Trillion Dollar Family (contest) - 4. Chapter 4

“Alright, Jared, now try and activate the C-HUD,” a doctor ordered, a voice over the speakers in the gym like room.

Jared focused on the martial artist they'd brought in and tried to do as he was ordered, but it just wouldn't happen. “It's not working,” he complained.

“The system is designed to try and learn about you, and how your mind works,” the nameless doctor reminded him. “I don't know why the shadow mind isn't taking care of this automatically-”

“I told you guys, it seemed to shut itself off,” Jared told him.

“I know that!” the doctor snapped, upset at being interrupted. “I don't know why it's cut you out like that, but it has. So we go back to the original plans!”

“Yes, Doctor, whatever you say Doctor,” Jared answered.

“That wasn't called for!” the doctor snapped. “Now, since direct willing isn't working we'll go back to the original triggering software. It's designed to try and learn your responses, so try actually considering your opponent as a threat. Act like you would if he was threatening you, but you didn't feel that violent response was called for yet.”

“Yes Doctor,” Jared sighed. He'd been a guinea pig for the better part of a month now, but he still wasn't used to it. Though this secondary facility, now that it was ready and they'd finally moved into it, wasn't half bad. The 'housing unit' his family was placed in could fool you into thinking it was a normal apartment somewhere. The lack of windows didn't destroy the illusion half so much as the defensive reinforcements Jared's trained eyes could catch. The entire apartment was designed to be locked down in need, each room separated from the others by secure doors capable of handling small arms fire, and lighter heavy weapons. And though Jared couldn't tell for sure, he was willing to bet that each room had individual environmental controls and air supplies.

Still, it was comfortable, and the kids were being cared for by professional child-care providers. Davey wasn't in 'the program' like his brother was, but decisions had been made at the highest level to treat him like his brother. The President's reputation as a family woman clearly wasn't overstated, as at least half of the things that made Jared's life so much easier traced back to orders from the lady.

Alas, those orders didn't make his own personal life that much easier, just his job as a father. So he had to deal with these tests. “It's not working,” Jared said, assuming a defensive position and trying his best to think of the man as a threat.

“Alright then, perhaps I know how to make it work,” the masked man said, approaching Jared.

“How?” Jared asked, uncomfortable with the sudden proximity to a man he didn't even know.

“Like this!” the man snarled, hand blurring as he drew a hidden knife and slashed it at Jared.

“Shit!” Jared swore, stepping back reflexively. His throat stung, slightly, from where the blade had nicked it in a 'miss' that was far to close for comfort. Instinct and muscle memory took over as Jared blocked the next blow, and suddenly everything changed. Red and orange circles drew themselves all over the place, highlighting potential weapons and obstacles, dangers and threats, in a cascade of information that overwhelmed his senses.

“Guards!” the doctor overseeing the exercise shouted, as alarms began to wail. Still, it would take time for the guards to arrive since the entire complex was built using large blast doors to seal the various sections away from any danger. And for the time it took those doors to open, Jared was alone with the would-be-murderer.

As the knife came flashing back in Jared ducked under it and slammed his elbow into his opponent's guts, following up with a solid blow to the base of the skull. Yanking the weapon away he tossed it aside even as he restrained the man, twisting an arm up around to the small of his opponent's back. His other arm was still free, but Jared's free hand flashed out and dragged it in, adding it to the grip he held on the man.

Guards were finally flooding into the room, and Jared held very, very still. He most definitely didn't want anyone to start firing, not while those weapons were aimed at him. “Doctor, perhaps some additional instructions would be in order,” Jared said slowly and calmly.

“Guards, stand down!” Major Williams shouted, walking into the room. “What the hell is going on here?” he snarled.

“This man just tried to murder me,” Jared told him, “the knife is over there.”

“Knife!?” Major Williams barked in surprise. “Check it out,” he ordered one of the marines guarding Jared. “And the rest of you, stand down, that's an order!” The marines grudgingly raised their weapons to guard position.

“There's a knife here, sir!” the private instructed to find it shouted, pointing under a bench on the edge of the room.

“Don't touch it!” Major Williams ordered. “I want a full forensics team in here STAT to take evidence. The video records are to be held under tight security until I order otherwise. Johnson, get your ass in here!”

