Chapter 11. Pieces.
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Meta workers, Meta heroes, and Meta villains. Those were main classifications for Meta Mammals, however it wasn't the only. In the years it took to rebuild the rediscovery of sports was an inevitability. Mammals used it as a way of destressing since the internet wasn't fully back up just yet, and it was a good way to pass the time. They found the rules and played by them, but there was one issue. When the rules were made there weren't any existence of those with supernatural abilities so those said abilities weren’t applied to them. That didn't stop some Meta’s from using their abilities, especially against other Metas. To keep things fair and less chaotic, some from the faction of leaders decided it best to keep it soly Metas against Metas and reagulars against regulars. It was the only type of segregation they imposed.
While they were more so a pass time as the world was still in its rebuilding process but as time went on it started to become official, like the return of old world sports but improvised with changes in the rules, restrictions being added to certain mammals to keep things fair. The most changes were made in regards to the Meta’s, sports involving them still being separated, dubbed Meta sports. They were given alternate variations due to the vastness of abilities and some mammals' creativity. For instance, football had three different versions on the Meta side which ultimately led to teams being bigger due to it.
When sporting became an official thing, or rather re-official, the Meta side of it had a higher investment, as more mammals were watching them compared to normal sports, finding it to be more exciting. As such sports were a Meta dominated field, something the Equalists used to fuel their agenda.
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“You feeling ok?” Mitch asked Jackson as he drove them back to Sky Limits.
“I'm alright. The shock didn't fry me too bad," Jackson answered. “I think my powers went a bit crazy though.”
“Shock must've rattled you in the brain, maybe cause of the nodes on your visors?”
“I guess. Could've been just the voltage combined with the splash of water hitting me everywhere, or the caliber of the volts?”
“Well know more when we get those analyzed, could also help us find out who made it.”
“I think they know me,” Anet said coming from the back.
“Anet!”
“You ok?” Jackson asked.
“I'm ok,” Anet nodded.
“You get shocked pretty bad?”
“I'm fine. A little rattled but fine.”
“That's good.”
“What were you saying about knowing you?” Mitch asked.
“The way they fought me was like they knew my weakness,” Anet answered.
“Weakness?”
“Mhm. When I use my powers I’m only affecting my movement, not my thoughts, so my attacks are pretty straightforward. I pre-plan before I strike but I can't adapt during it so if there's someone who quickly changes things up while I’m using progression then I’m gonna be open for attack.”
“They were pretty straightforward last time we fought,” Jackson mentioned, “but you did have some fluidity.”
“I'm working on it. Either way those bots picked up on it way too quick. So whoever was controlling them may know me.”
“Could it have been the person who talked you into helping Webster?" Mitch asked.
“Might be. Did the cafe footage come in?”
“Yeah. We can review it when we get back to Sky Limits.”
“Did you let Wells know about the truck?” Jackson asked.
“Yeah they know. They're looking into the shipment order and found it was supposed to go to a certain agency.”
“Which one?”
“Delta Star.”
“Oh, isn't Hightail part of that agency?”
“Yeah. Heard they’re looking for more flight type Metas cause of they’re partnership with a private jet company. The Bots could’ve been to make up for ground support. Y'know, aiding the non flyers.”
“Boy they're not gonna like their shipment being stolen.”
“You guys did your best, I'm sure they won't blame you.”
“I hope not.”
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Mitch, Jackson, and Anet were in a briefing room. They were going over the security footage from the cafe where Anet met the lady who coerced her to help Webster.
“Here we go.” Mitch pulled up the video on the big screen. It showed Anet sitting at a table with someone. That someone wore a big red hat and a plain light red dress. Much couldn't be seen of her face due to the angle of the cameras and because of the hat. The waiter just delivered the food to them.
“You get any statements from the waiters?” Jackson asked.
“Those are coming in next. I told them where to send the file.”
“Alright. She’s definitely an otter based on the tail but she's taller than the usual otter and her fur's got a bit of orange. Maybe a Red Fox mix?”
“Eh, I don't think she's got enough fluff.”
In the video the lady leaned in on Anet, taking a hold of her hands, Anet being taken aback by her actions.
“This is when she told me about Webster and how my powers could help,” Anet mentioned.
“Did you ask how she knew about your powers?” Mitch asked.
“I was gonna but she kept pressing about how much Webster was in trouble and how he's innocent. Stuff I fell for like an idiot.” She frowned.
