Bingo watched his heads-up display overlay carefully. Though he had figured out that the Zenith forces were using some type of device to scramble his Net-com, his internal systems were much more powerful and used a wider variety of technologies than just pinging off the Titan net assets like the Net-coms used. Because of the sonar and radar and lydar and other systems his bionics utilized; he was still able to track the majority of the Zenith enemies in the neighborhood.
The city literally seemed to be swarming with drones. He was getting indicators of hundreds of aerial drones overhead now, as well as the small army that was still following him, though his bionic legs were able to put some good distance between them. But as he traveled through the relatively narrow alleyways, he also saw that there was a large new group moving into position ahead of him. They were attempting to cut him off and surround him.
Bingo took a moment to eject the empty magazine from his Etcher pistol and slide in the only full mag he had left. Twelve plus one in the chamber left him with few options. He decided to take a look around with his more advanced optics, trying to see if he could locate nearby life readouts from Amiga or Eligah. He got few readouts from the nearby buildings, he figured he must be in a largely commercial area, with few employees and live Titans after dark. But what he did see when he continued scanning in all directions eventually shocked him.
Back in the direction of the street he had escaped from, he saw several life signs amidst the gathering army of robotics. There was a total of three Titans dragging another one, with two more following casually behind. He ran the data that his x-ray vision scan was reading from behind the buildings through his systems memory bank, and the one being dragged came up as an exact match for Amiga’s weight and height and other dimensions.
But if that were true, it posed a truly terrifying thought to the Reaper. What on the face of Titan could subdue and carry the female super soldier? Most of the Wolverine species were naturally devoid of fear responses in the same manner that other Titans experienced the emotion. They were simply known as being naturally brave and fierce among the different species of Titans. Beyond that, Bingo had most of his emotional response centers tampered with as part of his bionics to the point where it could be said that Bingo was literally a Titan that did not experience fear.
But being devoid of fear did not necessarily mean being foolish, and though he did not physically experience the hard fight or flight response associated with true fear, he knew when it was warranted. And whatever those five Titan life forms that were surrounding her were, he knew it was wise that if anything should inflict fear, it should be them. Judging by the short time he’d been in proximity to the Foxen, he began reasoning the only thing that would even be feasible at subduing her would likely be other Titans subjected to the same program that had created her. He wasn’t sure that even five cyborgs would be enough to take her down, though it was also a possibility. In either case, five cyborgs or super soldiers against just him were not good odds.
A sonic scan just at that moment alerted him to a strange occurrence. He did not read any life signs in any of the nearby buildings, but he was getting some faint sonic activity. Running it through his probability program, it certainly had the range, pitch, and pauses of speech. Bingo made his way towards what looked to be the entrance of a seedy speakeasy. He had seen similar places back in Kallerish City. He noticed a large drunken Titan Canid singing a little song to himself before falling to the ground in an inebriated state.
“Yeah?” Came a gruff answer after he descended a small staircase off to the side of the alley and rapped on the door, waiting just a moment to make sure the drunken Canid did not notice him.
“How much to get in?” The small cyborg asked. It was a calculated response, he wasn’t sure that this was some sort of shady establishment or something off the books, he was just taking a guess.
“Fifty creds.” Came the response.
“Ready when you are.” Bingo brought up his payment transfer app within his Net-com and once the other Titan initiated the transaction, he accepted.
The door swung open, and he hurried inside. Passing by a smaller Rodentia sitting on a stool next to the door and puffing on a large cigar, he could see now how the Titans inside were masked from his sensors.
The walls were much thicker than it appeared from the outside, and several inches thick solid steel. He did a quick reading with his bionic eyes and saw that the steel was coated with a thin layer of Chromed Byzantium. Byzantium was an outlawed synthetic metal that could somehow deflect most modern scans. The Byzantium mixed with the thickness of an average bank vault made the interior of this place a black hole to technology.