“Yessir!” the doctor on the speakers shouted.

“Why exactly did he try to kill you?” Major Williams asked Jared.

“No clue,” Jared told him.

“Alright, we'll ask him... after he wakes up,” Major Williams decided. “For now-” A new set of sirens started wailing as the lights failed. “What the hell?” Major Williams swore as the emergency lighting kicked in. Running over to a nearby data station, he called up internal coms. “Command center, report!”

“All base personnel initiate lockdown! All base personnel initiate full lockdown! This is not a drill! We have multiple security breaches in progress!” the PA system boomed as blast doors started slamming shut.

“Shit!” Major Williams swore as the panel he'd been using lost power. As primary lighting resumed the console came back on for a moment, flickering, and then blew out in a shower of sparks. The primary lighting cut out a moment later, leaving them in the red glow of the emergency lights.

“Restraints!” Jared demanded, sticking his hand out. One of the marines provided, and he quickly restrained his prisoner. “Side arm!” he ordered, sticking his hand out to another marine. The marine quickly unhooked his holster and handed it over, and Jared secured it to his own side. The weight of a pistol was comforting after all this time unarmed. As an afterthought, he drew it and checked its status. Twenty in the clip and none in the tube.

“Major Williams,” Jared said strongly, “under the circumstances I recommend we split up. You get to the command center and find out what's going on, and I'll take the bulk of the marines to secure my sons.”

“Your sons-” Major Williams blinked and then started swearing in understanding. “You and your sons are the only things here worth this much trouble,” he agreed. “You and you, with me! Everyone else, you are ordered to support the Sergeant in any and all actions he decides necessary, and these orders may not be overridden. Understood?”

“Sir yes sir!” the group barked. Major Williams ran up to the blast door and swiped his security card through it. The door responded and opened.

“Sergeant, I don't know what's going on but keep to the primary corridors, all those doors are on independent systems that can't be overridden. Your security cards will open them even if the enemy has hacked the internal security grid,” Major Williams ordered.

“All security personnel, secure local high priority targets!” the PA system ordered. “Power, command and control systems, and research laboratories are priorities, central computers have been physically destroyed so protect localized backups! Major Williams, report to the medical bay immediately, we have casualties! Captain McCullough to the command center immediately, we require your assistance in dealing with a cyber attack! Disregard all further communications over the PA, hackers are attempting to override our controls and use it-” an electronic squeal cut the communication short.

“What the hell? There are other doctors on base!” Major Williams swore. “Fine, medical bay has a command terminal and is closer, so-” Jared yanked Major Williams out of the hallway just as small arms fire ripped down the corridor. Drawing his borrowed pistol and cocking it in a single motion, he returned fire with three even, measured shots, only his head and arm sticking out around the door. Three red circles turned black and then vanished. OK, single circles indicate objects, doubled circles represent people. Green is friendly, yellow unknown, orange armed unknowns, and red are hostiles, Jared thought. So far that much had been obvious. The information being provided by the C-HUD was confusing without any kind of user's manual, but the circles did draw his attention to things he might otherwise have missed.

Now if only he had the user's manual, because he had no clue what the braided lines running up and down the corridor meant. Looking up and down the corridor, the twisted lines outlined doorways, but there were too many of those, in places where there were no obvious...

Air vents! The C-HUD was displaying air vents!

Jared swept the corridor, pistol held in a perfect two handed grip as he turned into it. He watched as a targeting indicator swept up and down the corridor in tandem with the pistol's motion. Cool. The black crossed lines through it were obvious enough, but why was the circle changing size and color-

On a hunch, Jared pointed the pistol down at the ground, then at a point far away from him. Closer in, the circle was smaller, farther out it grew. Inaccuracy -- the C-HUD was showing him something about where the bullet might hit. Trying another hunch, Jared shifted his grip, deliberately, to an inferior position for accuracy -- a single handed grip, weapon held low by his side. The targeting indicator drifted uncertainly, the circle much, much wider. Bringing the weapon back up into a marksman stance, he watched the circle almost vanish into the center of the reticule.

“Having fun, Sergeant?” Major Williams asked crisply.

