Just what did they learn, that it would make the military risk killing the children of their own General?
Max was dying to find out some confidential information about the Military which he could use for his advantage, but Asra was already tired, and she wouldn’t be able to stay awake for long. The constant running away from potential danger and having to stay on her toes for so long was too much for the little girl.
Hela did her best to calm Asra, as she was still crying after recalling what had happened to her brother. Max knew that getting anymore information out of the tired and beat down girl would be hard, but he still had to ask. And, at least before she slept.
With her exhaustion, Max knew she wouldn’t wake up for the next 12 hours. In that time, The Military would be constantly patrolling all of Bertha in search for her, and he couldn’t leave the Alphas closed come morning without arousing suspicion. And that’s all assuming that he and Hela would not get hired for work, forcing Asra to fend for herself.
Hela made a pleading look towards Max. Her eyes were telling him to stop and leave the child alone, but he still needed a moment to get what he needed, so he shook his head. Max rest his chin on his hands, giving Asra what little time he could for the girl to collect herself.
There was no noise in Max’s office besides the quiet sobbing of the child. Moments passed, which soon turned to minutes. Max waited, like a lion stalking its prey, quiet and patient. He only talked after Asra had calmed down.
“Asra.”
His voice alarmed the poor girl, now peeking out of Hela’s bosom. Max put on a smile as soon as he noticed that.
“I understand that you’ve been through a lot, and that you’re exhausted, but I promised to help you as well. I’ll task Hela with keeping you safe here with us for now. But, could you tell me about what you learned that made your father so angry? Do you remember it?”
Asra wiped her tears, and started talking. Her speech was still slightly slurred, interspersed with bits of gibberish, but Max had already grown accustomed to how she talked.
Once the girl finished, Max could barely contain himself for what he found out. Hela was feeling the same. They tried not to show the child, Max hiding the smile he could not prevent from forming with his hand. Hela just made sure Asra could not look at her face, holding her tighter.
Max told Hela to quickly put her to the bed in the med-bay downstairs, receiving a nod before they both disappeared down the hallway. Max leaned back on his chair and stared at the ceiling to calm himself down.
The information that Asra found was astronomical, potentially solving every issue the Alphas had with Omegas.
There was a reason that the Omegas had brought the apocalypse, their near immunity to small arms, their ability to change their forms when needed, and their incredible regeneration when one managed to wound them were traits that made them extremely difficult to deal with.
But the biggest headache of all, the reason humankind lost against the Omegas, was their endless numbers. Numbers, and nobody knowing where those numbers came from.
No method of reproduction was ever found, no matter how many carcasses were analyzed. Yet, they always came back, even after seemingly having been nuked to oblivion.
And it was exactly such a method, that Asra had found.
From what she gathered, it seems like when the omegas realize that their population has decreased by an astronomical amount, one of them would change into something akin to a tree, but leaveless and with brances made of the same dark tendrils that the omega sometimes used. And instead of fruit, they only bore more of their kind.
They were, according to the documents, the main reason for much of the desolate wasteland that Euphoria had become. They stole what they could from the ground, as life around them withered to nothing.
Max had always assumed that the loss of vegetation was due to nuclear fallout, but it appeared that the true culprit were the Omegas again.
“Max.” Prime started speaking in Max’s earpiece.
“I know that you can’t control yourself, but we have no proof of this information. Remember who told us about this as well. Asra could very well be delusional, after what happened to her. As much as you want to, we can’t trust her word.”
Prime had thrown a bucket of cold water to his excitement, yet Max knew she was correct. There was no way to prove this information was correct. Max had been stalking Omegas for the past 10 years, and with substantial help since the founding of his company. He knew everything one could know about the Omegas. And despite this, he couldn’t recall anything ever hinting at what he just learned.
“Yet the information is stored physically, and not digitally.” Max gave an effective counter-argument to Prime, which shut her up.
The most effective way to secure data was to simply store it physically. Digital storage, if it was connected to anything, could be hacked given enough time. Even if it wasn’t, the information could still be scanned, given enough time and good enough equipment.
But if it was stored on just a mundane piece of paper? nobody would know if it even exists in the first place.
Max and Prime remained quiet until someone knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Max said without moving an inch.
Hela was thrilled by the information they had found, as it would let them finally achieve the purpose of why the company was created in the first place. All that excitement drained as saw Max staring at the ceiling, a hand covering his eyes.
“W-What’s wrong?” Hela gulped in a breath of cold air as she braced herself for Max’s words.
He waved his hand, signaling for Prime to explain the situation. Max started quietly contemplating on what to do next as Prime explained everything to Hela.
“So, what are you going to do now?” Hela’s worry could be heard in her voice.
Max took in a deep breath before he looked toward Hela.
