Unity by Carl Stubblefield (epub read online books TXT) 📕

They could incapacitate any super for a short time, but only had five charges. Still enough to deal with the both of them easily.

“I get that you’re following your orders. That’s all I was doing as well. General Parabellum wants this one and the others that just returned to be processed as soon as possible. I don’t know who you get your orders from…” Rory paused for effect, sweeping his eyes around the abandoned compound. “But you don’t look like you have that much to do. It’s all the same to me, as long as it gets done.” He pushed Aurora towards the super and she stumbled into his arms and he fumbled to catch her.

“I’ll let him know that you’re handling things from here on out. You should check in with him.” Rory turned back to the maintenance bay and waved over his shoulder. “Thanks, buddy.”

“Now wait just one minute! You’re not pawning this off on me. I have enough of my own duties to take care of.” Regaining possession of himself, he reoriented his rifle and prodded Aurora back toward Rory with the barrel. “Go on your way, but be quick about it.”

“Aw, come on, man. I was just relaxing on the couch before she showed up.”

“That’s not my problem. Be on your way and be quick about it. You’ve distracted me enough from my rounds.”

“Fine, fine. It was worth a shot.” Rory grabbed Aurora’s arms and jerked her after him. “Come on, you,” he grumbled as they moved on toward C wing.

“I think Nelson is at the door there. Just tell him Wallace said to let you through. If he gives you any trouble, tell him ‘alpha-tango-three.’ He shouldn’t give you any problems,” the guard recommended.

“Yeah, yeah…” Rory grumbled, playing up the put-upon worker who would rather be doing anything but what he was.

“That… that was good,” Aurora mumbled.

“General Parabellum did say that in a general assembly after we had all been through the orientation. It helps if I just tell the truth; there’s no restriction. And I really would prefer not to be doing this, after all.”

“Got it, nothing subversive. Keep it up, that worked like a charm.” As they approached the outside of C-wing, Aurora wasted no time.

“No time to talk. Wallace told us to tell you alpha-tango-three and let us pass.”

“Uh, err, well, I suppose…”

Aurora pushed by him and tried to open the door but it was locked. She threw an exasperated scowl at the guard, who quickly waved a keycard on a lanyard over a panel and there was a buzz as the electromagnetic lock disengaged. Aurora pushed inside. Rory cocked his head as the awkward guard stared after Aurora, still a bit in disbelief.

“Get an eyeful?” Rory asked the distracted guard, who flushed bright red.

“Sorry, sir. Won’t happen again,” he said, snapping back to attention and allowing Rory to pass. Before the door clicked shut, he could have sworn he could hear the guard grumbling something about “stupid spandex suits…”

Aurora stood inside looking at a directory. “You think you’re up to splitting up? I get the ones upstairs and you get the ones down?”

Rory nodded in agreement, glancing quickly to see who was where.

When Aurora got to Anastasia’s room, she noted that there was a large blocky contraption around the door, securing to the jamb and totally encircling the knob.

“What in the…?” She ran her fingers along the box, noting only the three green lights on the top. She twisted her head to look underneath it and saw nothing there. She focused on the box, wishing she could look inside to see what was happening.

You have unlocked a new subskill under the ability Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: Assess.

Assess (subskill of Spy): Evaluate traps and restraints to find their key weaknesses and how to best exploit them.

On her display, Aurora could see through the outer shell of the black box, now appearing a light translucent gray. Looking at all the sides, she could easily see a panel that would slide if moved in this direction while that opposite side was pressed in two locations, releasing some holding pins from engaging.

She removed the cover and two red circles highlighted areas of the circuit board within. Extracting two forceps she used while crafting from another pocket, she played around with the wires, and one green light winked out. Additional red circles manifested and she disconnected one of the solder points with a snap. Another green light down. Then a blue dotted line appeared between two sections.

She was at a loss for what to do until she backed up and looked at the contraption as a whole. It then became clear she needed to complete the circuit, so she sifted through her crafting components until she found a wire and clipped it to a suitable size. With a fingertip and a little focused Ion Storm she welded the tips of the wire to the appropriate spots.

The box unwound, almost falling off as one surface expanded, rattling loose on the knob. The arm clamping down on the jamb relaxed, and Aurora could slide it off of the door. Deciding to keep the box for later, she found a large enough zipper on the crafting containment bag she had weaved to hold all her different components and tools. This box could probably yield a couple of new blueprints if she took it apart and examined it closely.

She opened the door and stepped inside. The *whoosh* of boot to the face whipped in her peripheral vision. Aurora bent back, barely catching herself as her flight ability activated before she could hit the ground. Anastasia bounced in a fighting stance and ready to attack again as Aurora tried to stand from her limbo stance.

“Anastasia, it’s me!” Aurora hissed as she righted herself. Anastasia still eyed her warily, flicking her head to move some of the white knee-length hair out of her face. “We need to get out of here, something’s wrong at the Faction. Please tell me they haven’t processed