“Sorry Sir!” Jared apologized. “I got caught up with trying to- No excuse, sir!”

“Belay that!” Major Williams ordered. “I'm going to guess you were examining the C-HUD?”

“Yes Sir,” Jared agreed. “Can you tell me what the braided lines running up and down the corridor mean?”

“Braided lines?” Major Williams asked. “I wasn't the primary on designing the C-HUD, sorry. But I think...” Major Williams slapped the wall. “Do you have one of them right here?” “Yes sir, it's one of the red ones,” Jared agreed.

“Power line. Here?” Major Williams placed his hand slightly higher.

“Blue,” Jared told him.

“Water main. And here is a sewage main,” Major Williams raised his hand even higher.

“There's a green one about half an inch higher,” Jared told him.

“I must be off,” Major Williams told him. “Alright, is it a major distraction?”

“No Sir, I should be able to work with it,” Jared told him.

“Alright, get to your kids,” the Major ordered. “I'll get to the med bay and try to figure out what's going on.” “Yes Sir!” Jared barked, turning and moving down the corridor in the opposite direction of the Major. “See you on the flip side!”

Jared would never have seen the woman on the other side of the air vent if a double circle hadn't started flickering yellow and orange around him. When a red circle zeroed in on the muzzle of the weapon, the double circle around the woman turned pure orange, and when a red line streaked from the muzzle of her weapon to Jared's heart red. Jared twisted aside, desperately, as the roar of her rifle announced her shot. The searing pain streaked across Jared's left arm as he brought the pistol up in a one handed grip and centered the shot on her face. Things moved slowly, oh so slowly, as the targeting reticule drifted across the corridor in unison with his aim point to center on her forehead.

Target down, Jared thought as he squeezed the trigger. One of the numbers to the right of his vision decremented, and he suddenly understood that it was his ammo count. Sixteen shots left, but he'd already known that.

“Medic!” one of the marines behind him shouted in reflex. Jared didn't turn and check, keeping his attention on the corridor in front of him.

“Status!” he barked after a moment.

“Major William's been hit, bad,” one of them said.

“Shit,” Jared swore. “Alright, three more of you peel off and get him to medical. Move it!”

“Yes sir!” they barked.

It felt good to be back in the swing of things, but the icy chill running down his back reminded him that his son was somewhere ahead, in the thick of the fighting his instincts screamed he was about to enter. Time to teach these bastards the meaning of war.

His makeshift squad moved swiftly down the corridor in leapfrog, each man covering and advancing in turns. They didn't run into any additional resistance until they approached the sealed door leading to the 'living quarters' assigned to Jared and his sons.

'Enemy in sight' and 'four' one of the marines signaled, pointing left along the corridor he'd just peeked down.

'Halt' Jared signaled, thinking. Four was too many for to simply rush. Calling the men behind him up, he quickly lined out a plan using hand signals and hushed whispers. The squad quickly assembled, tight against the wall, and waited his signal. 'Ready?' Jared checked.

They were.

'Go'.

First stage. Three of the men sprinted across the corridor, diving into cover on the other side of the crossing just as shots started ripping down it. Well, that confirmed the 'enemy' part at least. Second stage. “Go!” Jared shouted, “I'll hold them here as planned! You have to get through!” Jared waited three heartbeats, then edged around the corner, exposing half his face and his arm to get a semi-clear shot. Centering the targeting reticule in the face of one of the enemies, he squeezed the trigger slowly. Things were going slower than they ever had before; always in combat he'd enjoyed a kind of 'slow motion' perception of reality, but now it seemed like he could almost watch the bullet rip down the corridor. Miss. Fifteen. Shot. Hit. Fourteen. Shot. Second hit. Cover. Thirteen rounds left.

Return fire ricocheted off the corridor wall across from Jared, thankfully missing both him and his squad, and they all took cover out of reflex. Not that there was a lot of cover to take, all they could really do was duck to minimize the target they provided.

