Chapter 9-Infiltration

The sun had just gone down over the horizon, leaving the sky ever so slightly orange. Up ahead, the WPA complex was glowing in all its beauty. I always enjoyed looking at the skyscrapers of New Boston at this time of night, the dim light reflecting off of the shimmering glass and steel structures. Some of the buildings had beautiful arrays of LEDs on them, adding to the grandeur of the night city. I wanted the whole world to live like the people did here in New Boston. I finally understood what liberty did to a nation, and I wanted the same to happen to the Allied States, my original home. The cab pulled up to the entrance of the WPA, and we got out in pairs, Brandon and Rose holding hands and Mary Anne and I doing the same. Dr. Radcliffe met us at the entrance with a serious look on his face. "Agents," he began, "follow me, please." He led us to the elevator that took us to a floor I hadn't been to in a while, but I knew I had been there before. When the elevator door opened, the surroundings brought back a memory--this is where Mary Anne brought me when we left Mississippi. The huge hangar was ahead as well, and there were dozens of people frantically walking around with their digital clipboards. In the center, there was a table with two time travel devices, the same kind as the one Mary Anne and I used to make our escape. That seemed like ages ago. Beside the devices, folded clothes were laid out. "The suits are for Mr. Brandon and Mrs. Rose while the civilian clothes are for Ms. Mary Anne and Mr. Elijah," Dr. Radcliffe said. It made sense that we were given these clothes; Brandon and Rose were to act as workers of some sort, entering the WCO as if they were there for their jobs. Mary Anne and I were to walk separate from them and were to act as two lovebird teenagers casually enjoying a New Seattle evening. We all went to the locker rooms to change into our clothes. I was given clothes that one would typically see on a trendy teenager in 2108 on the west coast. My shirt was a thicker, long sleeved shirt with a v-neck collar as well as a thin silk hood. I wore a dark undershirt underneath it. I was to wear jeans and sneakers with it as well. This was honestly the most in-style I had ever looked, as I had never had the money to optimize my wardrobe. The clothes also had plenty of pockets in them, which they likely did on purpose so that I could hide things like weapons. I was the first to be done, so I walked out of the locker rooms to wait on the others. Mary Anne walked out of her locker room shortly after I did, and soon, Brandon and Rose, who looked very professional, walked out of theirs. Together, we walked back to the main hangar, where Dr. Radcliffe and other officials were waiting. "I'm not one for pep talks," Dr. Radcliffe began, "but just know that we all admire your bravery. Tonight will hopefully be the finale where we will crush the WCO. They are too dangerous to be kept in existence, and I know that you four make the perfect team. Each of you has something special as it relates to this mission. Brandon, you are a master at infiltrating and completing a task to its full potential. Rose, you are excellent at silently slipping through systems. You're keen and brilliant. Elijah, you know the WCO better than any of us, and taking them down is the most meaningful to you. Mary Anne, you're excellent at keeping your composure and focusing. You don't let your emotions get in the way of the task at hand. I wish you all the best. Now, if you will please step up to the table in your respective pairs up to the devices. It will take a while for them to recharge, but hopefully they will be ready for use by the time your portion of the mission is complete. Be sure to update us frequently because we are relying on you for timing when we send in the attack." I tried to breathe slow, deep breaths as we walked up to our devices. Brandon and Rose both grabbed onto one device and their bag of equipment as Mary Anne and I grabbed the other as well as our backpack full of tricks. The button was flashing red, just as I had seen before. Simultaneously, we pressed the button, and our surroundings flashed away with a bright light. Before we knew it, we were standing in a dark, damp alleyway in the middle of the lion's den. We were on our own now.

