Chapter 3
April 2nd, 2015 06:00 AM
Trisha Oslett walked into her office early the next day, after having conceded to an inspection of her facilities. She knew it was coming eventually, and hoped she was ready.
“Miranda, online.” She said as she dropped her briefcase by the side of her desk.
Immediately a hologram of a woman dressed in a suit appeared in front of her desk.
“I am online, Miss Oslett.” Miranda said.
“Give me a report since I’ve been gone.” Trisha said as she settled into the chair behind her large desk.
Immediately, windows of data opened around Miranda, and she started pointing them out. “In the last two days, profit has been stable, no new income generated. However, there is a new prisoner contract ready for your signature in your inbox.”
Trisha picket up her tablet and started skimming the contract. “Tell me about this new prisoner.”
“Prisoner number #58, Ralph Foretta, also known as “Strongman”. Powers include increased strength, increased bone mass, and increased endurance. Known to be able to lift up to two tons with a suspected maximum of four tons. Condition is currently stable. Prisoner is currently in acceptable permanent restraints.”
“Show me his medical data.” Trisha said in between Miranda’s update. Immediately, the prisoner’s current medical data streamed to her tablet. “What happened to him?”
“Per Agent Chancer’s report, Agent Douser suppressed his powers while he was lifting a car, and the car crashed down on him. A note is attached to this from Doctor Perry, stating that the prisoner would have been killed had he not had increased bone mass.” Miranda told her.
Trisha nodded as she read over his medical data and tapped her tablet a few times to see more. “Have him moved to cell block six.” She dismissed the medical data.
“The order has been directed.” Miranda told her.
“Also, inform security that an inspection team will be coming, which may or may not include a Senator. Give them full access to the entire building, except the black zones.”
“The order has been directed.”
“Has the power problems been fixed with the holograms in cell block five?”
“Cell block five has been upgraded with quadruple power redundancy, as directed.” Miranda said.
“Excellent. Have Agents Chancer, Douser and Eagle-Eye report to my office at nine this morning.”
“The order has been directed.”
April 2nd, 2015 08:30 AM
“Can you believe this shit?” Chancer said as he brought his jeep to a stop in front of a group of protestors. Luckily, he had the hard top on his jeep as they banged on his window.
“The Sellouts suck!” One of the protestors shouted as he banged on Chancer’s window.
“It is very believable, since I am right here.” Douser told him. They both lived in the same building, which was also owned and protected by TSO, so they carpooled often. This morning they had both received a text alert to be in the CEO’s office at nine.
“How could you turn on your own people?” A woman shouted as she banged on Douser’s window.
“We’re never going to make it now.” Chancer said as he tried to inch the jeep forward. He blared the horn as much as possible. It was slow going due to the amount of protestors crowding the street in front of the Oslett building.
“We will make it. You will think of something.” Douser said as she continued reading her tablet, uncaring about the protestors. Protestors were a common occurrence for them.
“Fuck it.” He said as he drew his pistol out from its holster and popped open the sunroof. He waved it at them while shouting obscenities until they moved out of his way – which they did promptly when he fired a round into the sky. He plopped down into his seat quickly and gunned it to the gate, which opened and closed rapidly for them as the guards held the protestors that chased their jeep back.
“They’re going to take your gun away again.” Douser said as she continued reading.
“Let them. It’s not like I really need it anyways.” He told her as he drove as fast as he could to the checkpoint. They had to go through three before he could even park. “And I thought we were done with this ‘Sellouts’ bullshit.”
“We will never be done with it as long as someone thinks we are doing wrong.” She told him.
“We’re not doing wrong; we’re protecting them from murderers!” He yelled at her as he handed his badge to the guard at the first checkpoint. Another guard took Dousers and quickly returned it after scanning it. Chancer grabbed his and floored it once the tire spikes were lowered in front of his jeep.
“One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” She said, quoting Gerald Seymour.
