Season 1, Episode 3 - The Ring Dings IX - "Sneak Chamber"

The two trucks rumbled down empty streets. Despite the short notice, it seemed like most of Elizabeth Pond's inhabitants had dutifully followed the nightly curfew. Isaac supposed curfews happened pretty regularly, especially considering that the citizens of the other districts in the capital could get...uppity, at times.

Isaac looked upwards from his seat on the truck bed. The bed possessed no coverings, just metallic poles where a tarp could be attached. Above Isaac, the twelve stars of Narragansett – the only ones visible due to all the smoke and smog from the city's factories – shined brightly, as if to compensate for the absence of the new moon. Every so often, the truck passed below a street light, bathing Isaac in a temporary orange.

He supposed that this would be his third fight in the service of the New England state. Pride and anxiety formed an interesting mix in his stomach. Isaac felt proud to be serving his nation and hoped wherever they were, his father and mother felt proud too.

The usual pre-fight anxiety slowly diminished as his experience rose. This would be his third fight, after all. But this time, he felt a new sort of nervousness within him - performing well as part of a team. The first time, he fought by himself; the second time involved his closest friends; but this time, he would be part of a wider team. He didn't know all of their names, and a lot of them probably didn't trust him either, but they would need to work together, otherwise they'd all hang separately.

And one member in particular of that team sat next to him. Isaac eyed Alfie out of the corner of his eye. The New Yorker slouched in his seat, his arms across his chest, the anti-Rddhi device still on his right hand. He seemed...bored with it all.

Bored? Isaac couldn't understand how anyone could be bored at a time like this. Or, considering the tumultuous, eventful world they lived in, how anyone could ever be bored at all.

"Hey, Alfie," Isaac said.

Alfie reluctantly opened his eyes.

"You ever fought in a raid like this?" Isaac asked.

Alfie sighed.

"Are you one of those people who likes to talk when they're anxious?"

"Just a question, man. Goddamn."

"Alright, fine. I've been on a few raids. New York used some Rddhi users for the Carson Raids a few years ago."

"Carson Raids?"

Alfie nodded. "Between the instability after the end of the First American War and all those Eastern and Southern European immigrants, we investigated and captured thousands of suspected criminals and communists."

"Oh...that's good, I guess."

"Suspected, of course. And why do you think they were suspected? Because they were different. That's all there was to it."

"Oh...not as good. How'd you feel about it?"

Alfie shrugged. "I did what I was told to do. I don't care. I still really don't."

Isaac didn't understand. "What's a man without principles?"

"Eh? What's it to you?"

Isaac thought about it. "I don't know. We're teammates now. I'd like to find some solid ground with you. I think we'd work better that way."

"You're a coworker. Nothing more."

Isaac rolled his eyes. "You make it sound like we're just office drones. We're teammates. We're going into a life or death situation together. I'm not saying we have to be friends. But we should at least get to know each other a little better if we're going to be fighting together."

Alfie crossed his arms tighter. "You remember my plan, right? Stick around until graduation and then I'm out of here. In the grand scheme of things, you guys are all just ships that pass by me in the night. I don't want or need anything long-term with any of you. The less we talk, the less I know you, the better, alright?"

"Christ man, alright."

Alfie looked in the other direction, toward the open road behind the truck.

They arrived at their destination about five minutes later. Under the cover of darkness, a squadron of soldiers removed a street barricade and allowed the two trucks inside. As the trucks went by, Isaac found himself focusing on the rifles slung around the soldier's shoulders.

Guns always gave Isaac a weird feeling. There was something personal about the Rddhi. But anyone could use a gun and shoot someone, just like that. Isaac supposed that was the dark side of the Neo-Industrial Revolution that tightly held the nations of the world in its grip for the past fifty years.

As the trucks rolled down the avenue, more soldiers pointed them in the direction of Hayman Office Supplies. Isaac knew Clayton and Hanai were out there somewhere, directing their troops; he wondered how they felt, leading men in a matter of life-and-death. It made Isaac appreciate his own role; he wanted to protect others, sure, but he wasn't in charge of decisions that could literally determine a man's fate. To be a leader certainly wasn't easy, Isaac supposed.

The trucks suddenly came to a halt about a block away from the store. Lead by their sergeants, the MPs poured out of the trucks, Isaac and Alfie among them. Isaac wished he could've appreciated the nice autumnal night longer, but duty called, and he joined the MPs in their rush towards the staging area outside the front of the building.

Hayman Office Supplies looked like an otherwise unassuming store. A red awning shielded the door from the sun, while the store itself was a one-story squat building, bigger than a convenience store but not as a big as a department store. It probably employed half a dozen employees during the day; Isaac wondered if they knew about the going-ons at the store at night, and if so...would they be inside right now? Would they think tonight would just be another night of shooting the shit with their fellow smugglers? Guy's gotta make a living too, right?

Isaac shook his head.

Of course not! They're smugglers!

The MPs assembled themselves into two lines, hugging the wall on either side of the door, crouched below the window, but Isaac wondered if those inside had seen them assemble. There was a chance, he supposed, and all the MPs most likely knew that fact as well, but the fact none of the smugglers had shot them through the windows gave him hope.

If the operational plan has been carried out, Clayton should be using his powers to shield their presence from the smugglers. Isaac listened closely, a task made easier by all the MPs keeping silent as they readied themselves. No wind, no noise carried on the wind. Their presence had been shielded, all right.

