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"Did someone just get shot?"

Charlene was worried for a moment, but then she could hear the voice of Bryce continuing to prattle on. She'd figure he'd have been shot before Lulu. "Maybe," Charlene answered Doug in an unconcerned tone as possible and then gave him a warning glance to remind him that he wasn't supposed to do any talking.

Doug certainly didn't seem like a very bright fellow. He was nice enough, though, and completely harmless as far as Charlene could tell... which meant he was a horrible person to bring into a situation where combat was likely. Still, he had come to her aid when she captured the battlemech the other day, and Charlene figured he may be of some use she had yet to fathom.

They took an elevator to the building's basement, and Charlene spent the time contemplating how in the world she had ended up here. Yes, she was doing what looked to be an important mission for the Proserpine government (or at least she hoped it was for them), but it just made her feel so dirty to being doing mercenary work. What made it all the worse was that it was architected by a sleaze who rightfully should have been executed by the state years ago.

They exited the elevator into yet another sterile looking hallway.

Charlene knew there was no one to blame for this more than herself. It probably all was set in motion when she made friend with Lulu, she thought. She had been fine in the military before without any friends, spending her free time training to better herself. It was nice enough having someone to go shopping and chat with, but it was obvious to her now that it had all weakened her on the more important matters. How else could she explain that she was now infiltrating an enemy base as a mercenary?

Still, she had a job to do, and she would give it her full commitment.

Ahead of them were a number of scared looking men and women being ushered into a prison area. Charlene ignored it, but she noticed Doug watching them with concern. And, once again, he forgot to shut up. "Who are they?"

"They're here in case we need human test subjects," Carlson, their armed chaperone, answered.

Doug looked horrified. "Why them? What did they do?"

"Who cares?" Charlene quickly answered and hit Doug in the shoulder as a reminder to be quiet.

It worked, but not for long. After staring into the prison area for a short while, Doug whispered into Charlene's ear, "Someone should help them."

"If helping these people were of any interest, then Empress Proserpine would do so. Plus, far as we know, they deserve their fate." They didn't look like hardcore criminals, but looks were often deceiving.

"I bet not; this seems like an evil place. I don't think anybody is going to help them unless we do... so I think that means we should try."

Charlene tried to give Doug as fierce a glare as she could manage. "No. Now shut up."

Carlson walked up next to them. "What are you two chatting about?"

Charlene turned her fierce glare to him. "None of your business. Just take us to the surveillance room."

Their chaperone was certainly a threat if trouble broke out. It was obvious from how he carried himself and how his eyes assessed Charlene and Doug that he knew combat. He was also physically large, which was a further threat. If things happened quickly, Charlene guns were too concealed for her to be able to access them before Carlson could get off a shot. That meant she'd have to disable him hand to hand. Charlene was under no illusion that her small frame wasn't a large disadvantage in that situation, but she had practiced long and hard about using her strength to the fullest against a larger opponent's weak points.

The surveillance room consisted of a number of computers, numerous monitors, and two female technicians chatting (Pitt and Landers as said their nametags; each had a holstered handgun, but they didn't appear to be big threats). There wasn't much need of them to actually watch the monitors as computers did most of the scanning for anything unusual. When the technicians looked toward Doug and Charlene, they didn't hide their dislike. "So what is this about?" Landers said. "I see you already left a body count."

"It's a surprise security inspection," Charlene said. "Hopefully you two are doing your jobs properly and we won't have to increase that body count."

Pitt laughed. "Unlikely. Dumalt is coming by today. He never has come by without killing someone. I hope he just kills one of the prisoners this time; we can sometimes hear them from here and that gets annoying."

Landers turned pale. "Last time Dumalt was here, he ripped someone's head off."

Charlene could tell from the woman's expression that she didn't mean that figuratively. Charlene didn't know the mechanics involved in ripping someone's head off, but she did know this Dumalt character was likely someone important... and thus someone who wouldn't fall for Bryce's shtick. Time was now of the essence. "We need to run some diagnostic software."

Pitt frowned. "Nothing gets run on these machines without being vetted by us first... and that's only after we see the proper paperwork."

"But, in this case we... um..." Bryce made the BS look so easy, but it certainly wasn't Charlene's strong point. She could see that her hesitation already increased suspicion. Thus, she fell back on what she knew.

With a quick step back, she wrapped her arm around Carlson's neck, bent him over backwards, and heard a satisfying snap. At the same time, she dropped her toolbox leaving a silenced pistol in her hand which she shot the two technicians with.

Doug looked confused... which seemed to be his natural expression. "That was violent."

Charlene pulled out a disk. "I don't like chit-chat. Anyway, there is no surveillance of the surveillance room, so we're fine for now." She noticed Doug had out the stupid knife in sheath he bought and held it tight.

"Who do you think Dumalt is?" he asked.

Charlene pushed a body out of the way and put the disk in the main terminal. "I don't know, but I think we should get out of here before he arrives." She looked to Doug, and something seemed to be on his mind.

"Do you think the Emperors are something other than regular people?"

Charlene ran the program. "I know that Empress Proserpine is, since she is divine."

"Why do you think she's better than the others?"

Her father fought and died for her rule, and she always assumed he had his reasons. Charlene checked a monitor to see the program's progress. "Doug, is this discussion necessary?"

"Well... maybe. What do you know of The Great War?"

"Lots of places got nuked. Now, shut up." Charlene came from a long line of military heroes, and her grandfather had fought in The Great War. He never said much about it - no one ever said much about the war or what came before it - but he did say one thing before he died.

The wrong side won.

He was old and crazy, though.

The surveillance room gave them good access to the security system, but not complete access. If the information they were given was correct, the cameras were all being disabled and their previous recordings wiped as the program run. She wouldn't be able to disable an alarm, but she could change how the security system reacted to it including any notification being sent out and sealing off the front of the building while leaving them an alternate escape route.

Charlene looked away from the monitor to Doug who was actually being quiet... which worried her. He was carefully inspecting a console and then hit some buttons. "What did you just do?"

"I think... I think that released the prisoners."

"What!"

"Hey! You killed three people; I think I should be able to hit some buttons."

Charlene spotted surveillance of the prison and saw guards getting attacked by the dozen prisoners. One guard hit a button on the wall before getting knocked down.

An alarm now blared throughout the building.

"Idiot!" If Doug got her killed, it was going to greatly reduce her already mediocre opinion of him. She took the assault rifle off the body of Carlson. "Get your gun out, Doug; time to shoot people."

NEXT

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Hellbender
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