“Hey, don't blame yourself for that, she and her group managed to rope in Dynafist and Jetroller.”
“I know but still.”
“Hey you're leaving,” Jackson pointed out. In the video Anet had left.
“Alright let's see if she does anything,” Mitch said, watching closely with the others.
It was about two minute after Anet left that the waiter came, said a few things, the lady pointed to the check that was left over last time, they said a few more things, then they both left.
“What happened?” Jackson asked.
“No clue. No audio. The mics were broken that day,” Mitch told him.
“She didn't even pay,” Anet added.
“Yeah she pointed at the check and the waiter left, letting her leave.”
“Pull up those statements,” Jackson requested.
“On it.” Mitch opened up the file that had the statements of bystanders and staff who were associated with the lady. There were six in total, four were customers nearby and two were workers. “Let's start with the customers since there's not much to it.” He spread them out.
“Hm…they all pretty much say the same thing. An otter came in with a little mouse, aka, Anet. She was noticeable thanks to her dress but it was nothing really attention grabbing. Some did point out the fur so I guess that confirms the mix.”
“What about the workers?” Anet asked.
“Let's see,” Mitch brought up the workers' statements, “...The hell?”
“Why is one claiming she was a cute tiger mixed with a mouse, and another saying she was a beaver?” Jackson asked.
“I don't know. That's weird.”
“Think maybe they're lying?” Anet asked.
“Doubt that. They should've known we'd be looking at footage even than these two statements clash so it wasnt collaborated,” Mitch replied.
“Then how'd they see something else?”
Jacksin remembered back to his conversation with Dynafist.
“So she was a Meta?”
“Yep. One with some….illusion like power.”
“Hmmm. Anet?”
“Hm?” Anet turned to face him.
“When it came to these two waiters…did she…do anything strange?”
“Hmmm….well she did turn her head so her hat covered her from their view. She also said something like ‘This cute lady will’ followed by an order, but that was only after she first saw them.”
“What's up, Artisakat?” Mitch asked.
“Dynafist said something about her having some type of Illusion power,” Jackson stated.
“Oh yeah. He did, didn't he.”
“Think maybe she used it on them?” Anet wondered.
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“Yeah but for what reason?”
“Well….aside from Anet, these two were the only ones to really look her in the face. Maybe she didn't wanna take a chance of someone seeing something identifying. They did seem to be in closer proximity compared to Anet at the table,” Jackson surmised.
“True. Even when she leaned in it wasnt by much.”
“Yeah. Either way, this didn't give us much. There an-”
The computer beeped, an incoming video chat request.
“Hm? Hold on. It's from reception.” Mitch accepted the call and a window of a male shiba appeared. “This is Briefing Room ten.”
“Hi. You have a video request from Shock Strip of the Delta Star agency. Permission to patch?” The receptionist asked.
“They say why they’re communicating?” Jacksin asked.
“Something about the shipment.”
“Oh? Go ahead then,” Mitch oked.
“Patching.” The web window went black with a green loading circle showing in the middle.
A second later a green haired Pit bull with porcupine quills appeared on screen. Only his face and upper chest was seen. He was in a casual black shirt, had curly hair mixed with his quills, and black bold eyes. “This is Shock Strip here. Can you hear me?”
“We hear you. Connection’s good. What can we help you with?”
“Well, I was about to leave till I remembered something. It's about the Bots that were being shipped in. I remember hearing a thing about the blueprints that you might find interesting.”
“What’d you find?” Jackson asked.
“Well normally an engineer or one of the pit crew sends in a design to be made to a manufacturing company to be made and/or mass produced and sent here for official usage. Thing is usually a prototype gets made here before such, but I heard talk about none of the pit crew remembering hearing anything about any Bot prototypes being sent. So I decided to ask around before leaving and found that none of them sent anything of the such. Even showed them the schematics that Wells got and no one recognized it.”
“Wait what?”
“You asked everyone?” Anet questioned.
“A few were sick or on vacation but we called them to double check, even checked their computer logs and found nothing. No signs of anything deleted either.”
“That’s weird. Then how'd they get it?” Mitch wondered.
“And how'd it get addressed to the agency?” Jackson added.
“We don't know. I asked them to check for any hacked servers. It's possible someone sent it through that with another computer,” Shock Strip told them.
“If you find anything, will you let us know?”
“Sure thing.” He nodded.
“Thanks.”
