by Jim Roberts
Suddenly Danny gave a surprised yelp, "My God...Joe I...I can see!"
Joe eyes went wide, "What?"
"I swear...I can see again! It's like...I..." Danny was overcome with emotion, his haggard voice raised as loud as he could.
Joe looked uneasily at the door, "What do you mean? How are you able to see?"
Danny looked around the room, a smile spreading across his face. He looked at Doctor Yune and reached out, touching the Asian man's shoulder. Yune smiled.
"The device beams electrical impulses through the brain and his cortical cluster reads them as images. Think of it as a type of 'radar' I suppose. That is my second skill, Mister Braddock. I invent things."
Danny would have cried if it was possible. Joe smiled. It felt good seeing his friend happy, if only for the immediate moment.
Yune looked quite proud of himself, "It was based on a design created by the Monash University a few years ago. I just took it a step further."
"What is it like Danny?" asked Joe.
"It's...like a...I can't describe it!"
Yune took over, "He sees images relayed to his brain in a sort of expanded spectrum. The image to him would appear in three full dimensions, but no color; a small trade off that I am still working on."
Joe looked incredulously at Yune, "What the hell kind of scientist are you?"
Yune shrugged, "One of the best, if you prefer," Yune looked at Joe up and down, "There is a first aid kit on that wall over there if you need it. You look terrible."
"Would there happen to be a tetanus booster in there?"
"I think so. Call Olympus many things; prepared is definitely one of them."
Joe went over to the first aid kit and opened it. While Yune asked Danny some questions about the glasses, Joe set to work fixing his many wounds. He removed his shirt and began to swab his open wounds with antiseptic and alcohol, sucking in his breath as the pain stung deeply. There was indeed a small booster shot for tetanus in the kit, as well as shots of epinephrine and adrenaline. He pulled down his fatigues on one side, quickly swabbed his thigh with alcohol and jabbed the tetanus booster in. He broke the needle on the wall and tossed it away. Pulling his pants up, he finished off by bandaging his arm and swallowing several Tylenol for the pain.
All in all, Joe felt better than he had in days. He replaced his shirt. As he did, something caught his eye. In the corner of the room, off to the side by a large bunch of crates, was something draped in a white cloth.
"Doc, what's that?"
Yune looked over, "Oh that. It's something I was developing for the Japanese security force. Colonel Dante wishes it to be completed for Olympus's use." He left Danny for a moment to practice with the eye device and joined Joe. He threw off the sheet. Joe gasped at the sight.
Yune smiled proudly, "This is my Whisper suit."
Under the sheet, draped over a metal mannequin was a large body suit like nothing Joe had ever seen. It looked like something out of a video game that the Ranger couldn't begin to describe. Fortunately, Doctor Yune was all too happy to oblige.
"It is a combination stealth/combat suit designed for infiltration and high-intensity battle. It was meant to turn a single soldier into a powerful one-man army, but..." Yune shook his head sadly, "I was unable to secure a contract for it in the Japanese Security force, so they mothballed it."
Joe looked at the suit, perplexed, "What's it do?"
"Well, the entire suit is actually made up of several layers: the Outer layer is a combination of experimental Para-Aramyd metallic alloys weaved together with Rynohyde and Kevlar." He picked up the arm piece to show Joe an example. The dark cloth looked to Joe like a combination of blackened steel and smooth Kevlar armor, "Around certain areas of the suit, like the chest, legs, arms, and groin are several sheaths of ablative titanium; completely shock resistant."
Danny walked over to see what Yune was talking about.
"The entire suit is actually several separate layers," said Yune, "The Outer layer, as you've seen; the Middle Layer which includes a coolant delivery system interspersed within the micro strands woven throughout the suit. This keeps the user cool, even in high-temperature areas." He pulled the suit towards them and showed them the interior, "There is the Inner layer which is equipped with Nanosensors and stretch aids, allowing the suit to mold to its user perfectly."
