“Is that it?” asked Buck, sounding disappointed.
Pai had just hit the last key, sending the tight beam signal.
“What did you expect?” she countered. “Fireworks?”
100. The Raid of Comstock Tower - The Hack
99. The Raid of Comstock Tower - The Apporach
98. Epilogue
Rhino was glad to be rid of the do-gooders and on the move. But, as he and the rest of the Dragons walked through Narim, he began to think about the city. It had been messed up before, but now it was totally messed up. And if the Dragons hadn’t escaped, they would have been exterminated by the government. Rhino had never liked the authorities — they were always getting in his way — but now he hated them.
97. The Big Escape - Aureus Gate Crossing
Gadget had been disturbed by the beeping, but was even more disturbed when it stopped. Pai’s Firewall program was now without power, and he feared they were without hope. Even more CyMS seemed to be coming their way and they could see nothing of their allies. It seemed they were all very busy, because none of his calls were getting through.
96. The Big Escape - The Redeemer
As Goddess approached Ryder and the enormous robot, Lady Rose gestured for Crimson and Jenny to follow her in the opposite direction. A man called Kuznetzov — apparently a Cynfo engineer — came hurrying up rambling about something, but Crimson shut him down. Lady Rose met Rhino and the gunmen behind the convertible and they all looked on as Goddess appealed to her former employer.
95. The Big Escape - The Ultimate Hack
Pai and Gadget were on their own. The others — led by Buck, Cyborg and Lucky — had halted at the edge of Aureus Gate Park while Pai and Gadget advanced to the bridge to hack the entropic disruptor terminal.
Pai was controlling Timmy via her arm-mounted computer, and the drone was hovering just above them. "EFN active. Let’s hope it works as well today." Twenty-four hours earlier, they had tested Dr. Altmann’s device and found that it had successfully shielded them.
94. The Big Escape - Mobilization
Nix lowered his binoculars. "Another team stationed near the junction. What’s that, the seventh?"
"Eighth," replied Bolt.
Two days earlier, the Peacemakers, Survivalists and Creators had all begun to notice small Army teams on the move around San Lazaro. The groups were typically composed of five medics protected by around 10 soldiers and one or two Agency operatives. They seemed to be setting up at strategic locations across the city. Drone reconnaissance by Flyboy and Flash revealed that the entropic disruptor was being temporarily lowered to let each team through.
81. The Escape Plan Part 1 - Creative Conference
Cyborg had suggested they use only audio for the call. With almost every member of the Creators, the Peacemakers and the Survivalists taking part, the holo-call system would be overwhelmed. Gathered with him in his office around his computer were Hiko, Threads, Kuklacı, Flyboy and Flash. Plate was still on guard duty. The exhausted Dr. Altmann was still resting.
75. The Omicron Protocol - Part 1
The spider-shaped device landed with a crack and slid across the table. Buck, Pai, Lance, Flash, Ranger and Bolt all turned to Nix, who had just walked in. He looked exhausted.
"Long night?" asked Bolt.
Nix ignored her and nodded at the device. "That’s from my Agency partner. Inside is a data clip. Mike is warning us to get out of SL before the Omicron Protocol is enacted."
71. Patient Zero - Part 2
Plate stood with Nix, Threads and Lucky in the lobby of First National. Pai and Artemis had already disabled the bank’s security systems and — thanks to the Scientists — they’d also located the entrance to the secret government facility. It was an innocuous-looking door between the bank’s two main vaults. The door was, in fact, heavily reinforced and secured by a full-range bioscanner. Pai and Artemis were confident of getting around it, but had warned that might take a while.
70. Patient Zero - Part 1
Lucky was helping Gadget and Thug with the repair work at ATS when the call came through. After the Red Dragon raid, they had put up a metal grille to protect the front of the shop. Putting down their tools and leaving Thug on guard duty with Seeker, Lucky and Gadget hurried to the back. Artemis gestured to a nearby laptop and Lucky noted that the special encrypted comms channel was active. Already on the call were Buck and Pai of the Peacemakers and Cyborg of the Creators.
67. The Evacuation
Mayor Paris Ng was beginning to relax. Two weeks had passed since the avian flu pandemic had struck San Lazaro and, although challenging, the situation had been kept under control. The citizens were following lockdown procedures and media coverage had generally remained positive. Such outbreaks occurred from time to time, and Mayor Ng felt that her administration had coped effectively.
64. The Purge Script - Part 3 (10th Street Camp)
H3x winked at Rhino and Gudu as the trio were led towards three blue shipping containers. The camp on 10th Street was overcrowded and the desperate leader seemed keen to believe H3x’s story about testing out a new ‘cure’. The three Red Dragons had dressed smartly and were masquerading as members of a UN emergency response team. As they were unarmed and carrying only a case containing the ‘cure’, the leader had few reasons to be suspicious. He was a priest named Father Cullen, assisted by two young men who carried baseball bats and didn’t say much.
60. The Purge Script - Part 1
‘Are you sure about this, Buck?’
Pai looked across the table at the veteran police officer. The pair were alone in one of the station’s interview rooms, a laptop on the table in front of them.
‘We can’t go on like this forever,’ Buck replied. ‘These guys seem to be on our side. We were fortunate that the Purge Script ended up in our hands. Now it’s time to take action.’
54. Squared Away
Cyborg would have preferred to meet his new allies in person but holographic projection was a good second best. He was in one of his mansion’s three studies, gazing across the room at four lifelike, full-size images. After the dramatic events that had transpired at Republic Square, he was glad to at last be face to face – virtually – with Buck and Pai of the Peacemakers and Lucky and Gadget of the Survivalists. Cyborg couldn’t help smiling at the one familiar face.
48. The Research Console - Part 2
Nix crept through the bushes, only stopping when he had a good view of the CyMS.
He tapped his earlobe to use his coms implant. ‘Bolt, any more of them in the area?’
The Russian sniper was stationed in a nearby church tower, providing overwatch for the operation. Nix had never tried to capture one of these things before and he didn’t want anything to go wrong. As he’d learned with the Rangers, planning and prep were crucial.
46. The Research Console - Part 1
To: Interested Parties
From: Friends
If you are receiving this transmission, you clearly possess specialist equipment and knowledge. We are exploiting a weakness in the communications blackout surrounding San Lazaro but only have a short window of time to communicate. We are contacting you to present an offer that can benefit both sides. We do not currently wish to identify ourselves but please be assured that our intentions are good. Our aim is to cooperate with individuals and groups such as yourselves and work towards solving this crisis.
44. First National Bank Heist
Buck was on afternoon patrol with Lance when the message came in from Flash. He was actually quite glad of the interruption. Lance was a nice enough guy but he did talk a lot about how the Regal Canadian Cavalry was the best police force in the world. Buck was less pleased when Flash explained the reason for his message:
