Dawn of Tomorrow

by Kevin Douglas

  A millisecond before contacting, his eyes finally registered his acid rounds had gone straight through and exploded against the tree behind, eating away at the trunk. The gargoyle was just a hologram projected by BOT 111, the rodent sitting safely on a branch above.

  The Butler’s open arms grasped at air and then his arms finally registered the gargoyle was not real and tried to reach for the branch instead. His thighs smacked the large branch, jerking him downward as he reached out to grab hold of the limb. His momentum was too great, and his fingers clawed at the branch, digging in but unable to stop his fall.

  The Butler cartwheeled downward, hitting branches veering with each contact. He tried to grab branches and at least slow his fall but did so unsuccessfully. He landed forcefully on the ground with a thud. Before he blacked out, he saw the real BOT 205 eagerly waiting for him. He willed his brain to fire back up or face certain death. His vision quickly went from dark to blurry then full focus with the view of BOT 205’s mouth around his torso.

  The Butler’s motor skills returned, and he wrapped the beast up in a bear hug, raising the gun to its head and firing. Surprised the metal beast did not relent.

  The Butler lifted his head to see where his shot had hit. The creatures head was unharmed, and he realized his gun arm was bent at a strange angle and unresponsive.

  BOT 205 dragged him out to finish him and he knew he had to make a move. He dug his feet in the ground and arched his back, rolling onto his injured arm, clutching the beast, oblivious to the pain. He continued the roll, pinning the beast on its back and quickly setting his injured arm with an audible pop.

  He grimaced as he stared at the beast while drops of liquid rained down on his head and face. It was a mixture of rain and acid falling from the branches above and hissed as it hit his skin. He focused on staying alive by moving his gun arm toward the beast’s temple. The beast bucked but he kept it held down with his thighs. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, BOT 111 stared him in the face, teeth drawn, latched onto the side of the tree in front of him.

  The Butler released leverage quickly with his left hand as the squirrel leapt from the tree trunk at his face. The Butler caught the squirrel midair, inches from his face and it squirmed and lashed trying to tear at his face. The gargoyle kicked with its back legs and it hurled the Butler into the air before he could discharge a round into the rodent’s head. He tracked the beast as best he could so when he landed he did not end up on the defensive again.

  The Butler was tossed more laterally than vertically, and he rolled, keeping hold of the squirrel and his pistol. When he came to a stop, he knew he did not have much time until the sprinting metallic gargoyle overtook him. He pinned the squirrel against the forest floor under his foot and fired two rounds into its head and neck, silencing its screams and finally stopping its movements.

  The close range of the squirrel to his foot allowed a mist of acid he could not prevent. The acid-rounds immediately ate away the BOT’s fur, exposing a metal skull, eyes and razor teeth. He ignored his smoldering shoe and pant leg as the ground rumbled. He turned and saw the beast running toward him.

  The Butler held up his left arm to slow the beast as it leapt at him still coming full speed. He fired two more rounds as the gargoyle collided against his body, its massive jaws chomping down on his extended arm. He hoped his shots found their mark but knew he had only grazed the BOT. They tumbled together from the BOT’s momentum. The Butler knowing his clip was empty now discarded the pistol and prepared for proximity fighting.

  A tree stopped their roll but the tight grip the BOT had on the Butler’s arm caused it to snap with a loud crack. The beast rolled onto its feet, as did the Butler. Both had lost the use of a limb now, the Butler’s left arm and BOT 205 had his hind leg eaten away from one of the Butler’s rounds that made contact.

  They stood hunched, facing each other in an aggressive stance, the Butler’s left arm dangling by his side, useless. The beast had torn away some of the Butler’s skin and it hung from its open jaw. Its mouth dripping red as the rain washed off its muzzle. They both stepped side to side, deliberately eyeing each other, waiting for an opening to strike. The Butler knew that neither of the BOT’s had transmitted any data back to Mr. Sullivan and he wanted to keep it that way.