He then pointed at the outer layer of the suit, "The Skin layer includes a state of the art chemical that covers the entire outside surface of the suit. It can react to electronic impulses from within the suit's power core that allows the wearer to shroud...or become invisible if you like." Yune reached down to the small control panel attached to the suit's wrist gauntlet and pressed a button. The suit seemed to shimmer for a moment, as if trying to perform the 'shroud' Yune had described, but something seemed to malfunction and the suit only made a strange buzzing noise before returning to normal.
Yune frowned, "Ok...there are still a few bugs with the shroud...but I'm working on it."
Joe stared at the suit, completely dumbfounded. Despite the small malfunction, this suit was quite simply the most amazing thing Joe had ever seen in his life.
But Yune wasn't finished yet, "The entire suit is powered by a backpack power cell - here, which I call the Accretion Device," he pointed at a large mass on the back of the suit, "The power core is also...experimental, but the suit is self-sustaining for some time, requiring re-distillation of its power cell every seventy-eight hours or so."
Yune finally pointed to the helmet. It resembled something like the shell of beetle, with no visible eye sockets at all, "The helmet provides the user with an advanced heads up display and cortical connectivity to the brain, allowing instantaneous access to suit functions just through thought."
Yune replaced the helmet, "That's pretty much it, besides some miscellaneous combat functions..."
Joe had pretty much made up his mind by then, "Doc, we're taking your suit."
The blood from Yune's face drained away, "Excuse me?"
"Can this thing work for Danny?"
Callbeck looked at Joe, his mouth falling to the ground. Yune was flustered, "What? No...it...I...it cannot be used, it hasn't even been field tested!"
Joe was willing to take the chance, "We're gonna give it one Doc. Can you jury rig the helmet to allow Danny to use those glasses inside somehow?"
Yune, still unsure of the whole prospect, said, "Well, no I wouldn't need to; I designed the helmet to allow for a wide range of possible applicants. In fact, the ocular implants within the helmet are far better than even the glasses that you are currently wearing, Mr. Callbeck."
Joe felt as though they had fallen head first into a gold mine, "We're gonna be breaking out of here tomorrow Doc. And you're going to help us."
Chapter 8
Preparations
THE TWENTY-FOUR-hour clock on the wall read 02:00. Good, thought Joe. They haven't discovered we're missing yet. He meant to keep it that way. A range of possible ideas for escape had been raging through Joe's mind since laying eyes on that suit. What was once impossible only a few hours earlier, now seemed almost slightly feasible.
Danny sat on the chair being examined by Yune. The doctor was concerned about Danny's eye injuries and wanted a closer examination. Joe took the time to check the rest of the lab for anything useful.
He found plenty.
Yune had told Joe the crates contained armaments and equipment. Several of the crates were loaded with every manner of weapon he could ask for: 7.65mm Kalashnikov's, assorted carbines of European design, as well as several crates of M-16s, probably stolen from the Afghan Security Force.
Joe picked up an AK, hoisting it in his hands, feeling the weight.
Armed again.
Yune looked at Joe, frowning, "I don't pretend to know what it is you're planning Mr. Braddock, but I can tell you now that even with the suit, you will need more men. From what I've been able to tell, at peak levels, there are usually over one-hundred Olympus
troopers here."
Joe slapped a magazine into the Kalashnikov, thinking about the current situation. The Doc was right. There was enough ordinance here to start quite a fire, but they were only three people.
"Krieger," said Joe, the idea popping into his head.
Yune raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"
"That Russian-Arab locked beside us. He can help us."
Danny looked up from the chair, "What about your men?"
Joe shook his head, "No, I won't be able to reach them in time. We'll need a third party to help get me to them. Krieger will have to do."
Danny looked at Joe through the bionic sunglasses, "So what's your plan?"
Joe leaned against a small table, thinking aloud, "Well, we're gonna need to steal something to get out of here; a helicopter or truck or whatever." He fingered the machine gun absent-mindedly, feeling the comforting presence of the weapon, "How long will it take to calibrate the suit to Danny's body, Doc?"
Yune thought for a moment, "An optimistic guess would be about eight hours."
Joe hefted the gun, balancing the butt on his leg, "You've got four."
Yune was about to protest, then decided against it.
Joe continued laying out his plan, "With the equipment in this lab, it should be easy to open the iron doors on the cells. Do you have a powered saw or something Doc?"