Jared poked his head out again. The enemy wasn't providing him with much of a target. Suppressing fire it was. Shot. Twelve. Shot. Eleven. Shot. Ten. Cover. Again, return fire ricocheted off the concrete of the wall, but this time Jared felt a burning pain across the back of his thigh. Hit. Minor, bleeding. He'd need medical attention... later. For now he waited another few seconds before sticking his head out. He pulled the trigger in reflex, not bothering to aim before jerking his head back around the corner to avoid the enemy's fire. Got them!

'Go' he signaled, then waited again. Poking his head out, he almost bought it as a shot ripped by close enough to his head to take his right ear clean off. Suppressing a scream he pulled back. Without a moment's hesitation, his men leaped past him, three men from each side of the corridor jumping out and taking a prone position across the length of the corridor the enemy had been guarding.

Jared didn't even have time to poke his head back around the corner; six rifles on semiautomatic fire can spray a lot of bullets in a very short period of time. And in skilled hands, most of that fire would wind up near or in the three enemies advancing, confidant that he wouldn't poke his head around for at least another seven seconds.

“Clear,” one of the marines said flatly, emotions suppressed.

'Forward' Jared signaled, shrugging off the marine who tried to field bandage his wounds.

Already his thigh wound had stopped bleeding, and the pain was almost gone. His ear would follow soon enough... or wouldn't. There wasn't enough blood there to worry about, suggesting that his augmentation was already stopping it.

Helpful stuff, that augmentation!

“I don't want to harm the older boy, but the younger boy cannot be allowed to survive,” Jared heard someone snarl on the other side of the blast door they'd been moving towards. “So I'll make you a deal, all of you come out with your hands up and the only person I'll hurt is the younger boy. It'll be quick and clean. Make me come in there, and the first of my men through the door will be holding the older boy as a shield, with orders to put a bullet in his head rather than let him escape.”

“Shit!” Jared swore.

“Sir?” the marine about to open the door asked.

“Do not open that door yet!” Jared told him. “The enemy is there on the other side.” “Sir?” the marine asked, confused.

“How much do you know about me?” Jared asked.

“Some kind of medical experiment, and they're worried it might leave you unstable,” someone supplied.

“Simply put, that's right. Advantage one you've already noticed,” Jared indicated his wounds, “advantage two is hearing. I can hear them. And they have my elder son. They're threatening friendlies with him, trying to get to my younger son. I think they want both of us dead because of the treatment used to heal us.”

“Threatening a child?” one of the men growled. Glancing over the group, Jared saw the snarls on their faces. Yes, these men weren't just marines, they were his kind of marines!

“Ideas?” Jared asked.

“Air shafts,” one of them supplied instantly. “I was studying the base maps the other day, there are a few shafts that lead almost directly from this sector to the other. There's supposed to be a security wall there, but there was a screw up and it's only a light metal frame. We can burn through that without making too much noise.” “Time?” Jared asked.

“A few minutes, depending on how quickly we find the right vents,” the soldier supplied.

“Who's bright idea was it to make the air vents large enough for people to move in?” Jared sighed. “Lead on.”

“This was originally a training facility, sir,” one of the men supplied as they moved. “It got double tasked to do secure research, and then as a high security facility just a few weeks ago.”

“Bean counters,” Jared swore.

“This one,” the lead soldier said, pulling a device out of his pocket. He quickly removed the security fastenings from the air vent, revealing a shaft just large enough for men in combat gear to move through.

And if this really was a training facility...

“Hold!” Jared ordered. “Security cameras?”

“Shit!” the lead man swore. “They'll be all over there... no way to override from here.” “And we do not have time to dick around,” Jared swore. “Ideas!”

“I've got one,” one of the men supplied, smiling. Pacing off from the nearest door, he placed his hand on a section of the wall Jared's C-HUD outlined in braided red and black lines. “Security junction, we blow this and it takes almost a minute for the system to re-route the signal through other boxes. Give me a minute and I can short circuit it to take out most of the camera's on the same circ-” “Sir, it doesn't matter,” one of the men broke in. “If they have access to the security cameras in the shafts, they already know we're here; the ones in there and out here are on the same circuit.”

“Fuck!” Jared swore. “Alright, move it! Assume we've been blown until you get additional evidence, but do not give away your position without confirmation! You, then you, then you,” Jared quickly got his squad moving into the vent system.