All of this he reasoned with a casual glance; he continued inside to avoid any suspicion. He saw dancing shadows inside the dim candlelit room and was soon ushered closer by a female along the wall. A quick motion had a false wall open to reveal a cleverly disguised elevator. With a nod, Bingo climbed aboard and with no questions asked, the female operator sent the platform down into the dark depths below.
Plunging several stories below what he reasoned would have been street level, he stepped off the platform once it had come to a complete stop. Another doorway opened and here he found a brighter room filled with Titans gambling and dancing and enjoying themselves.
Again, greeted by a young attractive Titan female offering all manner of illicit services, Bingo waved her away and scanned the room for a quiet corner to wait out the scrutiny on the street above. Gaming tables stretched out to his left, with many Titans eagerly gambling away what would have been life savings to most with every turn of a dice or card. To his right stood a bar lined with the soft glow of neon, and further on the backside of that bar were a row of comfortable looking discreet booths.
Bingo headed immediately towards the booths. Though his work as a Reaper put him into a higher tax class than many Titans, he had never been a gambler and had no desire to begin the lifestyle now. Once he found a suitably dark and private booth to slide into, he waved over one of the scantily clad females strutting about. Gambling might not have held any particular attraction for the cyborg, but he did recognize the need to spend some credits lest whichever underworld figures that ran this place might get suspicious.
“How exotic!” The female Procyon approaching him exclaimed. Bingo had nearly forgotten how normal Titan sexual attraction worked, but he wondered briefly if the other Procyons he had been with earlier would have found her appealing. “I mean, we don’t get many of your kind here on the coast.” She quickly went on to explain.
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“There’s not that many of us left in the world anymore from what I hear.” Bingo tried his best to fake a smile and what he considered “normal” Titan facial expressions and mannerisms.
“Hope that didn’t seem offensive. Anyway, you’ll be the first Wolvie I’ve served. What’s your poison mister?”
“Just bring alcohol. A bottle, not a shot.”
“Any particular brand or flavor you like?”
Bingo had to think about his answer for a moment. Most alcoholic beverages had been heavily regulated in Kallerish City. There were maybe three brands of approved bonded and licensed hard liquor, but the vast majority of drinks that Titans enjoyed, if they had the credits to do so, was home brewed in back alleys such as this.
“House special? I’m not fond of Zenith licensed piss water.”
“Sure thing baby. Be right back.”
A few quiet minutes went by before the female came back with a bottle, just as advertised. He transferred some credits to her and took a drink directly from the bottle. It was strange to suddenly be in such a relatively safe and relaxed atmosphere when just minutes ago he was being shot at. This far below ground felt an entire world away from all that trouble.
His systems warned him of foreign substances entering his bloodstream, and he sent a thought to ignore it for now. The moment of calm did afford him the luxury of trying to contact the others. He was not hopeful for their survival, but those high-tech flight packs the other three were carrying did offer a wider variety of tactical options than a Titan just simply legging it around a shootout.
“Any of you keeners still alive?” The Wolverine spoke after entering the triple encoded private room the others had.
No answer. He didn’t automatically assume the worst however, according to his readouts it was possible that this far underground and encased in a tomb of chromed Byzantium, there were simply no wavelengths capable of entering or leaving this establishment. This would likely be a good thing for what was probably an illegal speakeasy and distillery. He decided to lay low for awhile and hope the Zenith troops would eventually move on.
* * * *
Somewhere over an expansive desert on the west coast of the Federated Territories, an outcropping of rocks looked like a perfect place to lay low for a while. The Rhapsody landed while its pilot engaged half a dozen cloaking systems to avoid nearly every detection beyond old fashioned eyeballs on target. It would be good to take a little while to use the solar panels to recharge the batteries of the ship, and the strong sunlight seemed like a perfect opportunity to do just that.
Lupis powered everything down which left only a readout of the available power source remaining, which was still barely above fifty percent, which was no dire emergency just yet, Titan time, and current coordinates onscreen in the corner of the windshield.
Next came the familiar feeling, one which Lupis had been in touch with for years now, being alone with his thoughts inside the cozy confines of his ship. Only this time, he was not technically alone. He decided to check on his passenger before he did anything else.
