MHG-V3-4 (Initial Draft)

Chapter 7 - escape (part 3)

*** (Teruko and Ayaka plan)

If Teruko had real, physical hair, she would be pulling it out right now. Already the virtual enivornment which she and Ayaka were using as their warroom had been littered with broken screens as Teruko had gone on a rampage trying to release her anger. Not that any of that helped.

She now sat curled up sobbing, while Ayaka sat beside her rubbing her back.

"He'll be okay." Ayaka said, trying to comfort her. Yet both of them knew those words meant nothing.

Teruko had tried everything she could think of and had launched the largest scale attack she had ever comprised against the mystery compound, yet their security remained impenetrable. In manipulating the internet she was king, but when it came to beseiging a compound, she still had a lot to learn.

"At least i have our men on standby." Ayaka said. "If it comes to it, we can storm the place.. physically."

Teruko stared into space at those words. The secret project Ayaka had been working on was to form a kind of swat team, a group of mercenary soldiers that would act as a mini army for their purposes if they were ever needed. Currently she had about 25 contractors, all who were seasoned fighters and equiped with military-grade equipment. Surely if it came down to it, that was their blast hope. But that was a risky move. To charge in, guns blazing.. who knew if somehow Ken would get caught up in the crossfire.

Teruko cursed herself for her carelessness. If she had been more careful, none of this would have happened.

And then..."Wha..?"

Ayaka made a dumb noise and Teruko looked up to see what had caused that reaction. Then she saw, at this moment the compound had enteted a complete blackout. Not only network but lights, security, everything.

"How..?"

"Could it be.. Ken?" Ayaka asked.

"Impossible." Teruko said flatly. "How could he suceed where we failed?"

"Because he has internal access." Ayaka replied.

Teruko stared at Ayaka before it clicked. "Of course." She said. "Their external network is like a fortress, but that doesn't mean their internal network is."

"Of course that's just speculation. Since everything is dead there's no way to confirm it."

"But its the only way we can succeed, right? Hack their internal network once the power comes back on." Teruko said.

"But how?"

"You've got your swat team onstandby, right?"

"You mean.. sneak inside.. physically?"

"Right. While their power is down so are all their cameras. Its the perfect opportunity. We only need one person on the inside to set up a proxy, then we can hack it."

"Brilliant." Ayaka said. "I'll get them to move out immediately."

"But have the rest posted at the entrance." Teruko warned. "No matter what, we're going to need force if we want to get Ken out of there."

"Already on to it." Ayaka confirmed.

*** (Ken meets Teruko’s troops)

Ken walked slowly down the corridors, following the map projected in front of him by his earpi. Behind him crept three soldiers, their weapons trained on him should he make the slightest mistake.