“No problem. Ending connection.” He hung up.
“What purpose would they have in having Delta Star being the reciever?” Mitch wondered.
“Who knows. Maybe just to steal it. Could be they choose them by random,” Jackson stated.
“Yeah but how would they know it's done though? Delta Star would’ve gotten the shipment info once the order was done and being sent.”
“Maybe they bugged Wells,” Anet said.
“They WERE watching yall,” Mitch said.
“Yeah, but didnt they check the servers?”Jackson asked.
“We only checked where the signal was, mainly the video and audio feeds, cause someone was watching.”
“What about any signals going directly to the Bots?”
“Didn't have time to track it, by the time it was all over the signal was gone.…maybe there's something in the server that holds the order logs.”
“Think we should ask them to check?”
“Probably better if we went there. If it's hacked I can check myself for any traces.”
Jackson checked the time, it was nearly six pm. “It's getting late, so let's make this the last stop.”
“I still got the truck rented for us. Let's go!”
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The three pulled into the lot of Wells Robotics.
“Hm?” Mitche noticed a vehicle. “That the Peace-Mobile?”
The vehicle in question was a convertible with trails of blue on a black surface. There were green peace signs on the hood and doors, the wheels had blue trim that had the words Peace-Mobile on it along with a peace sign decal on the grill, above the wheels were outlines of compartments that were meant to open up, the hood having the same type of compartment outlined in the center. The hood was open so you could see the inside, the color of the leather chairs being the same coloring as the outside with a display on the dashboard that showed the typical meters of a regular car but on the top it said “Casual Mode” and the wheel looked interchangeable. Hanging from the rearview mirror was an ornament picture of a white wolf with a blue peace symbol on its chest, smiling with its tongue out while waving happily.
“Guess that means Peacewolfs here,” Anet said.
“Maybe they got the same info,” Mitch said, parking.
They all got out and headed in, meeting up with Micheal in his office. Once they entered they spotted Peacewolf and Reno, the orange fox having his laptop connected to the computer.
“Hm? Oh hey!” Peacewolf waved.
“Hey, what are you guys doing here?” Mitch asked.
“Someone at Delta told us that no one sent the designs to be made for those Bots, which I'm guessing you were told this too and you had the same idea as us?”
“Checking the servers to see any traces of a third party?”
“Yep. Reno’s giving a look now.”
“And to be fair it was my wife’s idea, her mind is just as sexy as that hot body of hers.” Reno smirked. “In fact,”
Peacewolf brought her hands together. “Calm.” She targeted her power at him.
Reno shivered, hugging himself. “Ahh that has such a good feeling to it!” He nearly moaned.
“Not even peace can calm the horny,” Anet said, making Jackson stifle a laugh.
“Find anything?” Mitch asked.
Reno sighed. “Not yet. I’m looking around the time the attack came and nothing in the servers related to shipments and orders, which isn't surprising some im trying to look at the data from when they got the order.”
“Any luck?”
“So far nothing out of the ordinary. The order came in, then they reviewed and made it. I'm looking over the IP addresses and comparing them to those associated with the agency, and checking for any type of suspicious codes.”
“Need any help?”
“Splitting the list WOULD help things go faster.”
“Alright!” Mitch grabbed a chair and sat next to Reno, hooking his laptop up to the office computer.
“Anything we can do?” Jackson asked.
“Nah, none of you guys are tech savvy enough for this,” Reno answered. “No offense.”
“None taken.” Jackson was about to sit down.
“Hey wait. Artisa, maybe you'd like to go around and check the machines out for Jackson? Y'know check out how some of the machines are made?” Mitch winked.
Jackson picked up on the message. “Hmmm.” He thought about it. ‘Could get a few good schematics but maybe it'd be easier if I went as Jackson himself…or…myself…that's gonna get confusing.’ He shook his head. “I’ll give him a call instead. He should be able to get here in like seven minutes maybe.”
“That's fine. We're gonna be looking though for a while.”
“I can go get him for you,” Anet offered.
“Uh…How?”
“With the truck.”
“Anet you don't have a license, plus you can't go far from Mitch remember,” He pointed to the bracelet on her ankle.
“Oh right.”
“It'll be fine, Jackson’s got a cool bike,” Mitch said.
‘Mitch you sunnuva-’ Jackson sighed. “He doesn't have a bike, he can take a bus.”
“You sure? I thought he did.”
