Sentry: 1-Violence & Variations

by Thomas Shaw

  Andrew shook his head, "Hello James"

  The man scoffed, "Andrew"

  Andrew turned to the other Agents, "Get him out of here"

  The three agents pulled him out of the legs of the suit and dragged him to his feet. They matched him across the warehouse and towards the helicopter.

  "Know each other?" David asked.

  Andrew nodded, "Yeah, thought it would've been him if anyone. He was the guinea pig for the suit. Sam, do you think you could carry the thing out of here?"

  Sam nodded and grabbed the pieces of suit and re attached them. He picked it up and slung it over his shoulders.

  The other helicopter took off and flew away. They exited the warehouse and looked around, "Erm, Andrew" Amy said, "How're we getting out of here?"

  "There's a van on its way" Andrew said, pointing across the large yard to a black van. It was kicking up dust as it drove across, swerving to miss bits of steel and other junk in the yard.

  "You sniper friend should be in there too"

  "Yeah, who was that?" Laura asked, "Remind me to thank him"

  David turned to the others, "Yeah, that would be our new liaison with DarkWatch"

  "Liaison?" Sam repeated, "What do you mean?"

  David took a breath, "Well, Mike wanted us to have someone who would feed our activities back to DarkWatch, but also be there should we need back up"

  "So it's an Agent?" Amy asked.

  "Well, originally, yes. But I convinced him to change his mind"

  The van pulled up and turned around so the back of the van was facing them. Sam walked closer to the van with the suit, "So who is it then?"

  David opened the doors to the van. Sat on a small seat, with a sniper rifle in his lap, was John.

  2.6

  Back at DarkWatch headquarters, James was thrown in a cell and two agents started to ask him questions. He remained silent throughout, not answering a single one. David and Laura watched on security cameras, along with Andrew and Richards.

  "Former employee then?" David asked Richards, who just nodded in reply. "I want to talk to him"

  Richards gave him a queer look, "You have no interrogation skills David, and you've done your job. Think you and your team should have a rest"

  Laura huffed, "I think we still have a job to do here. If he's linked to Anthony, we can find out where he is"

  Andrew looked at Richards, "She has a point sir"

  Richards rubbed his chin in thought. He could see the Agents were getting nothing out of him with their questions, "Fine, but just you two. And take John in with you"

  David, Laura and John stood outside of James's cell. He was sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at the floor. His hair was ruffled and his eyes had large bags under them, like he hadn't slept in days. DarkWatch had provided him with clothes: a plain white shirt, dark grey tracksuit bottoms and they had also attached a tag to his wrist which hung down and swayed gently as he lightly tapped his hands together. David stepped forward, "James, is it?". No reply, "Ok, my name is David. We only have two questions. Do you know Anthony, and do you know where he is?"

  At the name, James looked up. He had a crooked smile on his face, "He said you'd ask"

  David took a breath, not one of surprise, but of relief. Laura took over, "What's he planning?"

  James went back to looking at the ground, "Didn't say. Just wants some stuff"

  "Stuff like phones, computers and scrap metal? Is he selling them on?"

  James looked back up at her with a snide look, "Selling them? No, not his sort of game"

  "Then what is his ‘game’? Is he…"

  John interrupted her, "He's building more robots, isn't he?"

  James nodded and pointed at him, "That's it"

  "And why are you helping him? What's he offered you?" David queried.

  "He promised me safety. A home, a purpose. Which is more than I can say for DarkWatch" he spoke the name with a mocking tone, "I did nothing wrong, and they threw me out without a care. They took my apartment off me and left me homeless” He stood up and approached the bars of the cell, “They use you for everything they can get out of you and then throw you away. Anthony gave me a home, looked after me and all I have to do in return? Gather a bit of metal here, some computer chips there. Easiest job I've ever done"

  "And he got you to steal a suit of highly advanced technology to do this?" Laura added.

  "No, no, that was my own idea. Apart from Andrew, I was the only one who knew how it worked. Just sneak in through the front door, head to R&D and walk out with the suit. Easy pickings"

  David stared at James for a moment, "Where is he now?"

  "Anthony? Why would I tell you?"

  "Because if you don't I'll put a bullet in between your eyes right now" John said, pulling out a small pistol from a holster on his belt. He pushed the barrel in between the bars of the cell and aimed directly for James’s head.

  David and Laura looked at John in dismay. James started to smile and almost laugh, but his smile faded when he could see the seriousness in Johns look, "Ok, ok. Look, I don't know where he is exactly, all I know is I'm meant to drop the scrap I was gathering today at this warehouse. The coordinates are programmed in the suit"

  John kept the gun aimed for a moment then slowly placed it back in its holster and walked off. David and Laura, without saying another word to James quickly chased after John. They left the corridor and closed the door behind them. John started to head for the stairs but David got in front of him, "John, what the hell"

  John looked up at David with a weird smile, "Jesus, can you imagine if he called my bluff?"