Yune nodded, "I have something even better - a plasma torch."
Joe raised an eyebrow, "Seriously?"
Yune reached over to a table beside him and picked up a small device the size of a handgun. He held it up for Joe to look at and pressed a button. Instantly a small blue flame spurt from the nozzle.
"Just point at what you need cut. Use the flip shield to protect from arc eye."
Joe nodded. "That's perfect. From there, I'll free Krieger, kill any bad guys I see and release my men. From what I saw in the window of my cell, the motorcade was directly on the other side of the wall. We make our way through the outside parade yard and steal something, anything that can drive and make our break for it."
Danny wasn't convinced. He murmured softly, "Just as easy as that huh? What'll I be doing?"
"Once Doctor Yune has that suit calibrated, rendezvous with us upstairs," Joe looked over at Yune, "You're gonna be coming with us Doc. Hope you don't mind."
Yune went green in the face for a moment, but the prospect of escape seemed to calm him back down. He nodded, "I think I've outstayed my welcome here in any case."
"Stay close to Danny. Make sure the suit will work as well as you can get it to. This is our one shot; we have to make it count."
Danny Callbeck looked at Joe and rasped, "Joe, I hope you realize this is the most insane idea you've had since the day I had the misfortune of meeting you."
Joe smiled, standing back on his feet, "Trust me bud. You ain't seen nothing yet."
"Alright Mr. Callbeck, hold still for a moment...I just need to..."
A spark from the strange tool Yune was using to calibrate the power cell flared up, forcing the scientist to jump back abruptly. Danny, now encased neck to foot in the darkened stealth armor, looked behind him, worriedly.
"Kuso!" Yune swore louder than he meant to.
"Doc, keep it down!" Joe called out in a forced whisper from across the room. It was nearly 04:00 and they had pressed their luck enough for one night. Any minute they could be found out and they were far from ready, "How's it going?"
Yune pulled the welding helmet off his face for a moment to reply, "The power cell isn't reacting the way I had hoped with the nano-fibres in the endocrine..."
"Abridged version doc!"
"It needs another three hours Mr. Braddock."
Joe swore under his breath, "Just do what you can Doc. He has to be ready by oh-six-hundred."
Danny rasped a nagging question he had, "Doc, when you mentioned the suit's offensive capabilities, what did you mean?"
Yune talked while he worked, "Oh, of course, I forgot. I designed the suit to be highly efficient in hand-to-hand combat," Yune stood up from fixing the suit and walked over to the work table. He picked up a non-descript looking object about the size and shape of a police baton.
"I designed this to act as the standard offensive combat weapon for the suit."
Joe looked up from the crates he was rooting in to glance at the strange device. Danny watched as well, fascinated at the opportunity to see another of the Doctor's bizarre inventions.
"I call it the Mantis Staff, an extending bo staff made of a titanium-steel alloy." The Doctor pressed a tiny switch on the shaft of the weapon and within one second, the small foot-long rod sprung forth in both directions to reveal a six-foot long quarterstaff. Yune held the weapon forward to Danny, who gripped the weapon at its midsection.
"It's so light." remarked the Canadian, hefting the staff as he sat half in, half out of the suit.
Yune nodded, pointing at the toggle switch on the midsection of the staff as he talked, "Once pressed, the weapon springs forward utilizing a powerful mechanism that can also recoil it back to its original form in a single second."
"Are you sure you can use that thing Danny?" asked Joe from the other side of the room. To him, it seemed like an odd choice for an offensive weapon.
Danny stood up for a moment, and gave the bo staff a quick flourish, "Kenpo teaches much about quarterstaff training Joe. I think I can handle it."
Yune frowned and crossed his arms, "It is a highly useful tool as well Mister Braddock. Believe me, Corporal Callbeck will have great use for it."
"Sure Doc, if you say so." Joe had collected several useful items within a khaki survival bag taken from one of the many crates he had been rooting through for the past few hours. He had also found a pair of socks and a brand new pair of sneakers. The sneakers were a size too large, but Joe was still grateful for the protection. As he finished up checking the latest stack of crates, he came across a box-shaped differently than the rest. A large crate the shape and size of what looked like a large sniper rifle. Joe looked over at Yune again, asking, "Doc, do you know what this is?"