'Ready?' Jared signaled.

The question went up the line then came back. 'Ready.'

“Last chance,” the man Jared had overheard earlier swore. “We are coming in now to kill that abomination, and we'll kill you if you don't-”

When the order was given, there were twelve orange-red tagged (presumed hostile, Jared figured) men in the room, along with a solid green around Davey. Less than five seconds after “GO!”, all of them were on the ground, dead or dying. Or, in Davey's case, pinned under the dead weight of the man holding him. “Davey!” Jared shouted, springing into the room without bothering to clear it first.

“Sir!” one of the marines shouted as they kicked out the vents they were using, moving too slowly to keep up with him. Jared rolled the dead man off his son and did a quick check as the blast door they'd bypassed opened.

Wait, the men he'd left behind had been ordered not to-

Jared launched himself aside, spinning and twisting in mid air to face the door as he came down prone. Automatic weapons fire ripped past over head, missing him but catching several of his men as it crossed the room.

Five of the double red circles twisted and danced around the door, with a sixth locked on the man in the lead. The others couldn't get a clear lock on the person's they indicated, but still let Jared know they were there. Jared double tapped the first man. Then the second. Then cursed as he ran out of ammo on the third.

None of his men were in position. His son was exposed. His only cover was a thrice-damned body. And he'd forgotten to reload earlier. He tossed his gun at them, and they ducked under it buying him a few fractions of a second to claw the side arm from the body he was covering behind and bring it to bear. Five seconds later the hostiles were dead, and his son screaming.

“Davey!” Jared cried out, seeing the red all over the floor. Instinct took over and he examined his son's... the boy's, the boy's, he can't be my son right now... the boy's wounds. “Through and through, nicked the artery, get me a bandage!” Turning to the boy Jared pressed him, firmly, down on his back. “Stay down, don't move,” he ordered, lifting the screaming boy's leg up to get it above the heart. “That will help control the bleeding.” Feeling around, he squeezed a point behind the knee.

“That hurts!” the boy screamed, writhing against the men who were helping to hold him down.

“Pressure point, it'll control the bleeding until we can get a proper bandage in place,” Jared told the boy. “Got one,” one of the marines said, taking hold of the leg about the wound. The bandage was quickly applied, and Jared let go of the pressure point. “Sorry about that,” he told the boy.

“It hurt!” the boy complained. “And the floor is wet! Can I move?” “No, it's important to stay where you are for the moment,” Jared told the boy, scanning the room again. “You, and you, check it out,” he ordered, indicating the blast door. He wanted to know what happened to his men.

“Looks like they got hit from behind, Sir,” one of his men reported. “Out cold, but it was blunt force trauma, not gun shots. Likely the enemy wanted stealth, just like us. They'll probably be concussed, but they'll be alright.” “Thank God,” Jared breathed. “Get them on this side of the door and secure-”

The PA speakers squealed for a moment, then Captain McCullough's voice came over them. “All personnel, this is command. We have defeated the cyber attack and regained control of most of the facility's functions. Continue to hold your local positions until command and control can be fully reestablished. Reinforcements are en route and will take the job of securing the facility as a whole once they arrive. Follow the SOP with regards to initiating contact and confirming identities. As a reminder, if you do not know or have forgotten the pass code of the day do not ask others for it. We expect the reinforcements to arrive within thirty minutes, and security monitors show that most of the enemy forces inside the facility have been neutralized.” “Thank God,” Jared sighed after the announcement finished. Regular lighting restored itself gradually, and the red emergency lights cut off, restoring a degree of normality. “Alright, secure the section,” Jared ordered. “You and you, this blast door. No one gets through without my permission, even if they have the word of the day; there are additional security locks for this section of the facility and I'm activating them. You and you, form an outer perimeter. You are not cleared to engage unless fired on first, withdraw to the secure zone and seal the blast door.” Quickly Jared had a third of the squad ordered into place to secure the entrance. “The rest of you, give me a moment and I'll deploy you.”