  Laura and David just looked at him, "What?"

  John took out his gun and slid out the magazine. It was empty, "Let's go have a word with Andrew. See if he's got anything from that suit"

  David hung back as the other two started going up the stairs, "I'll meet you there. I need to have a word with Mike"

  "It's bullshit" Richards barked as soon as David walked into his office.

  "So you know exactly why I'm here"

  Richards opened his hand at the seat across from him for David to sit down on, "James was kicked out because of his involvement with a rival company. There were...concerns...and he needed to go"

  "Concerns?"

  "Without going in to too much detail, him and his brother worked for us. His brother left, but they still lived together, in accommodation we had given them"

  "Why's that a problem?"

  "Because it was his brother who was part of the rival company. We had discovered they had been sharing secrets with each other and so we had to take measures"

  "And you kicked him out of his home?"

  Richards sighed, "We had to. Look, if you understood the facts, you'd know why we did it"

  "Then explain it to me" David said, sitting back in his chair.

  Richards turned in his chair. He obviously didn't want to talk about this. David wasn't going the leave though, "Ok. I'll get the others. This isn't something I want to talk about, and if I'm going to have to do so, I'm only doing it once!"

  He made a phone call and within ten minutes, Sam, Laura, Amy and John were in the room with them. Richards stood by his large window and faced them, "Back in 2104, there were whispers within DarkWatch. People sharing the same idea that, although we had all this technology, all this research, we weren't doing anything with it. I tried to silence these concerns and questions, reminding people that our job was to gather information, look after our home, our country, our planet. But some people, and one person didn’t agree.

  Darren Cole joined DarkWatch in 2085. He quickly rose through the ranks and me and him became good friends. He was like my aide, I ran ideas by him and he was always there with his. When I found out it was him who was starting these questions, and still talking about them, I immediately tried to put a stop to it. The fact it was him made this sort of talk more upsetting. Darren, who decided to quit, took with him a good portion of our staff and set
up his own company"

  "I read about that in the dossier that you sent me" David interjected, "But what's it called. You don't name it in anything"

  "That's because it's not public. It's kept secret, like it doesn't exist. As far as I'm aware, they still run under the DarkWatch name. And unfortunately, there are rumors that current DarkWatch staff are working with this Splinter group. What makes this more complicated is that I've had to ship it down a laboratory starting out near Scotland because I found out it was run entirely with Darren's staff. I had been sending information up there and they had been using that information for their own gains!"

  “Have they done anything so far?” Laura asked.

  Richards shook his head, “Not that I've seen. But Darren isn't one to do anything out of the blue. He's a bit like you Laura: a planner, he'll put everything into place before he does anything specific. There's no telling what he's up to”

  There were a few minutes of quiet, Adam looked around the room at no one in particular, "And what about Anthony? What do we do now?" Sam asked, "Go to this place and see if we can find him?"

  "Seems that's the only thing we can do" David said, turning to look at him, "What's the alternative?"

  Richards computer pinged. He sat at his desk and clicked on the mouse a couple of times. He smiled and looked up at the team, "Seems like your suits are ready"

  The team got up to leave, Laura stayed facing Richards, “These suits, are they mandatory?”

  “If you wanna stay safe they are”

  Laura pursed her lips and followed the others.

  The team stood in the lab, looking at a table with four neat piles of gear. John sat on a counter at the back of the room, playing on his phone. Amy started looking through equipment: An ear piece, a pair of hard black boots, a bullied proof vest and a pair of gloves. It seemed the others had the same sort of stuff.

  "Communication devices, so you can always hear each other" Andrew explained, holding up the ear piece, "Reinforced boots, which will keep you grounded from David’s electrical powers. Vests, because you're all lucky that you haven't been shot yet, and a pair of gloves which can..." Andrew put on one of the pairs of gloves. He flicked his wrist and a red disk appeared on the back of his hand. It was semi clear, and had a faint hum, "David, shock me"

  David hesitated for a moment, but could see where he was going. He raised a hand and flicked two fingers out. He sent a few bolts of lightning at Andrew, who raised his arms and the red disks seemed to absorb the energy. David seemed impressed. Andrew smiled, "Ok, Amy, your turn"

  Amy gave a wicked grin and flung up both arms and pushed forward. Waves of heat shot foreword and hit the disk, which seemed to ripple. Amy moved closer and closer. She pulled her right arm back and swung to punch Andrew. He blocked her fist with the disk. He was knocked back slightly but his hand wasn't burned.

  "Ok, I'm impressed" Amy complimented, "How does it fair against bullets then?"

  "If you're quick enough, it'll block them. You can use them to put a bit more force behind your punches too. I'm working on a better system for them, so these are prototypes. I'd love your feedback"

  David turned to the others, "Suit up guys"

  2.7

  On the way to the warehouse, John was getting questions fired at him from every direction in the car. He explained to them that David had phoned him, offering him a job. John, who hated where he was working jumped at the chance of something new. He had been through training for as long as the others had been. His orders were to report back to DarkWatch with any information and to keep the team secure. He was, essentially, a part of the team. He also elaborated more on the DarkWatch agents. He had been told that he was to never use his real name whilst in the field, to which he had been given the code name Zero. The agents were higher than the police but on par with the armed forces on an authority level. An agent was to remain helpful and polite to the public but never give any information about themselves. Only direct family were informed of their true occupation. Laura questioned this as DarkWatch wasn't kept as a secret to the public. John said that DarkWatch were known as a research and development company, but weren't public about their dealings in the paranormal.

  The team accepted him, Sam made a point of making sure John knew he wasn't in charge of them though.

  “Yeah I get that Sam, I'm not trying to be either. I'm like your waiter if that's any better? I'll look after your interests, liaise with DarkWatch so you don't have to. I'll make sure your armour is maintained and during fights I'll keep to the back and provide supporting fire”

  Sam gave him a look of distrust but nodded in agreement.

  “So what did they tell you about ghosts and stuff?” Amy asked, she seemed super excited to find out.

  John smiled and looked down at the floor of the car, “Amy, if I told you what DarkWatch knows, it'd make you question your very existence. To be honest, I'm still horrified with what they told me”

  They pulled up outside an old warehouse. From the car, they could see the building that the suits coordinates had led them to. It was old, but in quite good repair. The door was closed and the frosted windows were dark, with no movement from inside. The street the building was on was the same, empty, quite with no other cars about. The buildings around were all warehouses, storage sites and nearby was a mostly empty car park.

  Earlier, before they had set off, they had found that the warehouse was purchased a few months ago, but they had no name.

  "What is it with bad guys and warehouses?" Amy thought out loud. John and Sam looked at her. She smiled back at them both, "What? Two warehouses we've had to investigate today"

  David nodded, to no one in particular, "Let's go have a look"

  They all got out of the car and approached the steel mesh fence surrounding the building. The double gate was locked and a 'No Trespassing' sign hung above the padlock. Sam grabbed the chain that was fastening the gates together and pulled it apparat.

  "High security" he muttered sarcastically. He opened the gates and the group walked in. Sam left the gate swinging open and followed.

  David slid the double doors of the warehouse apart all the way. It was empty. He turned to the others. Amy shrugged her shoulders, "So what now?"

  "We wait. Wait for Anthony to pick up what James was going to leave for him, then we attack" David said. He looked at John who nodded in agreement. They turned to go back to the car but Laura didn't move.

  "What's up?" Amy asked her.

  Laura was looking across the building. Without answering she walked across the warehouse and stared down at the ground. The others followed and looked. Sam could see what she had seen. He crouched down and put both sets of fingers in a small gap in the floor. He pulled it apart with ease revealing a steep staircase downwards!

  "They may be uncomfortable but at least they're good" David smiled at Laura, pointing to her glasses. She smiled back.

  They descended the stairs going deeper and deeper under the warehouse. The walls were made from large bricks and the staircase metal, clanging from their footsteps. It seemed like an old fallout bunker. Dim red lights illuminated the way for what felt like at least two floors. At the bottom was a doorway which led out to a long corridor.

  John was typing away on his phone. Laura peered over at what he was typing. He noticed and showed her, "Explaining what we're doing to DarkWatch. Want them to know where we are"

  Laura gave an unimpressed look, "You have to do that with everything we do?"

  "No, just where we are. And if you guys get in to trouble, then I'm to report it in so they can send back up"

  They walked down the corridor till they came to a metal door. They could hear machinery and pistons coming from all around them, like they were in a factory, but there was nothing else around except for this door. David, who was leading the way, pushed the door wide open.

  Inside was a large room, big enough to fit three busses in side by side. The room was dimly lit, with only a few lights on the ceili
ng. The walls were a smooth metal and the floor looked like a dark grey stone. Across the room was a table with various devices laid out on top. In between that and the team though, stood around twenty robots, just like the ones they had fought at the airport. They were stood in rows facing the table. They seemed to be offline, with their cylindrical heads facing downwards.

  The team started walking in and amongst them towards the table. As they drew nearer, a door opened from the side of the room. A man dressed in black walked across and stood by the table. He hadn't noticed them. His clothing was a bit different than the last time the team had seen him but they still recognized him.

  "Anthony!" David shouted. The man looked up immediately and seemed taken aback. Calmly, he flicked his wrist and a small device slid out of his sleeve and into his palm. He tapped away with his metal fingers, all the while, staring at David. The robots around them jolted and their heads rose. All the eyes lit up and started whirring, their hands all reached down by their sides and started drawing their rifles. They turned and faced the group. One of them placed a hand on David’s shoulder.