“Profound wisdom, Yoda.” He said as he slammed on his brakes at the next checkpoint. He leaned out and pressed his thumb to a pad and the gate in front of him lifted into the ceiling. He gunned it again, receiving a shout from the guards at the checkpoint.
“My point is that we can’t please everyone.” She said as she put out her hand to brace for the next checkpoint.
“Whatever. They should be thanking us.” Chancer said as he slammed on the brakes at the last checkpoint. A guard came over and pointed a gun looking thing at his eye, which took a retinal scan. When the light on the top turned green, the gate in front of them opened and he gunned it, finally, to his parking spot.
“They do. You are paid by all of their tax dollars.” She said as she got out of his jeep. They both moved quickly to the elevators.
“Well those tax-paying assholes just made us late.” Chancer said as he checked his watch while the elevator doors closed.
April 2nd, 2015 09:05 AM
“Where is the rest of your team, Agent Eagle-Eye?” Trisha Oslett asked from behind her desk.
Eagle-Eye was a short semi-rotund balding man who was prone to sweating profusely – but he was very reliable, and could see up to three miles with perfect accuracy – but only with one of his eyes. The other was quite normal. “I uh, dunno, Ma’am.” He stammered as he looked at the big circular watch he had on.
Miranda appeared instantly in front of Eagle-Eye, which made him jump backwards.
“Agents Chancer and Douser to see you, Ma’am.” She said as Eagle-Eye wiped the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief he stuffed into his sports jacket pocket.
“Let them in.” Miss Oslett said with a wave of her hand.
Chancer and Douser pushed open the door and walked briskly to stand next to their partner, Eagle-Eye, who tapped his watch as he looked at them.
“Sorry Ma’am, There are protestors in front of the employee parking ramp again.” Chancer said.
“Agent Eagle-Eye, what time were you here this morning?” Miss Oslett asked.
“Seven, Ma’am.” He said quickly.
“Why is it, do you think, that the junior member of your team is always on time and where he’s supposed to be, but the senior members are not?” She asked the two latecomers.
“Sorry Ma’am, it’ll never happen again.” Chancer said, lowering his head a bit.
“See that it doesn’t.” She said quickly. “Now, on to why I called you here. Miranda, if you please.” She said as Miranda appeared off to their left and brought up glowing screens showing footage from the capture of the monster yesterday.
There were twelve screens floating around Miranda, and each one had a different point of view on the incident which showed the monster throwing cars, Douser and Chancer narrowly missing getting his, and finally Chancer’s distraction and Douser’s take-down.
“I look good, don’t I?” Chancer whispered to Eagle-Eye as he elbowed him.
“This is all over the news and internet.” Miss Oslett said when the screens paused. “With millions of views.”
Chancer smiled and nodded, while Eagle-Eye made a low groaning sound. Douser stood indifferent.
“What part of ‘covert operations’ do you not understand?” She asked them harshly.
“Ma’am, we can’t always be covert. Everyone has a cell phone these days, it would be impossible.” Chancer said quickly, defending himself and his team. “Besides, this is a public company which captures and imprisons monsters. The world knows who we are and what we do.”
Miss Oslett sat quiet for a few moments before speaking up. “Miranda, show them the baby.”
All of the screens around Miranda disappeared except one to her right, and it was showing replays of an interview.
“Hey, that was the guy from the car!” Chancer said as he recognized the man.
“I just want to thank the TSO Agents who saved my family from that madman. Whoever they are, thank you so much!” He said as a replay of paramedics pulling a baby seat out of the back seat played. It was crying, until the mother was allowed to pick him up. The recording stopped as they were hugging and smiling, and the headline showed “TSO Agents save family from a Super!”
“Luckily, Miranda tells me this video is giving us positive press around the world.” Miss Oslett told them.
“Hell yeah!” Chancer said, and then quickly apologized for his outburst.