“You've been friends with him long enough to know this,” He looked at the doberman annoyed.
“He can’t…make one?” Mitch winked.
Jackson’s eyebrow twitched, feeling his irritation rise. “He doesn't have one to make!”
“...Oh.”
“Anyways, I’ll be back,” He huffed, walking off.
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Sometime later.
“And this is where we put all our extra materials.” A worker bear mixed with a cat, which was shown by his fur color and pattern, showed Jackson a storage area where they keep extra parts. There weren't any robot limbs or anything, just an assortment of gears and extra inner parts, all neatly shelved away.
“You guys use these much?” Jackson asked, in his civilian form.
“Sometimes. We get extra parts due to communication problems, like two mammals making it when we only need one.”
“I thought the production line made all the machines?”
“Not the small, more delicate stuff. That’s us and when it's made, we have it placed in manually or have the line put it in.”
“Oh neat. That hard to do?”
“At first but once you get more skilled at it it becomes a piece of cake.”
“Cool. So I was wondering, those training Bots, the ones I-, I mean, Artisakat had to fight in his evaluation, they come from your company?”
“The fang and bee Bots, yes, we usually resupply many agencies with them. We make a good amount for them at the end of the month and deliver them to those agencies to resupply. It's part of a contract.”
“Do they give you the schematics for them?”
He shook his head. “Nah, they come from us. Since they are universal what we do is show are schematics to as many agencies as possible and once we got enough interested we all have a sit down with those in charge whether it be a ceo, someone from pit crew, or someone in charge of the training rooms, discussing what changes we could make we can all agree on. That's an important step since this is a joint contract and if one wants to make any changes or if we want to make some improvements, everyone has to be notified.”
“What about your special requests? Like that one dino Bot.”
“The one your Meta partner fought? Those are separate and mostly shorter term contracts.”
“I see. Do you only make robots?”
“It's our specialty so yeah. Some places do weapons too, heck we have a partnership with Taichi Blast co. and supply them with the parts that we’re better at making compared to them.”
“Oh cool. Do…you keep those schematics?”
“Nah, it’d only cause clutter. Why?”
“No reason just…” Jackson tried to find the words.
The bear smirked. “Ah I see. Like seeing how things tick dont ya?”
“Y-yeah, I like seeing how it's put together and such.”
“Heh. I get ya. My little girl just LOVES machinery. She wants to be a mechanic when she grows up. She's almost twelve yet she's put together her own toy helicopter!” He smiled widely, shedding a tear of joy. “So proud of her!”
Jackson couldn't help but smile. A shock hit his head and a new memory played.
In the memory a ten year old Jackson was heading back to bed after going to the bathroom.
“He’s doing great with this,” His dad's voice echoed from the living room.
“Hm?” Young Jackson moved to the room, peaking around the corner, seeing his parents on the couch.
“He’s getting the size adjustment part down really well,” His mom said.
“Tania, he almost made a drill my size around my arm. Course he got it on his arm instead but still, it's progress!” Adison noted.
“Hehe. It won't be long till he'll be able to make even more complex adjustments, like making certain parts longer.”
“Right!? I can't wait to see him as a hero.”
“Neither can I. I'm already so proud of him!”
“The three of us will be the best team there is!”
The flashback ended.
“Hey you ok?” The bear asked.
“Huh? Oh I’m…just thinking about…my dad.” Jackson assured, looking away with a smile with a hint of sadness.
He noticed the sadness. “I’m…guessing he's not around anymore?”
“...No.”
“Ah…sorry kiddo.” He patted him on the back.
“It's ok… Tell you what, how bout I show you a few schematics of our bots…I'll even sneak in something we're helping the Taichi’s make.”
“Thanks.” Jackson smiled.
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Few moments later
Jackson stood on the roof of Wells, standing in the center to avoid the public eye. Mitch told them they were close to finishing up and decided to take the time to try something he had remembered. He activated his power, looking at the schematic of his electric sword. ‘Ok. Let's give this a try!’ He thought to himself. He took a close look at it and its length. ‘Longer!’ A faded image of the sword overlayed on top of the original, the faded on having a longer blade. ‘It's faded. I remember it being this way when I first extended the Hand Cannon barrel.’ He stuck his hand out. ‘Create!’ He formed it in his hands, the blade being extended by about half a foot. “Hm.” He dissipated it and thought for a second. ‘...I wonder.’ He looked back at the blueprint and made a different adjustment. He formed it again but this time extended the handle to make it a glaive. “Sweet!” He twirled it around, spinning it on one hand before losing his grip and dropping it. “Shit!” He fumbled in catching it, the glaive falling to the ground. “Heh. Uncle Gary never taught me how to use a staff yet. Should fix that.” He recalled the weapon. “Bot time!” He was about to create a robot till Mitch gave him a text. He took a look telling him they found something and to come as Artisakat.
