The Fall of the Society

Chapter 29: Rescue Rush

A low vibrating sounded from the back of the top drawer of his desk. He was sitting in the dark, staring at the monitor of his computer, reading file after file. It had been over a month since he appeared in the night and freed Koton. He had not left his home since returning to it, and he had been sifting through the data he had collected ever since. The multiple monitors in front of him glowed with open files, he was dragging the ones he was interested in onto the right most screen.

Opening the drawer without really thinking about it, he pulled an ancient looking cellphone from it and glanced at the screen. Noticing what he was holding, his attention changed quickly, and he flipped it open.

"Do not speak," an unfamiliar male voice said suddenly. "The one you have interest in has been captured. She is a place with a lot of truck traffic. The boss is missing but told me to inform you of this before he disappeared. Do not contact us, it is no longer safe." There was a click, and the connection was gone.

Lowering the phone, he concentrated hard on what had just been said to him. What did he mean the boss was missing? Had the Society managed to track Rose down, and if so, how did they manage to trap her? The new thoughts spun in his head mixed with the other information that had been dancing around his mind. Coming to his senses he clicked on an icon on his computer and a new window popped up in front of the others.

Typing rapidly the window changed as he input many different codes. Finally, multiple high definition views appeared in front of him, video links of an aerial view of various locations. He looked from video to video, before pressing a series of keys on the keyboard and the views changed. A large rectangular building appeared in the lower left corner of the monitor and he clicked on it. Only one road was leading to the building and along it, a large white box truck was kicking up a slight trail of dust. This had to be it, the building he was needing to find.

He closed the camera view and typed in a series of commands into the computer. The screens flashed and went dark. Standing, he pulled multiple devices from his desk and stashed them into his pockets. Looking around he strode over to his closet and opened it, staring at his many fine and precious suits. Pushing them to the side, he placed his hand on hidden panel on the wall, and two doors slid back into the wall. A bright light flooded the vaguely lit room and he stepped forward into the newly arrived room.

Another rack of suits was on the left side of the room, but these ones looked slightly different. These suits were all black and had what appeared to be armor along many portions of the clothing. Slipping out of his house coat, he removed one of the suits from the rack and quickly slipped it on. The clothing fit perfectly, hugging his muscular form like a glove. He then put on a black pair of combat boots and turned to the opposite wall. An extensive line of beautifully crafted blades hung along the wall. Some were longer than others, and they got longer as they went to his left. Moving all the way to the right, he drew a series of small throwing knives and placed them into holders that were built into the thigh armor on his legs. He then recovered two fine daggers and placed them on his hips, parallel with the floor. Finally, all the way to the left of the row, he drew the two longest blades from the wall and placed them into their sheaths pointing to the ceiling. The last thing he pulled from the shelf was a black face mask and set of black glasses. He slipped the two items into a pouch below on his right side, beneath the dagger, then seized the devices he had pulled from the desk and put them into the pouch on his left hip.

Picking up his phone he typed in a series of numbers before placing the phone to his ear. "Wondered when I would hear from you next," a female voice said with interest. "Where are we going?"

"I need a ride somewhere remote," he told her quickly. "I will be there in a short while, be ready." He then hung the phone up and sat it on the shelf, not wanting any way of being tracked. Exiting the room, he placed his hand back on the panel and the light went off as the doors shut. The doors sealed seamlessly, and he spread his suits out evenly in the closet before closing it as well. Striding back across the room he placed his hand in a random spot on the wall and his workstation slid back into the wall, disappearing from view. If anyone were to enter his apartment while he was away, they would simply see an open studio flat, with nothing but a bed, television, and kitchen.

Moving to the corner beside his bed, he pushed on a panel and a narrow door opened and he slipped himself into it, the door closing behind him. A narrow staircase winded downward into the dark, a railing on either side. Placing his forearms onto the rails, he lifted his feet directly in front of him and rocketed down the stairwell, sliding quickly along the rails. Lunging from the rails when he hit the bottom of the stairs, he landed in stride and began sprinting down a long dark corridor. A small bauble of light hung here and there, leaving large areas of darkness, a light smell of mildew hung in the air.

He ran flat out for about thirty minutes before he let up and slowed to a walk, just as a ladder came into view on his left. Just as quickly, he climbed the ladder and placed his hand on a panel, a hatch slid open over his head. Pulling himself out of the hole, he looked around. He was in a dark basement of what appeared to be a small warehouse, a staircase on the far end of the room. Without hesitation, he moved across the room and strode up the steps, three at a time.

Pushing open the door, he was standing face to face with a very tall broadly built woman. She had short black hair and a vibrant smile on her face, a large shotgun in her hands. "That was the quickest you have ever made that trip; this must be really important." She walked across the room and held her hand out too him. Sid was tall and rather broad himself, but this woman dwarfed him. "Where are we going?"

Grasping her hand with his, he slipped a small piece of paper into her hand. "As quickly as possible if you please, time is of the essence."

"Did you hear about Maldion? Is that what this is about?" she said intently.

Sid hung his head slightly, "Not yet, we have to go for someone that is even more important, but do not worry, I will find him and make those who took him pay." An angry expression spread across his smooth face, and the woman took a step back. "We must go, Magdaline." He strode past her toward another set of stairs that led upward.

She was taken aback at the expression he had just dawned, having never seen him so angry. Without another thought, she followed him up the stairs. Once there she placed her hand on a console standing beside a beautiful hovercraft. The plane was as long as a school bus with four short wings sticking out the sides with a large propeller inlaid on each of them. A door slid open on the side and Sid stepped in, moving to the front, and sitting in the left pilot seat. A screen appeared to the side of the console she had placed her hand on, and she quickly typed in a command. As soon as she hit enter, the roof began to slide open, two panels disappeared into the two sides of the ceiling.

The console slid into the floor without a trace as she walked away from it and climbed into the plane. She sat in the righthand pilot seat and began typing in the coordinates he had given her. Next, she began prepping the plane for flight, flipping many switches as the propellers began spinning into life. The plane made no sound as the propellers spun to max velocity, pushing dust on the floor outward, creating a cloud. With amazing speed, the craft shot into the air and blasted forward. If Sid had not done this many times before, he would have been awestruck at the rate of which this craft moved while not making a sound, but at the same time, he had designed it and Magdaline had built it.

He closed his eyes and leaned back; they had a few hours flight before they reached their destination. Magdaline said nothing as they flew, she had been on many of these missions with Sid and knew that he preferred quiet while preparing himself for a mission. The time passed quickly as she skimmed the tops of the trees, occasionally needing to maneuver around an odd tree sticking above the others. She reached over and hit Sid with the back of her hand on his chest. "You need to move into position now, we are almost there."

Sid sat up and pulled his mask on while dawning his sunglasses. "I will get myself back so do not hang around. Things could get crazy." He then stepped out of the compartment as the front of the plane tilted upward, gaining altitude. Pressing a button on the wall, the door slid open and he gazed out into the trees, the road winding below him.

Glancing back at Magdaline, she gave him a thumbs up, and he stepped out of the door. Falling freely through the air he spread his arms and a thin membrane connected his arms to his sides and his legs together. He slowed slightly but narrowed his body to make himself fall faster. The ground shot up toward him, but just before he made impact with the ground, he spread himself wide and rocketed forward, gliding along the road, headed for the warehouse, and Rose.