“Still, in the future I would recommend not being so camera friendly, as your luck cannot last forever, Agent Chancer.” She said.
Chancer only nodded.
“You’re all dismissed, except you Agent Douser. I’d like to speak with you in private.
April 2nd, 2015 09:15 AM
“Man, how fucking awesome would it be if I were in the star of the next commercial?” Chancer asked Eagle-Eye when the doors closed. He lowered his voice to simulate a television commercial. “Be like Agent Chancer - dodge bullets, take down monsters! Agent Chancer, now an action figure!”
“I think there’s something wrong with you.” Eagle-Eye said as they arrived on the eighth floor, which was where their offices were. “Wanna’ grab some breakfast?”
“Nah, I gotta’ finish up some fucking paperwork before Douser kills me.” Chancer said as he headed towards his office. Small though it was, at least he had a window.
“Lunch then?” Eagle-Eye asked.
“Sure.” Chancer told him as they approached his office. “What’s this?” He said as he ripped a sticky note from his office door. “
I
have escort duties?” He said out loud as he read the note. “What the hell is this about?” He asked as he walked into his office and called security.
Chapter 4
April 2nd, 2015 10:03 AM
“I think this is complete bullshit.” Chancer said as he stood near the security desk in the lobby. He checked his watch. “And I’m calling the five minute rule.”
“There is no five minute rule, Agent Chancer. You were assigned to this detail specifically by Mrs. Oslett.” said Jeremy Owens, head of security at the TSO building.
“Why me?” He asked as they waited for the arrival of the inspection team from Washington. “I have more important things to be doing.”
“Like giving my guards hell? Or speeding through the garages? Or even popping off a live round at civilians?” Jeremy said.
“Well those too, but mostly anything but this. And I didn’t fire
at
the civilians; I only fired it in the air.” He said as he leaned on the counter. He looked down to the receptionist and asked how she was doing. She blew him off.
“And where do you think that bullet goes after it comes down?” Jeremy laughed, and then tensed up. “Heads up, I think this is them.” He said as he nodded towards the front doors.
“Fucking suits.” Chancer said as four men and two women dressed wearing the same suits and ties and carrying the same briefcases walked through the front doors of the lobby. They didn’t talk to anyone, and headed straight to the security desk.
“Good morning. My name is Robin Wilson. I’m from Washington, assigned here by Senetor Jack Wiggons.” The woman who was leading the pack of suits said to Jeremy, who was wearing his badge that clearly said ‘Head of Security’ on it.
Jeremy stepped forward and put his hand out in front of him, which she accepted, hesitantly. “Good morning ma’am, my name is Jeremy Owens, Head of Security for TSO.”
“Pleasure to meet you. I was told to report to Agent Chancer? Is he here?” She asked.
“I’m Agent Chancer.” Chancer said, not holding out his hand. “We’ll need you and your team to go through security before proceeding any further.” He told her.
“Of course. I was to understand we already have the necessary paperwork in place so we could get started immediately?” She asked Chancer, who just looked at Jeremy.
“We do have some paperwork for you to fill out, as well as a blood test, and then we’ll issue you and your team badges. The majority of the paperwork has already been filled out though. It should only take forty-five minutes to an hour.” Jeremy told them.
“Very well.” She told Jeremy. “Ronald, make a note of this for our report.” She said as she looked back to one of her team, who immediately pulled out a notepad and started writing everything down. She looked back to Jeremy. “Shall we proceed?”
“Right this way.” Jeremy said as he led them to a small conference room next to the security desk set up for VIPs coming in. He held the door open as they all filed into it. Chancer stood outside of the door, until Jeremy pushed him in. Jeremy handed them all folders filled with papers containing everything public about TSO, and then dropped a giant stack of papers in front of each of them.
“We have already had the necessary briefings for this particular inspection.” Robin said.
“Understandable, but we still need you to read and sign the non-disclosure form, which we sent to you to have signed prior to your arrival, but never received.” Jeremy said quickly.