Taking a deep breath, Jared looked down into his son's face. “Davey, I know it hurts, and I know you're uncomfortable, but I need you to stay where you are. I'll try to get you to a better position soon, but I need to keep you safe. Do you understand? We think we've killed the bad guys, but we can't be sure. I need to keep you safe, and for the moment, this is where you're safe. In a minute, I'm going to get the doctors on the other side of the security room to open up, and then I should be able to get you moved. OK?” “Yes Dad,” Davey said, gritting his teeth against the pain. “I'll try to be brave, to be strong. Like you.” “I love you, Son,” Jared told him before getting up. “You, keep his leg elevated, and keep him safe. If there is so much as a fucking scratch on him when I get back, your ass is grass!”

“Yes sir!” the marine shouted.

Jared walked over to the security door. “Who is in there?”

“Lieutenant Rogers, from security. I'm in charge for the moment.” “The doctors, and child care personnel?” Jared asked.

“Under lock down pending investigation,” the answer came back promptly.

“And Cody?”

“The patient has been secured,” the Lieutenant answered.

“Who's with him?” Jared demanded. He didn't miss the word choice. 'Patient', not child; 'secured', not safe.

“He's been secured,” Roger answered, voice carrying the 'you idiot' message quite clearly.

“Open this door, now” Jared growled.

“Until this lockdown is cleared, this section is to remain secure. Only properly cleared security and technical personnel are allowed entry,” came the response. Jared's eyes went flinty.

“I have authorization, now challenge me properly!” Jared ordered.

“Fuck off, you aren't even in proper uniform!” came the ill advised response.

“Lieutenant, I'm going to give you one chance to correct yourself on one of the three mistakes you've made so far,” Jared told him. Every single marine in the room turned to look at him, his tone carrying an order they could no more ignore than they could fly under their own power.

Every last one of them readied their weapons, reloading the clips and making sure they had a round in the barrel.

“Excuse me?” the Lieutenant asked, surprised.

“First, and foremost, you failed to recognized that I am on the approved list for access at all times,” Jared informed him. “As a security officer assigned to this sector you are required to know my face and identity without me having to identify myself. A proper challenge is to be expected, true, but you should recognize me on your security monitors.” “Second,” Jared said, voice still flat, “you did not challenge me before completely denying me access. If you really didn't recognize me to begin with, you have no way of knowing who I am and should have challenged me before making any decisions. To then refuse to challenge me properly only compounds this error.”

“Third,” Jared spat, “your word choice and tone make it clear you have failed to consider that Cody Gregory Warren is, first and foremost, a seven year old child in need of emotional support and security at times like this. By placing him into isolated confinement, you have caused severe and probably lasting trauma onto my son. Your career just ended, boy, and your only hope of avoiding a dishonorable discharge is to not tick me off further!”

“Threats are neither appropriate to the situation nor helpful,” the Lieutenant answered, “and I will maintain-”

“Lieutenant, the only reason I haven't torn this door down already is because a fire fight will place people into needless danger,” Jared cut him off, “but if you force this issue by God I will tear it down, and then I will rip your head of and spit down your neck! And while I mean one of those in a figurative sense I am this close to doing it for real!”

“This is a security door,” Rogers sneered. “It may not be a blast door but it's more than strong enough to resist the side arms you've got.”

“Lieutenant,” Jared said, “you are a complete and utter idiot. You received at least a basic security briefing or you wouldn't have been placed in charge of the security...” Jared paused. “What happened to Lieutenant Rawlings? I thought he was in charge of this section!”

“Injured, I was forced to take over for him,” Rogers replied.

“You never got the full briefing,” Jared said slowly.

“No, just the orders to keep this section sealed until-”

“Get Rawlings out here, now!”

“No can do, he's injured and not to be disturbed,” Rogers replied.

“Fine, we'll just have to do this the hard way,” Jared sighed. “Marines! Stand by to assault the secure section!”

“What? Are you crazy! The door is sealed!” Rogers snapped over the speaker.

“Interesting fact,” Jared told him, “the Q7-M8 security door is to be retired from general use because of a design flaw. This particular door was supposed to received the mod nine version, but supplies ran short and they had to substitute a mod eight. That design flaw is right here.”