  The Butler smiled a crazy crooked grin at the beast and made a run straight at him. Kill or be killed. The gargoyle raised his front paws to envelop him and as the Butler crashed into him, the beast wrapped him up digging in its claws.

  This kept the Butler close and only able to make small movements. Right where the Butler wanted to be. As the beast bit into his stomach, legs, then torso, the Butler reached around and drew out a knife from a sheath strapped to his back. He raised the blade out over his head and jabbed it into the beast’s left eye socket.

  The blade went in halfway, shattering the eye, fluid spraying out of the hole. The eye, a dark open void, did not stop the beast from tearing at the Butler’s midsection and he knew he did not have long until he lost consciousness.

  He raised the knife again slamming it down repeatedly on the gargoyles neck. Nearly exhausted, his ninth blow hit some vital linkage and the beast’s mouth went slack. He kicked and pushed the beast away from his midsection, exposing a mess of torn flesh.

  Furious and dizzy, the Butler approached the beast. He swung the knife upward stabbing in between its neck plating, sticking through the top of its head between its eyes. The beast collapsed, and he immediately put his foot on its lower jaw, he needed to end this.

  Its paws thrashed, desperately trying to ward off the Butler’s final maneuvers. He grabbed the upper jaw with his one good hand and took a deep wheezing breath. Pulling as hard as he could he snapped open its jaw. Pops and cracks gave way, its lower jaw ripped clean off. Hydraulic fluid sprayed out and drained as its remaining eye went dark and its limbs limp.

  Earlier when the Butler had killed the squirrel, he noticed foam encased it before it exploded to dust. The foam must be corrosive, and he knew he could not rest yet. Foam from the beast’s jaw coated the Butler’s right hand.

  He pulled his hand out quickly and began crawling on his knees using his one good arm trying to get away as quick as possible at the same time wiping the foam off his hand onto the ground.

  He rolled behind a tree trunk wheezing and resting, waiting for the beast to disintegrate. He could at least be proud they did not send any information about him to Mr. Sullivan. Just before he heard BOT 205 explode to dust, he heard a beep from his arm.

  With the beast now dead, the Butler checked his communicator discovering the bad news. Before its death, the gargoyle had succeeded in sending a final data packet.

  Too tired to shout a curse, he held up his hand to inspect the damage done by the beast’s corrosive fluids. He waved his fingers back and forth, the movement cracked away the damaged flesh revealing his metal joints, bones and servos. Loss of bodily fluid caused his systems to shut down. His raised metallic hand fell to his side, his eyes now dark.

  Chapter 56

  Mr. Sullivan played it cool, even spared this Stratus, as he was not sure a dead banker was the best move. To say he was seething at the recent events was an understatement. Any escalation tipped their hand, with Halaby under the guise of corporate owned housing, guns and BOTS would be out of place. Stratus may link the two properties, something he wanted to avoid at all costs.

  The squirrel’s discovery was like a billboard for arousing suspicion, but he was delightfully surprised at the BOT’s tenacity. Its intuition to upload a primal version of itself onto Stratus’s phone allowed them to keep tabs; it was brilliant.

  Even though the file that now contained the squirrel’s logic was a small fraction of the original size, it could save important communication data. A shadow of itself, it retained its original name from its maker, BOT 111. A loss may yet be a gain. Mr. Sullivan now knew what they knew. Mr. Sullivan had GPS coordinates from Straus’s phone, a live audio feed, and transcripts of hi
s messages. BOT 111, his inside informant, would make it possible to prepare for any assault and make it easier to contain the situation.

  He listened to the line feed from Stratus’s cell phone and gave Fox One relevant updates to their plans. Mr. Sullivan left Fox One in charge of this endeavor, as he needed to keep working in the event everything went badly. Things never seemed to go his way without something negative filling the void and this was no exception.

  BOT 111 had gone dormant during the security checkpoints, when Stratus’ GPS was stationary and when it was confident he was inside the building, it reactivated the live audio feed.

  The feed just revealed that not only were they assembling a team named Ghost Squad, but the team would strike in the early morning, due to Leo’s arrival back at Halaby. Stratus and his team must have some way of following Leo’s movements, as they seemed to be aware of his location. Mr. Sullivan wanted to keep Leonard close but this strike from Stratus was at a very inopportune time.