“Tonya?” Robin asked the other woman with them.
Tonya looked down at her desk with a frown on her face.
“I see. Will you give us a moment, Mr. Owens?” Robin asked.
“Yeah, sure.” Jeremy said as he and Chancer walked outside the conference.
“Friendly bunch, eh?” Chancer said.
“I’ve dealt with worse.” Jeremy shrugged.
When they were waived back in by Robin, she asked them to wait as they read the
entire
non-disclosure form. It took them over an hour, and Chancer’s stomach was starting to growl. He texted Eagle-Eye that he probably wouldn’t be making lunch, with a sad face at the end. Chancer was playing a game on his cell phone when they finally did finish. Jeremy collected up the forms and took them to the security desk.
“Now if you’ll follow me, we have the blood test followed by badge issuing.” Jeremy told them as he directed them out of the conference room and down a side hall, still on the first floor. They entered what looked like a small medical station, which had two nurses behind bulletproof glass and two guards with weapons at the ready standing in the corners.
“Is this absolutely necessary?” Robin asked.
“Oh yes, no Supers pass beyond the first floor unless approved by Security.” Jeremy told her as he directed her to the counter.
“And you can tell absolutely if someone is a Super by a simple blood test?” She asked as she pressed her thumb down on a small machine, and jumped back when it pricked her.
“Well, I don’t know how simple of a blood test it is, but our doctors assure us they can get instantaneous results with one hundred percent accuracy from this particular blood test. I could ask the doctor to explain it to you, if you’d like?” Jeremy said as the lid on the small machine close and it moved on its own through a small slot in the thick glass.
One of the nurses pushed a couple of buttons on a panel, and a green light appeared above her.
“Green means negative?” She asked.
“Green means that you are not a Super.” He told her.
Chancer went back to playing his game on his phone while he waited.
“I’d like to know how this test works, and why we don’t use it across the world.” Robin said.
“I have no idea ma’am, I’m just here to do my job and protect the building. Would you please instruct your team to take the test?” Jeremy said as he rolled his eyes when Chancer looked at him.
She instructed them to follow her lead, and not one of them came up as a Super.
“Badges will be issued down the hall, if you’ll follow me.” He said as he guided them to the badge room. They all received their badges pretty quickly, gaining access to everything, except the black areas as shown by the different colors on the bottom of their badges.
“And now, I’ll hand you to Agent Chancer, as he’ll be conducting the rest of the tour.” Jeremy said quickly, and waited for them to leave the hallway.
“This way, kids.” Chancer said as he led them to the elevator. He pulled out an itinerary from his pocket that told him where he had to take the inspectors, and got on the elevator. “I guess our first stop is accounting.” He said as he pushed the button for floor two. “Yay.”
April 2nd, 2015 12:30 PM
“Miranda, activate the holograms, one at a time.” Trish Oslett said as she stood in the hallway of Cell Block Five.
“Activating now, Mrs. Oslett.” Miranda said.
Images in the empty cells that lined this hallway immediately sprang to life, one cell at a time.
In cell five-one, an older man was quickly bouncing off the padded walls.
Trisha walked to cell five-two, where a lizard looking man was under a sun lamp.
In five-three, an image flickered before stabilizing, and then materialized into a woman sitting cross-legged and staring straight forward.
“What was that?” She asked Miranda.
“A small power fluxuation in emitter six. The problem has been corrected.” Miranda said as she walked behind Trisha.
“Will it hold long enough for the inspection?” She asked.
Miranda was silent for a moment, calculating the question. “It will hold for approximately thirty-two days, seven hours, and sixteen minutes.” Her secretary said.
“Good enough. Continue.” Trisha said.
They continued on like this for over an hour, turning on holograms in every cell, until they came to the last one.
“Do we have enough data on the new prisoner to make a hologram of him?” Tisha asked.