Walking to the rear of the ship, past his sleeping quarters, he punched the button that would open the doors to the cargo area in back. The Foxen had been sitting quietly in a corner, but now seemed a little frightened by the sudden appearance of the mysterious armored figure. To his credit, he stood to his feet and looked prepared to mount a defense, which amused the jaded bounty hunter.
“Relax. If I was planning on killing you, I would have done so before letting you aboard my personal craft.” Came the slightly tinny voice from the armor’s speaker inside the mirrored helmet. Lupis offered a bottled water with one outstretched gauntlet.
Atani seemed cautious, but the logic was correct. If this giant armored figure wanted to do him harm at this point there was little he could do in return, or to resist for that matter. He snatched the bottle and then retreated several steps away.
“If you cooperate, you may be back in your own bed by morning. What can you tell me about these Titan rebels?”
“My good sir, I may be a rogue and a scoudral, but I do have a certain code of morality that I abide by. I don’t plan on making this any easier for you than I need to.”
“I only need the three Procyons. The rest can go free for all I care. Any information you might give me might help keep the rest out of this.”
Atani sighed. He did not want to help this villain, but he knew his sister was out there with them, and didn’t want to get her involved in this either. He was not sure what this battle suit the Titan wore was capable of, or if it was even capable of doing anything to her enhanced body at this point, but he was not eager to find out.
“Who are you anyway? You don’t strike me as any Zenith officer I’ve run across. Is this some personal vendetta that you have with the brothers or is this…” Atanis stopped to take a drink of the offered water. “Are you like a bounty hunter or something? Do they have a bounty on them?”
There was no response from the figure before him, only a blank, expressionless, mirrored visor. Atanis had not survived for so long mostly in the wildlands with only his sister by his side by being naïve or foolish. He was now sure by the silence that this was most likely the case. But what type of Titan would go through all of this trouble unless…
“How much is the bounty for? I take you for a serious bounty hunter, not some amateur weekend warrior judging by all the expensive equipment. That tells me the bounty must be significant for a serious Titan like yourself to spend your time and energy pursuing it.”
“I need to get more information first. Eyes on the subject. What Zenith is offering is enough to gain my attention but may not be worth the effort. I’ll decide.”
Atanis now had a little to work with here. If he could just keep the Titan bounty hunter talking, then this could go somewhere. The more he talked the more opportunities a born opportunist like Atani had to work with.
“In that case I may definitely have some useful information for you. They are travelling right now…” Atanis stopped himself, not knowing if trying to spin a con on this bounty hunter was worth it or not.
“Traveling right now with what?” The slightly robotized voice prodded from under the helmet.
“Traveling right now with a Zenith supersoldier.” Atanis waited with held breath. He was not sure what the other Titan would think about this fact, or if he would even believe him at all.
“What does that mean?” Came the reply from the powered armor suit.
“The Zenith super soldier program? Surely you’ve heard about it?”
Atani began scrambling within his own brain. Come to think of it, would he have known about the secretive program had they not forcibly taken his own sister to be part of it? It wasn’t exactly something that the prevalent and ever-present Zenith Corporation advertised. Would this bounty hunter even have the resources to find out about such things?
“Project Starborn.” The bounty hunter returned after a moment of silence, the tone in the voice was ambiguous.
“I’m pretty sure I heard it was named something else.” Atani returned.
“There were a few names given according to what I found. They have one of these with them?”
“Yes.” Atanis ejected before thinking it through. Surely whatever knowledge database this Titan was looking through would show him the futility of trying to go against someone like Amiga…
“This may be interesting after all.” Lupis turned to walk out of the cargo bay, sending a command to his ship to lock the door behind him. Based on the little information available on the results of these experiments, it would likely prove a worthy challenge of his skills to capture a Titan capable of casually lifting several tons of weight and possessing bulletproof skin. Besides that, there was a separate reward on information leading to the capture of any rogue experiments. This was his best guess and one he hoped was correct, for if the experiment traveling with his targets was not rogue but working with Zenith, he was not anxious to go against the mega corporation again so soon.