  Artemus took comfort knowing this small division, if eliminated, would pose no threat in the future. This project seemed to be top secret and only known within their unit.

  As Mr. Sullivan listened in to the live feed from Stratus’s phone, he learned Stratus’s crew wanted to abduct Leonard and try to use him to leak confidential information. Mr. Sullivan laughed. They were barking up the wrong tree.

  He called Fox One upstairs to inform him about this ripple. Fox One was happy to be there. He was getting respect and responsibility and had spent most of the day at a computer. He was not a fan of sitting for half the day, so he was relieved Mr. Sullivan had called him.

  Fox One was now calibrated with Mr. Sullivan’s BOTs so they could see what he saw. The creatures knew his speech patterns, movements and facial features. Mr. Sullivan wanted to eliminate any friendly fire towards Fox One from his legion of rodents and beasts.

  Mr. Sullivan watched Fox One on the security monitor as he made his way from the first floor. Fox One approached the upper floor via an enclosed set of stairs and walked through several sets of holographic walls. Mr. Sullivan observed Fox One stand and wait at attention before the final security wall.

  Nothing could pass through this wall without being sliced to pieces by a floor to ceiling heat laser. Mr. Sullivan pushed several buttons on his wrist communicator to remove the red security barrier. Sullivan had promised Fox One a face-to-face visit and knew the man would be disappointed to see a hologram as he stepped through the wall.

  Artemus wanted a man to man as well but things were complicated right now. He would see to it later, after all Fox One’s acceptance at Halaby was for life. You did not just leave and find something else.

  Mr. Sullivan tapped Fox One on the shoulder with his virtual hand. “Fox One, my right-hand man!”

  Fox One stepped back momentarily as a buzz of electricity seemed to flow through his body.

  “Given the urgency, I thought this would be a face-to-face meeting?”

  “I do apologize for not being here in person. I know I promised it. We need to have other things on our minds. An assault will happen before sunrise.”

  Fox One remained calm and composed, only raising an eyebrow. “So quickly? What’s changed? Even with the unfortunate squirrel incident I figured Stratus would have difficulty convincing them, sir.”

  “I as well. This does compress our readiness time table. However, I’m confident we will be ready. There are several reasons they are moving to strike so quickly, one of which I’m unprepared to tell you about, the other being Mr. Krueger. Mr. Lattamus’s division leader wishes to steal what’s not theirs. They are driven by greed, and hope that this Krueger may solve a series of codes for them, which will make them rich.”

  Mr. Sullivan rubbed his thumb across his fingers, indicating their greedy desire for money. Fox One shook his head in disapproval and waited for Mr. Sullivan to continue.

  “They are prepared to kill to get finite resources back and use the guise of national security to keep it hidden. This ironically is good news. The team they’re sending tonight will be the only members that are informed. Meaning if we eliminate them, the government will be in the dark about us and we can go back to business as usual. I know you’re a stickler to the code of, don’t kill without cause, otherwise face the consequences. That’s why I’m telling you this. When the time comes I want you to feel confident everyone coming deserves a quick death.”

  “Sir might I suggest Mr. Krueger stay indoors here at the mansion? Having him here eliminates any leverage Stratus’s squad may have if he is taken.”

  “Strange as it may sound we haven’t met yet. I’m not sure now is the right time.”

  “Where is this stolen code you mentioned? Would Stratus’s people have access to it if they manage to get Krueger?”

  “No, it’s secure. Not here but it is secure. It will be our leverage against them if things don’t go smoothly for us.”

  “Well I suggest you prepare to meet then. Leaving Krueger vulnerable and risking him being captured would be a mistake. Shall I go and let him know of your invitation?”

  “Not yet. While I’m sure you would be convincing with most people, Leo’s a different story. I’ll send an informal guard with a handwritten invitation. I just hope he attends without coercion. When Leonard arrives, I hope your face doesn’t cause him to become uneasy. I know how much tension you two have but we will need to work together from now on.”