“Negative.” Miranda said.
“How long will it take?” Trisha asked.
“Approximately six more hours, plus or minus fifteen minutes.” Miranda said.
“Good, get started immediately, they’ll be inspecting cells tomorrow.”
“I will carry out your command, Mrs. Oslett.” Miranda said as she pushed a command on the terminal next to the door. She pushed it open and held it for Trisha.
“Let me know when it’s complete, and then we’ll make the extraction.” She told her robot, which only nodded as she walked towards Cell Block Six.
April 2nd, 2015 08:30 PM
“We spent
seven
fucking hours in accounting!” Chancer told Douser, Eagle-Eye, and Jeremy Owens after he drank his shot of vodka. “
Seven
fucking hours!”
The four of them were regulars at The Sprawling Tap, which as the name would imply, was a bar that has so many taps behind the counter that it’s nearly impossible to tell what they
don’t
serve. They found it nice here because it wasn’t one of the bars that blared the music so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think.
“That lady was like the ice queen…” Jeremy said, shaking his head and laughing at Chancer.
“I think she made her friend cry when we left the room, her eyes were red, did you see that?” Chancer asked.
“Yeah.” Jeremy told him.
“So how’d it go with the big-wig?” Chancer asked Douser as he elbowed her.
“She asked me to keep an eye on you.” She told him, and then took a sip of her iced water.
“Keeping an eye on Chancer is like trying to catch a greased pig!” Eagle-eye said with a laugh, but everyone just looked at him funny. “Have you ever tried to catch a greased pig? It’s hard, that’s what I’m saying.” He tried to add, but everyone just laughed at him.
“At that, I think I’ll go and get us another round.” Chancer said as he stood up. He wobbled a little on his way to the bar; finally making it with an impromptu lean to make it look like it was intended. “Barkeep! Four of your best lagers please!” He shouted.
“Hi there.” Said a cute brunette woman . She happened to be sitting next to the spot that he was standing.
“Well hello.” He said, just a little drunk.
“Come here often?” She asked.
“That is the lamest come on line ever.” He stammered out. “I like it. And yes, I do come here a lot. You?”
“Only when I need information.” She told him.
“What kind of information would you collect at a bar? You writing a book or something?” He asked with a laugh.
“Something like that, I’m a reporter for Daily Six at Seven.” She said, holding her hand out. “Alysha Gray.”
Chancer reached his hand out, and then moved it to pick up the four beers that were just set on the bar for him and his friends. “Sorry, don’t do reporters.” He said as he left.
“It’s ok; you probably don’t know what’s going on at TSO either.” She said as she spun her seat around.
Chancer stopped quickly, spilling some of the bears that required both hands to carry. He plopped them down on the bar with a splash and said, “You’ve got three minutes.”
Alysha pulled out a manila envelope from her big purse and opened it to pull out several photos. Don’t you find it strange that you keep catching the same people, over and over again?”
“What, like we’re making clones of bad guys at TSO just so we have a job? Do you know how stupid that sounds?” He said as he went to grab his beers. Alysha showed him two photos.
“Remember these two?” She asked. One was a photo of Ralph Foretta, the prisoner they had just captured. He was lifting a car – the one that ultimately crushed him. The other was Tony Blanchett, another strongman. He was at a construction site throwing giant steel beams at the freeway next to it. They did look similar to Chancer – but he’d been drinking.
“So you’re saying that we’re somehow catching them, and releasing them back into the wild as someone else?”
“Tony Blanchett has a family, a minor police record, a car, and a house with a mortgage. His son has even been outside your building calling you sell-outs. Ralph Foretta has barely anything - no records can be found on him except a current driver’s license, and a birth certificate.”
“So we just made him up, is that it?” Chancer asked with a laugh.
“Did you? How come most of the supers seem to be located in New York City?”
“They’re not. We have branches in Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, and Las Vegas.” He told her.