Jared reached out to a specific point on the door. As he'd stared at the security door, his C-HUD had changed, colored lines tracing across it to display no doubt fascinating and very useful information... if he could read it. Thankfully, he didn't need to. “Normally, special equipment is required to make use of this design flaw. This is not normal circumstances, and I do not require heavy machinery to do this.” Jared pried his fingers in under the seal. He couldn't really use this grip to bypass the security seal, it was a very well designed door... mostly.

But he could place one foot against the side of the door and use it to provide leverage to pull. Hard. On the other side of the door, alarms began to wail. “Final chance, open this door or I'll do it for you!” Jared told them.

“What the hell! That isn't possible! Fuck! Stand by, all personnel stand by to defend this section! Intruders incoming!” Rogers screamed.

“Belay that!” Jared bellowed. “You know me. You know my son. You know what's going on, and you know this ass has violated procedures six ways from Sunday! Stand down marines!”

“Code of the day?” one of the marines asked. Jared wasn't sure about the voice, but it sounded vaguely like-

“Fuck!” Rogers screamed. “Get your ass in line, Corporal, or I'll have you before a-”

“Lieutenant, it's not often I get to say this to an officer, but shut the fuck up!” Corporal Henderson shouted. “Marines, secure the lieutenant and stand by. Jared, code of the day?”

“Code of the day is Guardian,” Jared told him.

“And sectional code?”

“Purple, personal code nine-eight-eight-alpha,” Jared told him.

“Checking personal code now... Name and rank?” “Sergeant Major, retired, Jared Brent Warren.”

“What the hell? The bastard's retired and you're letting him-” the loud thud that cut off the Lieutenant left nothing to the imagination.

“Thank you, private, hopefully the security monitors will clearly show that he tried to escape custody,” Corporal Henderson said dryly. “Of course, the minor fact that we have no authority to place him under custody will be overlooked. I'm sure the Sergeant will see to that. Open the door.”

“Marines, return to your previous posts,” Jared ordered as the door opened. “Thanks for saving me the trouble of ripping this door out, it'd have been a bitch to replace!”

“Tell me about it,” Corporal Henderson smiled. “Who do you think those idiots put in charge of the final installation, despite not having anything resembling an engineering qualification?”

“Don't that just figure,” Jared agreed with a smile. “Looks like you did a good job, though. I had to pull a lot harder than I thought I'd need to to set off the alarms.”

“I'm surprised you managed that much; even with your augmentation I didn't think you were strong enough to rip the door out!” the Corporal smiled.

“Just between us non-coms,” Jared smiled, glanced around, and leaned in closer before adding, “I'm not.”

“You didn't!” the Corporal exclaimed, grinning. “Oh man, is that going to look good on the post-op report!”

“I could definitely pop the seals, but the locking mechanism is way too strong. It'd take me the better part of ten minutes to demolish enough of the security braces to let me rip the entire door out of the wall.” “You're joking...” the Corporal began. “God, you're not joking!”

“Nope. It's a design flaw, the braces are vulnerable to external assault. But it'd take a few minutes to take advantage of. Not as bad as burning through the entire door, mind you, but way too long for standard combat ops. And it doesn't require as much in the way of special equipment.”

“God, I knew the mod nine was a huge improvement, but I didn't realize just how big!” the Corporal swore.

“Now, priorities. My son?” Jared asked, voice taut.

“Contrary to blunder-guts ideas, he's not alone,” the Corporal told him. “Rawlings was hit in the initial firefight, but he gave a few orders even after he was relieved of command. Me and the boys weren't entirely certain who to obey, but when Rawlings collapsed.... he regained consciousness pretty quick, but we couldn't really follow his orders over Rogers'. Not on most things. Sorry Sir.”

“I understand. But you did do some creative thinking on other subjects?”

“Yes sir,” Henderson agreed. “We 'secured' him in his private room, after we stuffed a few of the docs in there to keep him company. We were ordered to secure the docs, and it isn't our fault the idiot failed to specify that he wanted them secured in a separate room, rather than as a separate action.”

“Good... thanks. What's your manpower look like?” Jared quickly worked his way into the nuts and bolts of securing the section. “Alright, I've got wounded men and I want them to go to the doctors. Detail a few of your original detachment to moving the wounded and assisting the medics. Make sure my son gets everything he needs, would you?” “Will do, sir!”