There were sirens in the distance as well as the sounds of busy traffic. Rose turned around and said, "Okay, we're going to walk ahead of you two. When it's clear, we'll signal for you to come." With that, they walked off ahead of us onto the busy street. I gripped onto Mary Anne's hand tightly as we waited for the signal to move. Brandon and Rose both crossed the crosswalk, casually looking around as they held hands. Then, when they were halfway across the street, Rose signaled a forward motion with her hand, indicating for us to go as well. I slipped on my hood, ensuring most of my face was hidden. I was sure everyone here knew what I looked like. While many in the States had recently turned against their government, New Seattle was a different story in that most people here were extreme loyalists. I would not be safe if they knew who was in their city. The traffic signal indicated for pedestrians to stop and wait to cross the street, the cars separating Rose and Brandon from us. It was smart of her to time it like that so nothing looked suspicious. After a minute, we were cleared to walk across the street. Rose and Brandon were out of sight by now, but I heard over our earpieces from Brandon, "We're about four blocks away from the WCO tower." I responded, "Good, we're not too far behind. When you get there, wait outside for us. We'll sit down at a bench across the street from the building." I could see the towering structure ahead of us. I couldn't believe that I was back at this place. I never thought I would be here again, especially under these circumstances. After what seemed like forever, we had finally made it to the building. We could see Brandon and Rose waiting along the side of the building, so we headed over to a bench that faced the building. To enter, you had to go through metal detectors as well as a bag check. Because Brandon had multiple weapons and explosives hidden in his coat, I was to activate an EMP that would temporarily disable the metal detector Brandon and Rose would go through. Once we sat down, I pulled up the program on my iHolo. On my belt clip, a small device was pointed towards the metal detector in which Brandon was about to walk through. I quickly initiated the EMP with the program on my iHolo, aiming it at the metal detector. I whispered through my earpiece to Brandon, "Go, now," and he calmly proceeded through the metal detector. Mary Anne and I were sitting on the edges of our seats as we watched him enter, hoping the EMP worked. As he crossed through, raising no alarm, it was time for Rose. Brandon patiently waited for Rose to enter as well. I quickly fired the EMP again, temporarily disabling the metal detector once more. Rose walked through, the metal detector making no alarm. However, the policeman standing at that station noticed that the metal detector light was not on. "Miss," he said as Rose finished walking through, "it seems that the metal detector malfunctioned, so I'm gonna need you to walk through it again." Rose tried to keep her composure. As she began to turn around, the metal detector turned back on. The EMP had to wait to charge again, so there was no time to disable it once more. I gulped. She still had her guns on her side. Very slowly she snuck both of them out of the holsters with one hand and under her waist handed them off to Brandon. It was the most slick thing I had ever seen, and the policeman never suspected a thing. Mary Anne and I quietly sighed breaths of relief. I was sweating all over from just watching the last ten seconds of what was in front of me. It wasn't long before I heard over my earpiece, "We're in. Heading to the security room now" from Rose. Inside, the building was busy with workers scrambling around. Behind the main front desk was the security room as well as the bathrooms that Brandon would conveniently "use" while Rose broke in to knock the guards out and steal a security key from them. When Rose approached the door, she knocked. The door cracked open followed by a guard asking how he could help her. Ever so subtly she just kept pushing the door open, a tactic to confuse them to allow enough time to break in and stun them all. Once the task was complete, she shoved the unconscious bodies to the side and grabbed a key card off of one of them. "I'm ready," she said. Brandon walked out of the bathroom, and right as he walked by the security room door, he "accidentally" dropped his wallet while Rose slid the key under the door right to where he had dropped his wallet. "Got it," he whispered. Mary Anne and I had our eyes glued to the WCO building, trying to see what was going on. As a result, a policeman started looking at us suspiciously. I muttered panicked expressions under my breath as I began to scroll around aimlessly on my iHolo. I had blurred out the back of the hologram projection so that no one from the other side could see what was on display. Quickly, I started to fakely chuckle and point at the display, nudging Mary Anne as she pitched in with chuckles, too. I could still sense that the policeman was watching us closely, so I slowly leaned in to kiss her as if we were two energetic romantic high schoolers goofing around and experiencing