Despite Perfect Plans

Everything happened in stages. To Switch, that made it feel less real. Ever since Blink walked out of Ops with Jonathan Bassett he felt like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Jonathan might have been right, Blink might have been right. All that Switch really understood was that Legend was right. This was the only play they had. Regardless of Console Ghost showing up to the coming war, the war would still come. There was nothing that they could do except get their hands on some serious power and protect those they could. Legend had never steered him wrong.

To make matters worse, Switch was one of the first to enter Arcadia. Disguised as a Security Force Scout, he was able to move about without any restriction. With Jonathan's access, Console Ghost had stolen from smaller Armories around Clifton to piece together everything they would need. After rewiring the Security Force arms and armor, Switch wore the perfect image of a Security Force Scout. The badge he wore held a copy of Blink's Handcrafted Yes-Virus, no matter what it was scanned for it would give the same result. The positive result. It gave Switch the highest level of clearance. It gave Switch the freedom to scout the Armory for Console Ghost without risk.

Switch relied heavily on the map that he was given. This was his first time in Arcadia. For the entire Lift up, he went over the map again and again in his mind. Switch made sure that he knew where to go, how to move, and where he would be able to stop for a breath without garnering suspicion. Nothing he could've imagined prepared him for that step off the Lift into Arcadia. It was everything he heard about, everything he imagined, and it angered him that it was even possible.

There was simulated blue sky overhead, a simulated sun burned along a predetermined path. Switch saw a grove of trees, actual trees just a hundred feet from where he stood. A lazy river made its way from somewhere up above, water falling down from pool to pool to eventually land in a spacious lake on the other side of the grove. It was more than just the serene nature that angered Switch, it was the casual grace and beauty of the place. The contrast from his home to this heaven was too great. It took every fiber of Switch's being to force his feet forward. The buildings were mostly glass and steel. They stretched up impossibly tall and twisted in beautifully artistic fashions. Even the people around him were artistic by design.

Down below, the color scheme was strictly dark. The only life came in the form of the digital world, but up here… Switch had to keep his eyes pointed ahead or at the ground in front of his feet. There were cascades of blues, greens, and red throughout Arcadia. Orange, purple, and yellow exploded in the form suits, dresses, and hairdos. There was a distinct lack of holograms, Switch realized as he walked. Then when he realized why, he had to slip into an alley and calm himself down. The people living up here in Arcadia, Those On High… They had no need for the digital distractions of the districts below.

Their lives were peaceful, their lives were beautiful, their world was perfect. Every muscle in his body wanted to draw his stolen service pistol and show the Arcadians a real tragedy. Switch knew it would ruin everything. He knew that the plan required anonymity. He did not even want to hurt these people, he wanted to be these people. He wanted all of the tragedy and struggle of those below, of his friends and family, to disappear into the beauty that surrounded him.

That would never happen, the world did not deal cards equally. It dealt powerful cards to the lucky or the important, the leftovers trickled down to people like Switch. If his world couldn't have beauty, Arcadia should at least know tragedy. As Switch calmed himself down, he realized that they would.

It would not happen today, it would not happen overnight, but as soon as Console Ghost stole these containers they would be branded terrorists. The revolution would begin and Arcadia consider themselves the prime target. Even if Console Ghost failed, even if they never struck Arcadia again, the district was violated by the actions they made today.

Things would change. Switch made his way to the Armory and walked through the security checkpoint without pause. Inside, all semblance of Arcadia vanished. It was back to the dull gray and deep black of the world below. The Security Force on duty paid him no heed, they did not even stand to greet him as he wandered through the Armory.

This was nothing like the Armories below, the ones they had already pilfered from. Everything was stored in twenty foot long shipping containers. There was an overhead crane that moved them around with ease and six different cargo craft sat at the ready to distribute entire containers via Lift to other Armories.

Switch made his way through the Armory as slowly as he was able to. He found a container marked for ordinance that was still sealed, nothing had been taken from it. With a can of nanite spray, Switch marked the location with an X and moved on. He was unable to find an unopened container of weapons, it seemed like five or ten things were missing from each. He settled for the fullest container he could find, ninety five guns would do just as well as a full one hundred. Switch made sure that the container also was fully stocked with ammunition before he marked it with the nanite spray and moved on.

According to the insider information that Console Ghost was working on, there were six different types of robotics stored within the containers. Drones, Mechs, Automatons, Cybernetics, Exoskeleton, and Support. Each kept separate from the others. Jonathan warned them that they could only take one robotics containers safely. Console Ghost was left with a decision that took hours to make.

In the end, they chose to steal a Drones Container. In a war against a superior force, Legend said there was nothing more advantageous than surveillance. Even though it took twice as long as finding a weapons container, Switch knew that this container had to be full. They needed every bit of tech they could get their hands on if they were going to survive. When he finally found and marked the last container with nanite spray, Switch made his out of the Armory.

It went so smooth that it felt like a dream. By the time Switch entered the glass building next to the Armory and climbed the twenty floors of stairs to his holding point, he was starting to doubt himself. There was no such thing as a perfect plan, despite the perfect plan that they had. He knew something would go wrong, somehow it would turn on them.

It simply could not be this easy. Two hours passed as he waited for the next wave to make it to Arcadia. Two hours passed slowly as Switch could not help but watch the sun move in the sky. He wondered if this was what life had been like before. Would the Old World see this as a pale imitation? How could they, it was perfect. At least compared to Switch's world.

Messenger, Toggle and Twitch came dressed drivers reporting for their shifts. It took longer for them to get through the security checkpoint, but they had accounted for that. The identities that they were working off were solid. All three of them had been transferred from other districts to relieve the influx of resupply orders. Within half an hour of getting through security, Switch watched the bay doors on the side of slide open. Three cargo craft slowly hovered out and made their way toward the Raven Rock lift.

The hairs on Switch's neck stood up, something was wrong. There was no such thing as psychic or prescience as far as Switch believed. However, he did believe in the subconscious and his was trying to tell him something. He pulled out a tablet and brought up the tracking program. The three containers marked with nanite spray were still within the Armory.

Switch rebooted the program, double checked the frequency, and made sure that it was working properly. It was. The three containers headed for the Lift were not the ones that he marked. This was not an error, it was an adjustment. He needed to let Legend know. Jonathan had been right. It was a trap.

As he put the tablet away and reached for his comms, someone spoke from behind him. "Don't."

Switch turned to see Feedback standing a few feet away. The hood of his wizardly robes pulled back for the first time. Feedback was a plant by whoever set up the trap. He wore a prisoner's collar. Switch had always assumed it was just to control his ability. Now it made sense, Feedback was a prisoner and working inside Console Ghost was his work release.

Switch's hand was still at his comms. The armor might be restricting Switch's access to his tattoos but he could still open a comm line before Feedback to reach him. He tapped the button and a nanite pistol appeared in Feedback's hand. One word was all he could call out before Feedback killed him, "Trap-"