Something Inspired

            Jacks was walking down towards the kitchen for breakfast. He was in no mood to be awake, he had had a great dream where he and Bridget had spent the entire day together; talking, laughing, kissing and sleeping. He had woken with the hopes of watching her sleep for a bit before making his way to the kitchen and making breakfast.

            Instead he woke alone but still had to go the kitchen for breakfast. He was so deep in thought he barely noticed Ian and Danny looking at wedding china.

  “I quite like the dragon pattern,” said Ian.

  “Of course you would, but no, we’re not getting that,”

  “What about the puppies?” asked Jacks as he poured himself a cup of juice.

  “No,” said both Danny and Ian in unison.

  “Well, at least you agree on that,” he said and started on his breakfast.

  “What about the griffins?” asked Danny.

  “It’s not a bad design,”

  “It’s not a bad design, but?”

  “I like the dragons,” he said with a smile to which she just rolled her eyes. “I tell you what,” he said, standing up and walking over to stand behind her. “I’ve got a great idea,” he said leaning over to place his arms around her and kiss her on the cheek, “why don’t we take both? I’m sure they’ll consent to combining them in some way,”

  “You’re not going to let up, are you?” she asked with a smile.

  “Are you?” he echoed.

  “I think I’m going to eat somewhere else,” said Jacks as he finished preparing his cereal.

            He took a spoon from the drawer and made his way back to his room, passing by CNet as he went.

  “You might not want to go in there,” he warned the AI.

  “Why not? Only Danny and Commander Erasmus are in there and neither of them have a higher than usual anger level,”

            Jacks just shook his head and headed to his room. CNet continued onwards to the kitchen.

  “So I’ll see you this afternoon for the cake tasting?” asked Ian.

  “Yes, I’ll meet you there,” she said, kissing him before leaving for work.

  “Commander, I have some important information to share with you,”

  “What is it, CNet?”

  “Firstly, Juandrè has reached Romulus without incident,”

  “That’s good,”

  “Indeed, he will be of use there. Secondly, I must request your presence in the morgue, it has to do with our guest,”

            That troubled Ian greatly, so he followed the AI down to the morgue with great hast. Once there, CNet walked over to the wall freezer and opened the only closed storage unit before pulling out the table upon which lay Elizabeth’s brother.

  “Good, he’s still here,” said Ian with relief.

  “You killed him, why would he not be?”

  “Last time I ‘killed’ one of them, he got up five hours later and killed ten agents before I drove a RPG round through his head. That killed him,”

  “Elizabeth’s brother will not be getting up. I’ve liquefied his brain to make sure,”

  “Don’t inform Ed of that, please,”

  “Very well, I will not inform Commander Swardt of that detail,”

  “Good. So what was so urgent that you nearly gave me a heart attack?”

  “This,” said CNet.

            He walked over to the closest table, picked up an iPad and a cable, walked back to the body and plugged the iPad into a hidden USB port on the left arm of the corps.

  “I discovered this an hour ago,” he said and keyed in a combination. Almost instantly the suit disappeared save for the bracer on his left arm. “The suit does not easily release its host, but it has some way of hiding itself if need be,”

  “The suit looks like it’s made from-”

  “Nanites, yes. The suit is constructed completely out of the little devices and different commands give them different properties, such as the ability to bend light or-”

  “The heightened reflexes. This suit is years ahead of the other one I saw, it was solid and used servos and a special chemical layer to bend light, not nanites,”

  “With your permission, I would like to start development on our own nanite projects. There are risks, yes, but the rewards are much greater,”

  “Why are you asking my permission?”

  “Because I would like to apply the nanites to your combat suit, and my platform. Again, there are risks,”

  “I trust you know what you are doing,”

  “Yes…Thank you, Commander. Also, another question,”

  “Yes?”

  “I’ve been wondering of late, as my relationship with Ashari proceeds, what size should I make the penis I will need to attach to my platform,”

  “Goodbye, CNet,” said Ian, turning around on the spot and making his way out of the morgue.

  “I will need to ask Commander Swardt,” said CNet as he eyed Elizabeth’s brother, “he might be more forthcoming,”

  “Laura?” JR called as he entered the manse.

  “Juandrè, she is in that direction,” said CNet as he rolled up behind him and pointed down a hallway to the left.

  “Thanks. Hey, why am I called by my name?”