Jared collapsed into a nearby chair and sighed. “Alright, corporal, I think we have everything under control. We just have to wait for-” “This is the relief force from Fort Dietrich to facility personnel, we have entered the facility and are proceeding to secure it,” the PA announced.

“Are our men in place, Corporal?” Jared asked.

“Yes sir! I've got the detail moving the wounded to the back of the section now, they'll be done in a minute. Once they've finished, I've ordered them to support and secure the makeshift infirmary as needed.”

“Good!” Jared said. “Hopefully we'll get some proper medical support in soon, but for now-”

“Sir!” one of the marines shouted as he ran into the room. “Detachment of unknown soldiers approaching perimeter of door two!”

“Order the outer perimeter to fall back behind the blast door, and do not allow them passage past it. Keep the security door sealed except by my express order, unless we need our men to bug out.”

“Yes sir!” the marine ran off. “So it begins,” Jared sighed. “You're in charge here, I need to be on site at door two when they get here.”

“See you soon, sir!”

“See ya soon,” Jared agreed with a sigh.

“This is the relief force, here to secure this section,” someone said as Jared entered the security room on the other side of the section.

“Situation?” “Initial contact with the relief force, Sir,” one of the marines supplied. “Unfortunately, our connection to the main servers was cut so we have no way to verify their security codes.”

“Understood,” Jared acknowledged the report. “Alright, put me on with the man.”

“Relief force, be aware that this is a high-security section requiring special clearances. We are not, I say again, not able to process your identity and security codes at this time, our connection to the main server has been cut. You're just going to have to wait it out with us.”

“How do I know you aren't in the hands of whoever attacked?” the soldier asked.

“Do we have cameras for the other side of the blast door?” Jared asked.

“No sir, they got blown by a power surge.”

“Shit,” Jared swore. Turning back to the mic, he thought for a second on his options. “This section is in the hands of its local security detachment; do you have the capability to process our codes?”

“Affirmative, our wireless connection to base is running and encrypted,” the man replied.

“Good, we'll use that... I'm sorry, who am I talking to?” Jared asked.

“Captain Cody Mathers.” Jared's heart almost froze when he heard the name. It almost sounded like... The voice was even similar... but he joined Starfleet years ago!

“Captain who?!” Jared squeaked.

“Captain Cody Mathers, US Army, assigned to Fort Dietrich mobile response team,” the Captain responded. “Is there a problem?”

“No, my apologies,” Jared said. “For a moment I misheard your name... I knew a Cody Mathews once, the name took me by surprise.”

“He's my cousin, twice removed,” the Captain said.

“Cousin... Are you Cody Lyle Mathers?” Jared asked, surprised.

“Yes, do we know each other?” the Captain asked.

“Oh fuck, of all the people...” Jared sighed. “Captain, I really am very, very sorry about what happened to your pet iguana. I was an ass back when I was a kid, please don't hold that against me now.”

“Pet iguana?” the captain said, confused. “I haven't had a pet iguana since I was... God, I must have been five years old! Some idiot ran over it with... his car... Fuck! You?!”

“Can we leave the past in the past, please?” Jared begged.

“Do you know how much you hurt-” Mathers began.

“Please, I know exactly how much I hurt him, there is no need to bring it back up. There is... there is information that recently came to light... God, I can't do this in public. Look me up after this is over... I need to send a message to him, and he won't accept it if I send it in my own name.”

“Fuck you! I'm not helping you to-”

“Captain!” Jared cut in. “We have an emergency to deal with. And after it's dealt with... I beg you, I beg you, please, just listen to me. That's all I'll ask; just listen. After that... once you have the entire story... please?”

“I'll... consider it. For now, to business. Code of the day?” They quickly ran through the security process. “Alright, I'll leave this section under your control. And... I'll return, assuming security lets me, to have that personal chat. I won't tell Big Cody about it until... Well, I won't even mention your name to him unless you give me damned good reason.”

“Believe me, it's good. It's unbelievable, but it's good. It's one of those 'stranger than fiction' things.”

“Yeah, well, you're going to have to work pretty hard to make me believe it, much less him.”

“I know,” Jared whispered. “I know.”