Something Organised

  “What is this place?” asked JR as they entered the manse.

  “This is Stronghold Prime, there’s another one almost identical one in Vatican City. They are the last standing bastions of the Agency,”

  “How we missed it, I’ve got no idea,” said De Beer as he and his team entered the manse.

            His team consisted of three women and two men, excluding himself, all dressed in plain civvies.

  “I’ve detected Others agents in the building, shall I dispose of them?” asked CNet as his eyes appeared on the LED screen in the lobby.

  “CNet?” said De Beer in disbelief, “It can’t be, we destroyed all the code blocks, ROMs, hard drives. Everything,”

  “Almost everything,” corrected Ian, “I had to rebuild a lot of it, but there was enough base code to work off of. CNet, stand down, they work for us now,”

  “Like hell we do,” said one of the women in De Beer’s team.

  “You should teach your team not to talk to their superiors so disrespectfully,” said Ian.

  “I’m not really sure if I’m working for you either,”

  “Well, that leaves us in an awkward position,”

            For a moment, they stood eyeing each other, Ian had no weapons on him but each of the Others agents had their melee weapons and their sidearms with them.

  “I guess we are working for you, if we’re here and CNet hasn’t killed us yet,”

  “Good man, now come, I’ll show you guys around,”

            Ian lead them on a tour through the building, showing them where the living quarters were, the laboratory, the armoury, the empty library that CNet swears he replaced with digital copies before selling off the books, the kitchen and the mess hall and the other generally unimpressive rooms. JR was impressed by everything.

            After the tour, he told the Others agents that they could get settled in before taking JR to the training room where he could spar with him a bit and teach him how to properly wield a sword.

            After two hours of sparing, which left JR on the ground wheezing, Ian bid him rest a bit while he went back the lab to check on the messaging device. As he walked he reflected on how much this place must feel like the Cage to the Others agents, after all they were there against their will.

            But Ian had given them free reign at all hours, told them they could leave when and if they wanted and they need not stay there if they preferred a different safe house.

  “CNet,” Ian said after checking the device and seeing that there was no message.

  “Yes, Commander,”

  “Did you do the same to the safe house in Vatican City?”

  “I do not know,”

  “How don’t you know?”

  “When you left, you locked me out of all network communication. There was no way for me to communicate with the other entity in Vatican City, thus no way to coordinate efforts. Also, after the release I was unable to establish communication, even after taking control of all communication satellites,”

  “So the CNet there isn’t the same CNet as you are?”

  “Yes. No doubt it had the same resources, bit it might not have used them in the same way,”

  “And no way for you to connect to it?”

  “No, but even if I did, it might not be for the best. As per my design, I would try to assimilate its being, and it would try to do the same,”

            It was after dinner that JR returned to the training room to practice his swordsmanship. Earlier when Ian had started to teach him, he had been massacred and he hoped that it would not be as bad tomorrow, so he needed to practice.

            He was there for an hour, swinging at imaginary enemies when De Beer entered. For a moment they just stared at each other, the JR continued with his practise swings.

  “You know, that’s a lot more effective if you swing at something solid,”

  “I know, but there’s no one here to spar with,”

  “I could use a good laugh,” he said, retrieving a blunted war axe from the wall rack and taking position opposite JR.

  “I’m not that useless,”

  “Prove it, take the first blow,”

            JR, being impulsive as he is, rushed at De Beer with a downwards strike that De Beer dodged lazily and bashed JR in the back with the head of the axe.

            JR staggered, recovered quickly and charged at De Beer, chopping from side to side. Each time, De Beer just turned out of the way of the blow until he was able to flank JR and stab him in the ribs.

  “You swing like an ox. With a lot of power, but your slow, and you give way your intent before you swing,” commented De Beer.

  “What should I do then?”

  “Learn to mask your blows, and learn to think ahead. You play pool, right?

  “Yeah,”

  “Same principles, you want to position yourself as close as possible to the target but without giving the opponent a shot. So think before you swing, and don’t look at where you’re going to hit, but at what you are going to hit. Your eyes will always give you away, be it love, war or sex. Now, again,”

            Ian was standing in a park in a quiet residential area. There were a few trees that dotted the piece of nature in the middle of civilized chaos, something that had become more and more scares as the years went on and more houses were built on park grounds.

            Ian stood next to a massive tree, the largest he had seen in a city, waiting. And he did not have to wait too long.

  “You could just have come inside,” said a young man, probably no older than eighteen as he stepped up to Ian.

  “I prefer it out here, less chance of endangering the De Beers. How are you, Jacks?”

  “Alive, you?”

  “Good, for now. I heard there was some trouble?”

  “Yeah, some random agents pitched up, but I cut them down easily enough,” Jacks said with an arrogant edge to his voice. It was the very reason Ian had thought of recruiting him ten years ago.

            Some of the other Agency agents had found the kid while on assignment, just before the Fall, and he’d been trained to be an agent ever since, even after the Fall. It was only because of Ian’s insistence that the kid was trained to be an agent.

  “So, what’s with the visit, surely not to ask what you already know?” asked Jacks.

  “De Beer doesn’t like you staying here, but that’s his problem. However, and I don’t want to ask this, but you aren’t laying your hands on his daughters, are you?”

  “Of course not,” said Jacks, slightly taken aback, “I mean, they’re beautiful girls, but I’m not you or Ed. While on assignment I’m the embodiment of professionalism,”

  “Good, at least someone learnt from our mistakes,”

  “Have you heard from Ed again?”

  “No, not yet,”

  “If he’s got any sense, he’ll head to Stronghold Romulus,”

  Ian snorted, then “How much do they know,” he said gesturing with his head I the direction of the house Jacks had come from.

  “More than they should, but less than is dangerous,”

  “Good. Take care of yourself, Jacks,” said Ian as he turned and started to walk away.

  “You to, old man,” said Jacks with a sly smile.