  “Miracles can happen, sir,” Fox One said with a dry smile. “I’m going to prepare the internal team. No one will be outside the house except me and your pets, of course. This will limit our exposure and any breech to the house will be handled by the internal team.”

  “Thank you for your redundancy plan but just so we’re clear, no breech of this home will occur. Their team will be a twelve-man squad, including Stratus and a thirteenth man on the perimeter, their director Mr. Cromwell. It’s essential their director on the perimeter be eliminated. If he survives all is for naught.”

  As Fox One left through the series of holographic walls, Mr. Sullivan received a data packet from his BOT’s stationed at the Sullivan house. In a state of disbelief, he requested confirmation of the last message sent fearing it had been falsified.

  No packet came back and upon checking on his pets GPS locations at Mrs. Sullivan’s mansion, he discovered they were gone. As if their current situation was not enough, Evelyn decided to liberate herself from his beast’s protective barrier and compromise security there. If he were honest, the pets he had there were not just for protection. When the time was right, they were to reclaim the data center.

  He could not comprehend why she would convince herself that he bore her ill will or was a threat. That is until his pet’s last transmission came in. She had brought back the Butler; he wanted nothing but supreme control. A manipulator and ruthless killer, he despised everyone that was different from him.

  Mr. Sullivan realized he should have demanded the Butler’s lines of code remain locked away in their data center. Instead, she had developed this monstrosity on her own without approval and no doubt with Marty Naublock.

  Her usefulness had come to an end. Order requires obedience, and discretion was never given by Mr. Sullivan. Lying to him on this scale was irreparable.

  He decided after tonight he would reclaim all his empire, starting with Mr. Naublock. The mechanical engineer would fall in line with him at Halaby or face the same fate the Butler met with his pets. No doubt, she would try to raise the Butler again. Though his body was destroyed, his mind lived on. Mr. Sullivan would delete the Butler back to the archives and all he had learned would be erased.

  It was time Leonard was put to use.

  Chapter 57

  Twelve hours had passed since Stratus’s confrontation with Fox Two, and his body was starting to feel the aches and pains from their battle. Leo’s GPS coordinates began trickling in onto Stratus’s phone shortly after his briefing with Mr. Cromwell. He informed Cromwell of Leona
rd’s movement and arrival at Halaby. This sent Mr. Cromwell into a frenzy, making him want to strike tonight and seize Mr. Krueger.

  The planned assault seemed obvious given the sensitive information and the use of a dangerous BOT he had confronted at Halaby. However, it was not obvious why they would seize Leonard. From Stratus’s encounters so far, it was not clear if he was involved yet. Mr. Cromwell painted a picture that it may lead to Leo’s full involvement, but Stratus felt it should play second to the imminent threat of the creatures.

  Stratus stayed in their secure lab to research a few things before selecting his team via their active duty directory. As expected, his searches for Patrick Krueger turned up nothing. Any results were no doubt locked down so only his boss and perhaps the President would be aware of this information.

  Still curious Stratus ran a search over the last year on any checks written out of Evelyn Sullivan’s account. This search was questionable at best given she was not a suspect that he could identify, but he would just take a peak.

  Expecting to find a plethora of business related payments, he only found two checks. One, the payment Mrs. Sullivan sent to Krueger, the other to a Marty Naublock. Naublock’s compensation was substantial and he knew he was someone of interest.

  He would visit this man after Krueger was in their custody. He felt like he was not getting the full story. Something seemed missing.

  Stratus carefully picked his team for the mission. All were local as they only had but a few hours to assemble. Stratus had confidence in the team but what lay inside Halaby filled him with uncertainty. He had pleaded for immediate action but now so many questions had arisen. He pushed those out of his head and focused on the layout of Halaby.

  Taking Mr. Krueger would be easy. The cottage was separate and provided cover. He just hoped the gate was not electrified. If so, it would make it more difficult for his team to gain access. The rest of the grounds were unknown, and any strategy would have to come on the fly.