by Joe Peacock
boyfriend out there to face those goons, but you're right. He's the one to blame for this."
Jen looked up at Marlowe, eyes watery, a scowl stamped across her face.
"Don't look at me like that! I didn't think they'd kill him!" Marlowe snapped. "I thought the worst they'd do is throw a collar on him and put him on trial."
"Marlowe..."
"Maybe use him as some sort of lesson for anyone considering helping me," she continued. "Well, I guess they did do that, didn't they..."
"I called it in," Jen said.
Marlowe's eyes grew wide. "You WHAT?!?"
"I'm sorry!" Jen pleaded. "I thought it was the only way to save you!"
Marlowe scowled. "You thought the only way to save a fugitive on the run for treason was to call in two squads of MilSec soldiers and a cybernetically enhanced ‘Next Top Soldier contestant?"
"Well, no... But yes?" Jen said. She stepped toward Marlowe. "He’s a Private who visits the Subs and loves cards and AMP. I dump money to in poker games to guarantee favors! I was calling one in… I thought he’d cover for us and help you out! I didn’t know he would call in the calvary! I am so sorry! I didn't think--"
"You're right! You didn't think!" Marlowe yelled, taking two steps backward. "You just...reacted! Like you always do! You didn’t think some plucky Private would see brand new stripes on his arm as a reward for bringing me in! You didn’t think they’d be monitoring the coms! You didn’t think at all! Hell, I saw the reward they have on me… I doubt you’d mind coming across an easy million credits"
"Fuck you, Marlowe!” Jen screamed. “I’d NEVER sell you out!”
“You literally just did!” Marlowe said. “You are always thinking of yourself first!”
“Oh, look who's fucking talking!" Jen said. "We've just run nearly a mile through who-know's-what's been sitting in this tunnel for who-knows-how-long because YOU--"
Jen suddenly froze. Her eyes took on a slight glow. "Oh shit!" She exclaimed. She raised her hands and began gesturing, cycling through a series of alerts that had just appeared on her HUD.
"What?" Marlowe asked urgently.
"We're near the end of the tunnel...I just reconnected to the Net," Jen said, reading each alert. "It's dad!"
"What?!? Is he ok?"
Jen tapped the air with her index finger. "He's in custody...they arrested him!" She flicked upward with her finger. She gasped. Her eyes dimmed slightly as she looked at Marlowe. "They're saying he orchestrated your escape, using his connections in MilSec. They're charging him with treason!"
"WHAT?!"
Jen gestured in the air, flicking her hands up and tapping the air as she navigated. "They're saying he was complicit in helping the traitors who sprung you...oh god, they're calling an emergency trial in front of the tribunal! Nine AM tomorrow!"
"They can't…he can’t even walk or feed himself! How the hell would he have orchestrated anything-- SHIT! Jen! Get down!" Marlowe yelled, pointing at a drone that had just buzzed in from the far end of the tunnel.
Jen wasn't one for taking orders, but she knew that if Marlowe said "Get down" it was better to just do it and find out why later. She hit the deck as Marlowe picked up the chunk of rock she had chipped from the tunnel wall during her tantrum. Without her Pod, the targeting systems linking her eyes to her muscle fibers were useless. But necessity is the mother of invention, and anything can fly in a straight line if thrown hard enough. She reared back and chucked the rock with all her might, pegging the drone's left propeller. It buzzed and lurched to its side, crashed into the wall, and fell to the floor of the tunnel.
"Nice shot!" Jen remarked as she lifted herself from the muck.
"Pure luck," Marlowe said.
"Was it one of MilSec's? Do you think it saw us?"
"Probably. And probably. Doesn't matter...someone somewhere is going to wonder why it went dark, and they're going to follow the cookie crumbs through that opening to their wrecked drone. We need another way out."
"We passed another access port a few yards back," Jen suggested.
"You know where it goes?"
"No clue. I didn't go knocking on every hatch when I found this spot. Could be a bug-out tunnel like I had. Could be covered in rubble. There's only one way to find out."
"Fuck it," Marlowe resigned. "Anything's better than standing around here waiting to get caught. Let's go."
