?”
“Yeah them.”
“I wasn’t really paying attention,” he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.
“Dude…”
“Anyways,” Jerry brought back their attention, “the movement has been gaining some traction lately so I fear they may be trying to do something big with this recent move. I say try because while interrogating it was revealed that they were using who hired them.”
“Using them? So this wasn’t orchestrated by them?” Mitch questioned.
“No, they said someone hired them for this yesterday.”
“Yesterday!?” Peacewolf exclaimed.
“Yesterday.”
“They planned this all yesterday?” Jackson said, “Are you telling me they saw this coming?”
“I'm not sure, we’ve yet to interrogate Nina and Mina but something tells me that they weren’t hired with them at the same time. With how things were set up, they were likely there for a while.”
“What else they say?”
“Nothing much other than the usual Equalist spiel, but they did mention that the one who hired them was a bird in a hood.”
“Bird in a…Was he a crow mix?”
“They assume so cause of his feathers. How'd you know?”
“Is it the same one that hired Dynafist?” Mitch surmised.
“I'm thinking so. If that's the case then this bird’s someone important,” Jackson thought.
“Then those three he talked about are the ring leaders no doubt.”
“It's a good theory, we’ll look more into this and hopefully we can cross examine and find some form of identification, but otherwise I believe we can officially call this operation complete. We’ll keep everyone involved informed of what's found in the aftermath and if action is needed we shall gather again. Are we in agreement?”
Everyone looked amongst their group and they all confirmed.
“Alright, this concludes the review, thank you all for coming,” Jerry signed off.
“Take care everyone,” Gina smiled and did the same.
Mitch signed off too. “Man the Equalist huh? It must’ve burned to work with a Meta.”
“Whaddya mean?”
“They see Meta’s as privileged thanks to their powers, thinking it gives them such an edge in life and benefits from the government.”
“Why’s that? I mean Meta’s do get benefits but that’s cause of their line of work but to think it's something unfair is…stupid. It's not like regular workers don't get the same.”
“It's more like this, Artisakat,” Talia added herself in to explain, “you as a Meta hero receive more than what a police officer would. It makes sense because you face a higher risk then they do because you're tasked to, even though you yourself have powers. The Equalist see that as unfair because they think that since you have powers the risks should be lower not taking into account the danger you face of other empowered.”
“Basically,” Mitch continued, “they fail to equate the danger you face because they relate you to being just as dangerous. It's like saying sending guys with guns to go against guys with guns is just as equal as guys with fists going against guys with fists, not realizing the danger of the weapon itself since the other party has it too.”
“How long have they been around?” Jackson asked.
“Well I guess you could say they became an organized group sometime after the creation of our governments, but you could speculate it was before that.”
“Weren’t our governments officially created around 300 GRY?” Anet inquired.
“That's right, Anet, good job,” Talia smiled, making the mouse giggle, “While that's when governments became official, we, mutated mammals, did have a form of leadership and laws. In those times they were more so tribal since well, we were still rebuilding. It took humans Millinuims to do such a thing but we had the benefit of knowledge and to be able to use what they left, even though it had to be majorly repurposed.”
“Meta Mammals were also helpful,” Mitch smirked.
Talia let out a chuckle. “Of course, but as Jerry said, they've lately been gaining some traction. I said they were a thing when our government was official but really it was just a handful of mammals here and there. Now you can find them online as a whole organization.”
“Activists, one thing the old world should’ve kept,” Mitch sighed and leaned back, “Get the gist now?”
“Think I do,” Jackson confirmed. “You don’t think we’ll run i-” The ding of his phone cut him off. “Excuse me,” He checked and saw that it was from Ferris.
-I got the review of your operation. See me when before you head home and bring Mitch along.- Ferris texted.
‘This about those attachments?’ Jackson thought.
Mitch noticed his brows furrow. “You good?”
“Hm?” He looked up and regained himself. “Oh it's nothing…Uh…Jackson just asked if you could go with him somewhere after this.”
“Just me?”
“Yeah, Anets gonna have to stay back,” He faced the mouse with an apologetic face, “Sorry.”
“It's fine,” She assured.
“That's fine but will it take long? Anet and I got a movie planned.” Mitch replied.
“It better not be echi,” Jackson gave a disapproving yet harsh glare on the doberman.
“She's 18 and I'm not a perv!”
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A knock came at the door of Ferris’s office.
“Come in,” Ferris announced.
Jackson as Jackson along with Mitch came in.
“You wanted to see us?” Jackson asked.
“Come here,” he ushered them closer, “Jackson, how are your memories coming along?”
“Pretty well, hard to tell what's fake or not in my own memories,” he chuckled.
“Understandable. It was your childhood but still a lot was sealed.”
“Especially concerning that one blueprint.”
“I…have a theory on that.”
“You do?”
“The way you were sleeping seemed like you were in disarray cause of what you dreamed. By that and the fact that it was a memory tells me it's something you’re emotionally repressing.”
“Emotionally suppressing? Really?”
“If that's the case, why is it surging now?” Mitch asked.
“Could be cause of some trauma or because you're cracking down on what's sealed in your mind,” Ferris answered.
“Trauma…” Curiously, Mitch turned to Jackson, “you think-”
“That shock I got, yeah,” Jackson reached the same conclusion.
“Are you talking about the time at the parking lot?” Ferris asked.
“Mhm,” He nodded, “What's suppressing it then?”
“I don't know, but the way these memories are coming to you it's probably something your younger self wanted to forget about, that's why it's becoming so hard to see. Have you tried materializing it.”
“Yeah, but even if I can see parts of it, I cant bring out the whole thing or even partial.”
“I see. Well that's something to look into later. There’s a main reason I called you two here, it's about those attachments.”
“Are you gonna show me them?”
“I'm going to show you one for now but not yet. Tomorrow I want you two to come in early so we can test it out.”
“Aren't you gonna show it to me?”
“Not yet,” he smirked, “I'm afraid you’ll be so excited you'd try it early.”
“Oh now you got me interested!” Jackson smiled.
“I hoped I would. I'll at least tell you the name. It's called…the Hyper Jet.”
“Hyper Jet?”
Mitch imagined a giant rocket attached to Jackson's back. “Hmm.”
“It’s not a rocket, Mitch.”
“How'd you know!?” With flabbergasted and fearful eyes, Mitch looked to Jackson.
“It’s you,” he smirked.
“Screw you!” He said with newfound irritation.
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End
Next chapter: Try out.