young love. It was perfect. We began to passionately kiss, and it was completely genuine all while playing a role to remain under cover. The policeman looked away and turned around to go back to his business, as watching us kissing likely made him uncomfortable to keep staring. Meanwhile, Brandon was sitting at a bench by the elevators, waiting for one to open up without anyone else on it. Rose was in the security room, watching the cameras on each floor to help Brandon find the next opening. "Quick, elevator 5 is coming down, and it doesn't seem like anyone is gonna get on," she said over our communication device. Without a word, Brandon casually stood up and pressed the elevator button to summon it on #5. Once it reached the lobby, the elevator chimed a digital tone, and the doors opened. Brandon was sweating a little bit on his neck, so he nervously tugged at his collar as he entered the cart. He grabbed the key card and scanned it on a scanning device located next to the button that indicated "Basement." The doors began to close, but right then, a young couple began to run for the elevator to catch it before closing. "Hold the elevator!" they both yelled. They couldn't see where he was going--it would be suspicious for a man dressed like Brandon to be headed to the basement, where someone like him should not have access to. Brandon tried to ignore them as he rapidly pressed the close door buttons. He gulped as the couple began to sprint for the same elevator, but with only a second to spare, the doors closed, leaving him alone in the elevator to go down to the basement. "Guys, what's happening in there?" Mary Anne said. "We're all clear. Entering the basement now," Brandon said. When the elevator doors opened, there was a massive room full of massive computer hard drives with wires all over them--pipes for the building's plumbing--and a massive central fuse terminal for the electricity. Brandon had ten explosives to plant all over the room. Before mapping out where to plant them, he used his heat signature radar to scan for any life forms in the room. Thankfully, he was alone down there. Now, it was time to blow this place up. The main target was to be the center fuse terminal, but we couldn't risk leaving the computer system intact in case there was a backup source of power. Brandon wasn't really targeting the plumbing, but it was implied that some pipes would be destroyed. It wouldn't really help them at the moment, but it sure would cause more problems for the WCO to work around. "Okay, guys," Brandon said, "it's gonna take me a while to figure out the exact places to plant the charges. This place is a labyrinth, and we need to maximize the destruction with limited resources given." An hour went by, and finally, Brandon indicated he was headed towards the center terminal to plant the last charge. I was sweating, and I could tell Mary Anne was also nervous. When we thought we were about to finish our mission with Brandon's escape, Rose came in over our earpieces, saying, "Brandon, hold up!" There are two guards headed down towards the basement. They just pressed the button in the elevator and are descending now." Oh no. My face went pale. "Copy, I'm planting the last charge now," Brandon whispered, "I'll sneak out once I see an opening." I could hear the elevator chime in the background audio from Brandon. He placed the magnetic explosive straight under the terminal as it whirred its high pitch buzz, charging. The two guards then stepped out of the elevator to make their rounds. There were several large pieces of hard drives as well as fifty feet of space in between Brandon and the guards, so he could still be hidden and hopefully sneak out. Upstairs in the security room, Rose heard a knocking at the door. She knew there was a way to unlock it from the outside with a key, so she had no option but to block the entrance. After thirty seconds of silence from her as guards outside were yelling at whoever they thought was on the other end of the door, a key started to rattle the doorknob. In response, Rose knocked over a large metal shelf across the door, making it impossible for them to open it. "Brandon, there's not much time," she said, panting, "Get out of there and blow the charges!" Our cover was about to be blown, and fast. The two guards in the basement received word that there was suspicious activity going on upstairs, so they became more alert and requested backup. Brandon attempted to walk towards the back of the room and find another pathway to the elevator. Right then, five more guards came down the emergency stairway. "I'm running out of options here," Brandon started, "They're blocking my only ways out of here. I'm gonna have to fight my way out." "Affirmative," Rose said, "do what must be done." Brandon stood up and leaned his back against a hard drive, reaching for his gun. Taking a deep breath, he pierced the calmness of the city night and fired his shot at the nearest guard. In response, they all ducked down and began to fire back at Brandon, who was hiding behind the hard drives. Brandon was saying something over the coms device, but the gunshots stifled out his voice. I could see the distress in all of the