The F.O.X. Project

Chapter 19: Breaching The Obelisk

Max, Trent and Crystal suited up with full bulletproof mobility armour, they also grabbed a pistol each, Crystal grabbed a small sub-machine gun and Max seized a pair of Tommy guns. Trent noticed that Ash wasn't suiting up at all.
'Why aren't you putting armour on?' He asked.
'I don't need it.'
'What?'
'I am a dark subspecies. In shadow form practically nothing can touch me.'
'That's kinda dope.' Said Max in the background.

They joined up with the other troops in the draeg hanger. Neat lines of about twenty anthropomorphic soldiers stood at attention, ready to board the fighter-carrier. Male and female ranks were among them as well as some neutral genders.
'Right you guys know what you are doing. We are looking for a Dystopian Emancipating Xenotech. Find it, extract it, get out of there. Try not to kill anyone, guns are loud and we are going for stealth here.'
A silence of understanding filled the room.
What does Dystopian Emancipating Xenotech do?? Max, Crystal and Trent thought.
'Ok, let's go.' Ash ordered and they all marched into one of two draegs.
Trent and Crystal got in the second draeg while Max ended up in the first with Ash.

They both took off, one after the other and started heading in the direction of the mainland. The world shrinking beneath them as they rose above the clouds.

♦️ ♦️ ♦️

Max looked over at Ash, who was in his normal form again. He had a strange helmet on his lap. The thing that was particularly peculiar about this helmet was that it had a screen instead of a visor. It had two holes for his ears but also two angled spikes on a pivot with the Nova Corporation's logo on it, an upside down, hollow, crystalline triangle.
There's no way he can see through that. Max thought.
They flew in silence for a few hours with no sign as to where they were before Max felt the draeg stop midair and the loading door opened.
'Right ill guide the ship down.' Ash announced and he jumped off the ramp, disappearing from view.

Max felt the ship slowly lower to the ground, stepping off the ramp he saw that they had landed just outside the shield wall for the Obelisk. The bitter wind blew across his face as he stared up at the massive superstructure, BiCopters and other flying vehicles circled the tower, creating a hive of activity in the middle of the wastelands.

'Right.' Said Ash, putting on his helmet, 'let's do this!'
He powered his helmet on and it flickered with the Nova Corps logo for a few seconds before going blank.
They all then individually snuck off in different directions, with a small group of agents going with Ash.
Max followed them into the compound and they entered a pitch black hallway.
Ash clicked his fingers on both hands and two eye-like patterns appeared on his helmet, then a bright light shone from the end of his helmet, illuminating the corridor.
'So cool.' Max whispered.
He broke away from the group shortly after and down a long, dark corridor. He had already been here before and he knew his way around the vents best, so he crawled through a grate and along to what he knew was a vehicle lot. He was going to get in the main structure through there, using an armoured car.

The lot was surprisingly empty when he lifted the grate, climbing out onto the open concrete plain.
He spotted a car that he thought looked cool and hacked into it remotely through his Mobiglass. The door soon clicked open and he clambered into the spacious driver's cabin, pressing the button to start the engine and driving out of the lot and along a road. Seemed like you have to head out of the compound to get back in.

Max drove down the road for some time, towards 8217 Rockefeller Centre, a huge concrete monolith opposite the main Obelisk building. He came to a level crossing but before he could cross the light went red and the armoured barriers slid shut, alarms blearing.
The ground rumbled like there was an earthquake and the tracks shifted over the road a fraction of a second before a BiRail roared through the interrupted silence. Endless freight cars followed with slightly varied heights for a few minutes before the end locomotive flew past. The rails then retracted again and the barriers slid open as if nothing had happened.
Continuing across the tracks and back down the road opposite, Max came to a security gate. The vehicle was scanned by several sensors and let through. Perfect.
He then continued driving down a ramp and through an underground car park before coming to the place he wanted to enter through. Stopping the car, Max squirmed back into the vent system, climbing up for some time, experiencing sneak peeks of what goes on in the Obelisk through the various vent grates within laboratories and prison cells. Silenced gunshots could also just be heard in the distance and he'd passed two Anthros in the vents too by the time he made it up to a private server room.
Small servers covered in blinky lights of all colours sat in neat rows along each wall of the thin, long room. Max shuffled out of the vent and stood up. The room was dimly lit and cold, but made slightly warm by the servers. Max wasn't sure if they would store a highly intelligent AI in such a non-essential room. But he looked anyway, quickly scanning the servers for something that looked remotely like an artificial intelligence.
Giving up, he grabbed and put on a guards uniform and walked out of the room, pretending to be on duty. He passed several other guards and nobody had noticed. So far he hadn't found the DEX but he did have an easier way to get around.
Max continued up the building, if he wanted to know where it might be he would have to get closer to the more secure areas of the Obelisk. And risk being figured out.