“For now, take care of Asra, make sure she isn’t seen by anyone other than our employees.” Max paused for a moment as he pondered a bit more. “The information Asra gave us is most likely fake. Trees that grow Omegas? There’s no way we could miss that for such a long time. Why would the military hide this in the first place? But…”
Max stood up from his chair.
“If there’s even just the slimmest chance that what Asra told us is true, then I have to check it out and make sure it’s true or not. I’ll go and contact Asra’s father. And if worse comes to worst, I’ll steal the documents myself.”
Max unplugged Prime from his computer and put her in his pocket. Prime still had wireless access to all the electronics at their place, but wirelessly would waste a lot of her batteries, so she would only connect wirelessly if there was a need to. Thankfully, her range was far greater than that of the earpieces they often used.
“Get some rest for today, tomorrow is most definitely going to be a hectic day.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Hela nodded.
“Just… Be careful and don’t do anything stupid. For Both the Alphas and your own sake.”
He quickly nodded, “Got it, I’ll prepare just in case.”
Hela smiled as they both left Max’s office. Hela’s destination was the med-bay downstairs, to keep an eye out for Asra while Max went upstairs to Alpha’s armory.
The security was tight there, a steel door with a scanner and cameras recording everything, along with a couple hidden traps that would activate in case anyone tried to force their way in. Max simply tapped on his earpiece and Prime unlocked the heavy door.
The room was filled with guns, armors, and various different gadgets, the gadgets purpose was hard to tell. The guns hanging on walls ranged the way from small pistols to heavy caliber machine guns barely light enough to carry. There were cabinets filled with gun parts, armor paddings, and ammunition. Wardrobes filled with vests and various accessories and attachments for the guns present. The place was heaven for a gun enthusiast.
Max couldn’t bring much firepower or wear armor without looking suspicious, so he needed to think carefully.
“Max, remember, Eric’s house is most definitely heavily bugged, most of which he probably doesn’t know about himself. I recommend bringing an EMP grenade.”
“They probably have an E.M.P shield nearby, but better be safe than sorry.”
Max thought hard about what other things to bring and decided on a total of four items.
The first two were a gray scarf and a black headband from the cabinets. They were mundane items, their purpose simply to make him harder to recognize. He always wore his hair tied up into a ponytail while at the company, and it had since become one of his more recognizable traits, so letting his hair down would make him harder to recognize as the owner of the Alphas. The scarf could be pulled up to his nose without looking suspicious, and the headband hid his forehead and kept his now loose hair out of his face.
The other two things were an E.M.P grenade, by Prime’s suggestion, which he put on his belt, and an experimental ‘pistol’ rail gun. Rail gun ‘rifles’ were available since before the omegas had attacked, but they took too much energy and were too slow for a slight power increase compared to conventional weapons, thus remaining largely unused. Now though, Max was able to get his hand on an experimental one, merely the size of a large pistol. Despite the size reduction, it still retained the power of it’s predecessors, firing thin rods of metal at extreme speed. Max used depleted uranium as ammunition, manufactured to the weapon’s dimensions, further compounding its force and allowing it to penetrate 5 inches of steel with a single shot. That single shot was all its battery could support, so Max had not taken extra ammunition.
The only reason he grabbed this was that, should he be chased by someone in an exo-suit, he would have something to penetrate their armour. His normal sidearm would not suffice.
He placed the gun into the holster, under his right arm. At that moment, Prime chimed in.
“Are you sure you want to take that? It’s untested.”
“And hopefully. I won’t be testing it today.”
He pulled his overcoat back over his holster, hiding his weapons.
Done at the armory, he walked to the exit once Prime locked the door again. He stopped for a minute, waiting for Prime to confirm that nobody who could trace him was nearby, leaving once she did.
He headed to the alley where they first found Asra to hide. “Prime, guide me to general Eric’s house.”
“Understood.”
Max followed Prime’s directions under the nightlife of Bertha, the streets lit up by advertisements, flickering neon signs, and the cold light of streetlamps. Max soon noticed a lack of pedestrians. He thought that either the Military’s been warning people to stay inside, or that there was yet another Omega attack.
Max walked through both clean roads and dirty alleyways, zigzagging through as many shortcuts he could, making sure nobody could see him. The journey that should’ve originally cost him 30 minutes end up taking more than double that. But Eric’s house was finally nearby, just on the other street.
The street where Eric’s house was seemed fancy, the lack of litter and garbage setting them apart from most of bertha. The houses looked new and clean. Max followed Prime’s guidance, and finally saw Eric’s house. A two-story-tall triangle house, painted in a dark blue colour.
The lights were on. Max could tell that either Eric, or someone in the house was awake. His only objective was the confidential folder which Asra found, but it seemed like the job would be difficult. Either the nanny from Asra’s story was there, or Eric himself was inside the building.
Max tapped on his earpiece twice. This turned out to be a terrible decision.