people in the lobby of the building. Although they could not hear the gunshots, they could clearly see multiple guards rushing to both the security room and down to the basement. Some were smart and entirely left the building, calling it an early night. The shootout in the basement was getting intense. Some of the large hard drives were sparking from the bullets that hit them, but what was worse was as there were more guards piling into the basement, Brandon got shot in the arm, causing him to severely bleed. Brandon dove into the ground and started to crawl further into the room to get more cover as bullets whirred over his head. He panted as he began to collect his thoughts and analyse the current situation. "Guys, I'm not going to make it out," he said to us. "Wh-what do you mean?" Rose said, clearly knowing what he meant. "There's no other way. You know what I have to do." "No, you can't! We'll come get you. We'll fight our way through if we have to." "No, it's now or never. The president may already know about this and could be deploying time travel warfare any second now." Mary Anne and I looked at each other in disbelief. "Brandon, please don't. There has to be another way," Mary Anne blurted. Her voice was shaking. Rose hadn't turned off her mic, and we could hear her panting and quietly weeping. "I love you all. Get out of here and go home. It's been an honor working with you," Brandon said. His voice was beginning to sound shaky, too. "I love you, forever and always," Rose said, crying. "I love you, my precious wife. Goodbye." As the guards began to surround Brandon, he pulled out the button for the detonators and pressed it, closing his eyes. The ground rumbled, and inside in the lobby, cracks in the marble formed, sending people stumbling. It felt like a massive earthquake as the lights in the beautiful tower went out. And then, it was silent. It wasn't long before the people inside began to trample each other towards the exit of the building as the police up front attempted to evacuate everyone in an orderly fashion. Rose was still panting and weeping as she moved the shelf from the door, grabbing her gun out in case the guards were still there. Thankfully, they weren't, and she rushed into the crowd of people, blending in with them as they exited the building. Mary Anne and I stared at the craziness in front of us in horror. After a few clicks on her iHolo, Mary Anne spoke over her coms device on a different channel, saying, "Send them in. Our work here is done." "Where is Rose?" I whispered. Mary Anne and I ran towards the crowd to look for Rose, spotting her at the back of the fleeing crowd. Her eyes were blackened by the makeup her tears ruined. She ran up to us and grabbed both of our arms as we ran in the opposite direction from the building. She then said, "Quick, grab the teleportation devices out of the bag. We need to get out of here."

In New Boston, President Huxley was standing off to the side of the runway where hundreds of fighters and transport planes were taking off, heading north to Canada. He saluted as all of them took off to go to battle. All of the aircrafts taking off were equipped with MilliSonic speed capabilities--it was almost as if they were jumping into light speed from a science fiction movie. When they reached cruising altitude, all of them simultaneously bursted into a speed so fast they almost instantly disappeared from Huxley's view. It would only take a couple minutes for them to make it across the continent and into enemy territory.

I quickly dug in my pack and grabbed the two round devices. I gave one to Rose as Mary Anne and I huddled around the other. When I pressed the button, the screen indicated that it was only at 10% charge. My face turned ghost white. I gulped, saying, "Umm, why isn't it charged?" Rose looked up from hers too, and she had the same flushed expression. We had forgotten to let the devices charge all this time. Now, it would take hours to be able to use them. Rose paced back and forth, her hand on her forehead. "It's okay," she said, regaining her composure, "Let's just get far from here and take cover. I'll let Huxley and Radcliffe know, and they'll know what to do. We can't call off the strike now, as this is our only opp--" she was cut off by a series of quiet booms coming from the sky. The fleet was emerging from MilliSonic speed and was about to engage. Above, the transports flew around all ends of the city so that the troops could be everywhere to push inwards. From afar, I could see hundreds, no, thousands of troopers jumping from the transports and parachuting down. "We need to get to cover, NOW!" Mary Anne said as she motioned for us to run. I zipped up the travel devices back in my pack and booked it with Rose and Mary Anne. As we were running, Rose began to speak over the coms device to New Boston. "We have a problem. Our devices did not charge, and we are taking cover now. Please advise." Huxley came over our devices saying, "You're gonna have to repe--" static came over our earpieces. The communication grid was probably being shut down or being overloaded by the millions of panicked calls, as the city was under attack. We were now truly on our own.