Yune looked over. "That's an experimental gauss rifle. A coilgun I think is what the military calls it. It is a heavy weapon designed for the operator of the Whisper suit."
Joe opened the case. He sucked in his breath at the sight of the gun. It was huge; the size of an average Barrett .50 cal sniper rifle but way...weirder looking. The weapon was encased in a hefty polymer assembly that added significantly to its bulk. True to the name, a blue-colored coil wrapped around the barrel. Joe tried to lift the gun, but could barely manage to remove it from the case. He set it back down.
"What the hell good is a gun no one can lift?" he asked the Doctor.
Yune didn't look at Joe as he spoke; focusing instead on his work, "The Whisper suit is designed with an internal strength enhancement nano-fibre, greatly increasing the suit user's strength. That gun was made to specifically be utilized and fired by the suit operator."
"How's it work?"
"It uses electromagnetic coils configured as a linear motor to accelerate a ferromagnetic projectile at extremely high velocities."
Joe stared blankly at the massive gun, "I have no idea what any of that means."
Yune smiled as he continued to work on the suit. Danny sat dutifully, probably hoping not be electrocuted by Yune's arc welder.
"When Olympus kidnapped me again, I was en-route to Pakistan to deliver the suit to NATO. The suit and that gun were developed at my old lab in Uzbekistan."
Joe stood up, closing the lid on the gun, "Kidnapped you again? You mean that was the second time?"
Yune nodded grimly, "Olympus kidnapped me over a year ago. I was forced to design everything from aerial drones to this suit you're wearing right now. I originally designed the suits for Olympus in a secret lab in Uzbekistan. I was rescued by a NATO strike team. They destroyed the base I was held at and were ferrying me back to Pakistan."
"You were lucky to get out aliv
e huh?" said Joe.
"I barely got out with my life. We were on our way to the NATO command base in Islamabad when...Olympus attacked. I've been here ever since."
"What other suits?" said Danny abruptly.
Yune was caught off guard by the question, "What do you mean?"
"You said you designed suits for Olympus. What other suits?"
Yune stopped working. He had obviously said more than he had meant to. Joe walked over to join the pair.
The Doctor pushed his glasses back up on his nose, "There were two suits: this one and...Agrippina's."
There was that name again. "Who the hell is this Agrippina?" asked Joe.
"She is Olympus's best warrior - an assassin that has never failed to kill her intended target." Yune spoke as if evoking the woman's name caused him physical pain.
"...And she has one of these suits?" asked Joe, fearing the reply.
"Yes, and the suit she has is even more powerful than this one."
Joe looked at Danny, "Krieger was right. We'd better be on our way before this...woman arrives.
THE CLOCK was steadily closing in on 05:00. Yune was still fast at work on the suit. Joe had waited long enough. He gathered up a large khaki survival bag he had loaded with ammunition and supplies. He had found a crate loaded with different types of NATO ammunition: hollow-points, full-metal jackets, and armor piercing. For his own weapon, Joe had chosen a fully loaded AK-101 5.56 NATO Assault Rifle. The black chassis assault rifle resembled an AK-47 but had been developed in Russia as a NATO counterpart to its better known Kalashnikov standby. He had taped several ammo magazines loaded with armor piercing bullets together to form a quick loading option. It was generally considered a no-no within the service, but Joe had never been much for playing by the rules. The armor piercing rounds would hopefully give him an edge in dealing with the Centurion's ablative armor.
He had also chosen a Desert Eagle .357 pistol as a sidearm, as well as a silenced 9mm Beretta. There had been a whole crate of Tokarov Russian handguns as well, but Joe would have rather chopped his own hand off then settle for one of those. If he would be facing down Olympus troopers clad in that Rynohyde armor they wore, he'd need the extra stopping power. He also chose a large M249 SAW machine gun for Krieger. The belt-fed MG made a terrific suppression weapon in the right hands. Joe inwardly hoped Krieger was up to the task.