  “What else would I call you?”

  “Well, Laura and the others you call Agent, and Ian and them you call Commander, why don’t I have a title,”

  “Because you are a civilian,”

  “Like hell I am!”

  “Your training is not complete, until such time as it is, you will be a civilian. Agent Laura is in that direction,” he said, pointing once more.

            JR would have stayed to argue but he did not have the patience, and he wanted to see Laura so he made his way down the hall. Soon enough he heard Laura laugh. At first it uplifted him, but then he wondered why she was laughing that shy laugh of hers.

            He stormed into the room where he found Laura smiling at a young man with long golden hair and a square jaw.

  “Oh, JR!” she said, her face lighting up as she saw him. She rushed over to him, hugged him and kissed him.

  “So this is the man I have to steal Laura away from,” said the blond and extended a hand to JR, “that was a joke,” said the man as JR reluctantly shook his hand.

  “Yeah, good one,” he said dryly.

  “Oh, where’s my head,” said Laura, “JR, this is David. Oh, I have to show you something, come!” she said and dragged him over to the railing overlooking an open room packed with crates.

            A few meters from theme were three strange robotic devices. They were round and the size of a plate and had four legs. Two of them were wrestling, as far as JR could guess, while the other was struggling to climb up the side of a crate.

  “Spider mines,” said Laura. “David built them,”

  “Why do we need landmines with leg? Normal landmines work well enough,”

  “Normal landmines don’t chase you down, do they?” asked David in defense of his inventions. When JR didn’t answer he said “Well, I’ll leave you two alone. Laura, see you later. JR, was good meeting you,”

  “You’re jealous!” said Laura once David had left.

  “What, no, please, jealous of what?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know,”

  “I’m not jealous,”

  “Come,” she said in an unconvinced tone, “I’ll show you to our room,”

  “You couldn’t just send a fruit basket like everyone else, could you?” asked De Beer as Ian entered his living room.

  “I much prefer to see how you are doing,”

  “Alive. I believe I have the daughter thief to thank for that?”

  “Yes, it was a quick bit of thinking on Jacks’ part. Danny would have used your blood but it was too contaminated by the poison, thankfully Rayland had been dead long before the poison could do damage. And he was type O,”

  “How convenient,”

  “Very, although they had to do a transfusion so you’re going to get a bill for like two liters of blood,”

  “And I suspect I’m paying that out of my own pocket seeing as your medical aid sucks,” said De Beer with a smile.

  “Yeah,” said Ian with a chuckle, “that’s another reason I’m here,”

  “I knew it wasn’t just to check on me,”

  “I know I tricked you into this,”

  “Forced, more like,”

  “Yeah, okay, forced. But you knew I’d never harm her,”

  “Actually I wasn’t sure,”

  “How so?” asked Ian, finally taking a seat on a sofa across from where De Beer was lying.

  “I know your history, you don’t kill if you can avoid it. But I also know you’d stop at nothing to protect those you love and sooner or later, if I hadn’t done as you asked, the Council would have accosted Danny. You knew that, and that’s why you did what you did and for that I cannot blame you,”

  “I’m glad,”

  “It doesn’t mean I like it, though,” said De Beer and they were quiet for a while, then “He’s her son, isn’t he?” he asked and Ian knew who he was talking about.

  “Yes,”

  “I thought so. He has his father’s eyes but his mother’s cold heart and unwavering determination. You know, she put two holes in me before I managed to kill her. She shot me twice, first one the Kevlar took, the second one in the knee. Then she stabbed me in the arm right before I slit her throat. Does he know?”

  “I don’t know. If he does I did not tell him,”

  “I see,” said De Beer and once more they were quiet. “So why did you come here?”

  “I needed to ask you something, you still have a contact at the Others HQ, right?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “I need you to set up a meeting with the Others leaders,”

  “You what? Are you insane? If they agree you know it will be a trap, right?”

  “Yes, but it has to be done. If I have to content with them on the one hand and the Council on the other I’m never gonna have peace and quiet,”

  “That’s a pipe dream, Ian, there is no such thing as peace,”

  “Then the semblance of peace. I’ve dragged so many people into this. They deserve some respite, even if it is temporary. So, will you set it up or should I just march in there?”

  “I’ll see what I can do,”

  “Thank you,” said Ian as he got to his feet. “And get well soon, I need another good agent back in the field,”