“The scan was jammed! Get out of there!”
Max’s eyes narrowed, and he quickly yet quietly vanished into the alleyways.
Jammers were not uncommon in the city, but they meant that Max couldn’t use Prime to detect traps and hidden alarms in the area. Some people with guns came out from the houses near Eric’s house and started patrolling where Max initiated his area scan.
Max walked away from the hot-zone, thinking to himself.
This is going to be more troublesome than I thought. But that also means that Asra’s info is more likely to be correct.
Once Max knew he was far enough away, he started thinking about his next move. If there was a jammer nearby, then that meant there would be an EMP shield nearby too, protecting it. Even if Max somehow found both of these things by himself, they would probably be under constant surveillance, with a team of people dispatched as soon as they saw someone as much as walk by past it.
He thought for a while, and concluded that he’d need to cut out all the lights in the area if he wants even a slim chance to break into Eric’s house. But the jammer and the shield were both probably attached to a back-up generator. Cutting out the lights in the area may affect all the cameras and bugs in Eric’s house, but a back generator would restore everything within a few seconds. Not enough time for Max to swoop in and get the files.
No matter what plan he devised, it could get countered by an unknown variable. Until, finally, Max was left with no choice but to call in an Esper.
A trusted Esper, with the right abilities.
The military usually went above and beyond to make sure no Esper would betray them, but that didn’t mean that Espers wouldn’t help others without the military’s consent.
Max couldn’t go to Eric’s house and steal the files he wants, but it would be possible with an Esper.
Max knew a number of them from his long line of work, and even trusted a couple of them. One such Esper that Max knew about was perfect for the job. She could control electricity, and potentially cause a city-wide blackout, under the right conditions.
“Prime, call Mila Kati.” Max pulled the scarf above his nose as he spoke, so that nobody could see his mouth and potentially read his lips. It wouldn’t hurt to be cautious, even though he saw nobody in the alley.
“Her? Max, I admit that her powers would be really useful in this scenario, but you know I don’t like her very much. I always feel threatened in her presence.” Prime had some bad experiences with Mila, having been accidentally short-circuited a number of times before. As well as not so accidentally whenever Prime pissed her off. Max knew that Prime was lying, since she would still keep annoying Mila, despite the shocks.
Prime called her in the end, but Max had to be careful. It was almost guaranteed that the military was tracing every call to an Esper, and he did not want any of them listening in.
Seconds passed, and then the call connected about half a minute later.
“Hi! No, Hey! No wait, give me a second!” Mila fumbled with her phone, and there were noises of girls from the background, so Max knew she wasn’t alone. Max heard Mila clearing her throat before she started the conversation, correctly this time.
“Hello Max, how are you?”
Max changed his attitude to one that sounded like he was meeting an old friend after a long time. He was trying to trick anyone who might be listening to their call.
“Hey Mila, it’s been a while. Everything alright over there?”
“Y-Yep, everything is a A-Okay!” Mila fumbled, and the giggling of a number of girls reverberated in the background. “S-So, what’s up! You don’t usually call me on a day off!”
Max knew Mila was busy with some kind of party, or a girl’s night out. He hoped that she would still accept his invitation to hang out, and subsequently forgive him for lying in the future.
“Mila, listen, I’ve had a rough day with all my jobs, and I finally just got free. I was wondering, would you want to spend the rest of the night with me?” This was Max’s card. Calling a woman out for a date was normal, even to anyone listening in on the call.
As the call went silent for a moment, Max raised his eyebrows, wondering in case he messed something up, but he soon heard the excited screams of the girls, acting like teenagers reading romance. The call then immediately went on mute.
Max waited, and even Prime was smart enough to not make any noises lest it be heard by the enemy.
Moments later, Mila was back on the phone.
“S-Sure, Of course! Absolutely! Do you have any place in mind?”
Mila was trying her best to stay composed, but her excited voice betrayed her.
Once Max knew that Mila was hooked, he focused on his voice and did his best to sound as sensational as he could. He was trying to woo both the woman on the other end, and the military doubtlessly between them.
“I’ll send you the coordinates of this bar I know of, but remember. It’ll only be the two of us.”
The women erupted again. He could barely just make out Mila just saying ‘Okay’ among the racket of excited girls before the call went silent again, this time truly ending.
Max tapped on the earpiece, to which Prime hung up on the call on their end too. Being unable to speak during the call, she let out her frustrations.
“Let’s hope she doesn’t kill us after she finds out the real reason we called her.”
“If she finds out that it could potentially wipe the Omegas out, then she won’t.”
“With the number of screams going on in the background, you clearly disturbed a girl’s night out. And those single women won’t stop chewing on Mila until she gives them a satisfying answer.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Send her the coordinates to Kain’s bar. Let’s go there ourselves too, hopefully, the people searching for the traces of our scan are long gone by then.”