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“What’d you find?” Artisakat asked, walking in the room.
“So we didn't find any signs of hacking or suspicion in the coding but we did find something regarding IP addresses,” Mitch replied.
“We found an IP address related to the personal computer of one of the pit crew from Delta,” Reno added.
“Personal? Like an at home computer?” Jackson asked.
“Yes. Pit crew are allowed to work from home but must link their personal work computer to the one at the agency they work at. They aren't allowed to send in orders without admin approval and the only way to do that at home is to send a request.”
“We're thinking maybe the request was sent with some sort of malware or virus that allowed approval so it could be directly sent here,” Mitch finished.
“Ok then we’ll just have to see this mammal tomorrow and check out his computer,” Jackson planned.
“Peace is already calling them, she should be back in a-”
Peacewolf came in on her phone. “Ok thanks.” She hung up.
“Speak of the hot wolf,” Reno commented, “we all set to interrogate tomorrow?”
“Um, about that.”
“Something wrong?”
“Guy, or gal, go fleeing?” Jackson asked.
“Well no, he's not home. He and his family went on vacation,” Peacewolf answered.
“Huh. Convenient timing,” Anet answered.
“I'd agree…if he hadn't left a week and a half ago.”
Everyone went wide eyed.
“A week and a half!?” Mitch exclaimed.
“When did the order come in?” Jackson asked.
“Three days before the attack. It was priority ordered so that's why it was made so quickly.”
“The attack was two days ago, by that time he would've been gone for a week, not in time to send the blueprints.”
“Maybe he had something set up to connect to it while on vacation,” Anet theorized.
“We can check that tomorrow, we got permission to check his computer,” Peacewolf notified.
“Wait, before we do that we should probably make this an official joint operation, considering we're both from different agencies,” Mitch stated.
“Good point, Delta might even want to be involved.”
“Joint operation?” Anet asked.
“When members of two or more different agencies get directly involved in something like this a joint operation helps with collaborating and setting someone as lead so no one's trying to step on the other's toes. Think of it like a team up with another agency,” Mitch explained.
“I’ll send the request in. It should come by tomorrow by the time you all get in… speaking of, is she gonna be involved?” Reno gestured to Anet.
“Yeah, why?” Jackson asked.
“Well I don't know much about her, but guessing by that brace on her ankle she's some someone akin to a Meta criminal on special probation?”
“Something like that.”
“Well, hopefully since there seems to be special circumstances for her, there'll be no problems but she may need to be excluded from the field.”
“What!?” Jackson and Anet were taken aback.
Mitch wasn't. “I see. Probably for the best anyway.”
Jackson looked at him shocked. “Mitch, seriously!?”
“Artisakat, whether we like it or not, she did aid Webster, tricked or not. Plus this could be linked to Webster which wouldn't go well for her if things go south, she could be blamed for it. If she stays out of it then the odds of connecting her to anything bad happening are lower. They could try and have her be leaked as a mole or something but I can vouch for that easily,” Mitch explained.
Jackson took what he said and thought on it, seeing his point. “Good point,” he calmed down, turning to Anet. “Sorry, Anet.”
“It's fine, It's my fault anyway,” Anet admitted sadly.
“So should I keep her out of it and have her addressed as a Navigator assistant?” Reno wanted to confirm.
“Yeah go ahead,” Mitch told them.
“Alright, I'll have the request sent in by tonight.”
“Until then, let's all head home,” Peacewolf suggested.
“Good idea, some things I wanna test out when I get home,” Jackson mentioned, thinking of testing the Bots he got.
“Alright, see you guys tomorrow?” Mitch said.
“Yep!” Peacewolf smiled.
Reno came to his wife, wrapping his arms around her from behind, sniggling up to her. “What would you like for dinner tonight? I’d want you but-”
“Calm.” She used her ability, which only served to make him shiver.
“Oh that's the stuff!”
“Shoulda used that stun baton,” Jackson commented.
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END
Next chapter. House call.