The sisters backtracked about fifty yards and took a right into a connecting tunnel that led to a ladder. Marlowe held up a finger. Jen froze. She ascended the ladder and pulled on the handle to the latch for the door. It wouldn't budge -- locked from the other side.
Undeterred, Marlowe simply pushed harder. The rung of the ladder she was standing on bent as the hatch began to give way. She wondered for a moment which would give first -- the ladder or the hatch. After a few seconds of intense pressure, the hatch decided it had enough. A loud PLINK sounded from above as the padlock that held the latch shut gave way and broke off.
Marlowe eased her way up and peeked through the small crack of the hatch. A soft glow emanated from a desk against the wall from the hatchway; a standalone screen was displaying security camera footage. Marlowe examined the screen and saw no one in view. The fourth panel in the bottom right showed the Feed from a camera just outside the building they were in. The footage displayed two MilSec soldiers in the process of questioning a resident of the Subs, two others setting fire to a shop across the street, and a few soldiers intermittently walking by.
She returned to the hatchway and waved Jen forward. Once her sister had scrambled up, Marlowe pointed to the screen and asked, "Can you tell where we are from that?"
Jen examined the Feeds from the cameras. "We're Krog-side," she observed. "Near the old market. I'm betting we're in Dirty Mike's shop. Bunch of knockoff counterfeit shit and weak drugs...total tourist trap. Nothing here we can really use, unless it's something heavy that you can bash these MilSec guys over the head with."
"I'm certain those aren't the only troops down here. We'd get slaughtered. There's probably a full garrison at each of the entrances and exits..."
"The ones they know about, sure," Jen said with a smirk.
Marlowe raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"We roaches know how to scatter when the lights go up," Jen answered. "If you can get us past these guys out front, I can get us out of here."
"Well, let's start looking for some heavy counterfeit crap I can use as a bat, I guess."
Jen approached the door to the office. Marlowe snapped her fingers twice, causing Jen to freeze and look back at her sister. Marlowe pointed to the screen displaying the security camera footage. The bottom-right corner showed two MilSec soldiers approaching the doorway to the shop. One shoved the butt of his rail rifle through the glass of the front door. The alarm rang out. The soldier cleared away the glass of the doorway and stepped through, followed by his partner.
Marlowe quickly scanned the area for anything useful. An ink pen, several markers, a clipboard...nothing. She felt under the desk and searched the drawers for a hidden weapon. She found nothing.
Then, Jen spotted something resting in the corner by the door. She picked it up. It was a samurai-style sword in a scabbard. She handed it to Marlowe, who drew it and examined the blade. She grabbed the handle with one hand and the blunt end of the blade with another, bending it to test its tensile strength. It bent into a crescent moon shape with little effort.
Jen shrugged. Marlowe gritted her teeth and shook her head.
Shouting could be heard in the distance. Marlowe and Jen rushed to the screen to see what was going on. Both soldiers, now inside the building, turned to see what the disturbance was. On the exterior camera's panel, several civilians were seen bum-rushing a MilSec soldier. The soldier was quickly overwhelmed. One of the soldiers in the building pointed to the other, and then pointed outside. The other soldier complied with the order and went to help the soldier outside, leaving the other to inv
estigate the building.
Marlowe smiled. She signaled to Jen stay put, and made her way to the door of the office. Gingerly, she twisted the handle. The door cracked open. She slid out and very quietly shut the door behind her. She crouched behind some shelves at the back of the store. Taking note of her surroundings, she spotted a counterfeit action figure of herself. A fleeting glint of anger arose when she saw it, but she realized numbly that all her assets were frozen months ago. Even if the counterfeiters did pay her likeness royalties, as a felon, she'd never get to receive them.
She grabbed one of the fake plastic versions of herself off the display and tossed it to the far end of the shop. It landed with a clatter and the MilSec soldier investigating the shop flinched. He raised his rifle and pointed the mounted flashlight in the direction of the disturbance. Slowly, he crept along the aisle until he reached the end, turning the corner to the back of the store.
Suddenly, he felt a hand across his mouth and another around his chest, covering the camera mounted to his vest.
"Quiet now, Corporal," Marlowe whispered in his ear. "You know who I am?"
The soldier's eyes