Isaac himself arrived at the wall, near the front, Alfie alongside him, since the two of them would fire the opening salvos of the raid. Kelb and Dimitrij arrived alongside them, looking over their troops, making sure everyone was ready.

Isaac and the MPs channeled their pre-fight anxiety and nerves into a steely determination to get the job done. Kelb saw the look in their eyes and knew it was time. Using a key, he unlocked the device on Alfie's hand, placing the metal contraption in the hands of a waiting MP. Alfie rubbed his newly-freed hand and grinned darkly.

Kelb made a "move forward" motion with his hand. Two MPs, carrying a metal battering ram between them, made their way to the metal front door, locked for the night.

Kelb looked over his troops one more time, then made the move forward motion again.

Isaac tensed himself, feeling the Rddhi course up his arm.

Here we go!

The two MPs slammed the battering ram into the door. It immediately gave way, metal shards flying from the impact, and collapsed inward into the store.

Alfie immediately slid in front of the opened doors as the MPs scrambled out of the way and raised his finger gun. With a smirk, he sent a full blast inside the store.

The other MPs readied their guns, watching Alfie do the dirty work he excelled at. Already, those outside heard the wounded screams from the men inside.

Alfie sent out the last of his flames before ducking away, allowing two riot shield-wielding MPs to lead the way inside. The moment they stepped in, bullets immediately connected with their shields. A nervous looking soldier suddenly entered behind them, breaking formation. Isaac saw a bullet slice through his shoulder and shuddered, but he had no time to dwell on it. Before the wounded soldier could block the way in, more MPs quickly pulled him back, and then it was Isaac's turn to do his job.

Isaac's arm pulsed with energy as golden currents exploded out of it. Isaac gritted his teeth; three clones at the same time would be the most he had ever created so far. Intended primarily as bullet shields, they performed their job admirably. The five man - two riot shield, three clone - vanguard led the charge into the store; MPs entered behind them, fanning out to find cover.

Isaac rushed in behind the vanguard, clenching his fist, trying to keep the clones up longer, but they could only take so many bullets. Feeling his clones coalescing back into him, Isaac slid in behind a row of cash registers and tried to gather his bearings. The current fight had a different weight and feel to it than the fight in the school or in the sewers. Back then, it was just one on one Rddhi fights, two people duking it out.

But here...man was subsumed by his own conflict. With the lights out, Isaac saw the rapid flashes of gun muzzles as they emptied their magazines in firefights across the store. It was impersonal; you didn't know the opponent's name, his strength, the emotions a fighter wears on his sleeve during a duel. Here, you could barely see your opponent's face, if at all; a clash of beliefs in the form of a fist fight was replaced by the cold impersonality of automatic weaponry.

Isaac wiped his brow. He let himself get sidetracked, overwhelmed by the chaos around him. He had a job to do. He closed his eyes and tried to look into the Rddhi, but all the screams, the escalating energy of the fight and its fighters, made it too difficult for him to properly examine the Rddhi field.

He would have to get his bearings the old fashioned way. He peered over the counter and saw that Hayman Office Supplies looked like, well, a normal office supply store. On the MPs' side were the registers and check out lanes; on the other side were the smugglers, hidden behind shelves, counters, and hastily-kicked over tables. Between them were rows of shelves with open aisles that made movement up the store difficult.

Kelb himself arrived in the store, sliding in next to Isaac, Dimitrij at his side with the bulky radio station. A rather reluctant Alfie followed behind them.

"Have you located the Rddhi user?" Kelb questioned, his voice raised above the gunfire and screams.

"Negative, sir!" Isaac answered. "I can't get a read on anything with all...all this..."

Kelb nodded. "Whether you're a kid or not, everyone's equal under gunfire," he said.

Isaac nodded.

"Isaac! New Yorker!" Kelb barked. "The enemy fire seems concentrated to our center and right. Head up the left side of the store! We'll lay down covering fire and use that flamethrower and bullet shields of yourself if necessary!"

"Aye, sir!" Isaac said, saluting. He looked over at Alfie. "Let's go!

Alfie rolled his eyes and reluctantly followed, bullets whizzing overhead as the two crouch-walked their way behind the registers.

"We've made contact with the enemy!" Dimitrij crackled through Hanai's radio. "Enemy strength as expected, roughly seven to ten hostiles. Recommend tightening the ring around Hayman Office Supplies in case the enemy tries to flee!"

"Roger that." Hanai put the radio down. He could see the sparks of gunfire from inside the store, hear the whizzing of bullets, the occasional screams of the wounded and dying.

"Fargo!" Hanai barked. "Is the line ready to move in?"

"Aye, sir," Fargo answered. He blinked. "Except..."

Both Clayton and Hanai realized what their argument over the rice had done.

"...oh shit," Clayton said.

Red energy formed around Hanai's fists. "My god...what have we done? What's taking them so long?"

Sitting around the elevator with nothing to do, Loper tapped out a beat on the rice cooker while Axelman sang passionately.

"Cuz I want-"

"Yeah-yeah, yeah."

"A girl-"

"Yeah-yeah, yeah."

"To call..."

"Yeah-yeah, yeah."

"My own..."

"Yeah-yeah, yeah."

"I want a dream lover, so I don't have to dream alone."

The two privates laughed and then leaned against the walls of the elevator.

"That was pretty good," Loper said.

"I sing from the heart," Axelman said proudly.

"I'm telling you, I know these two guys, we'd make a kick-ass barbershop quartet."

"Yeah...we make a mean doo-wop crew."

"True that, man."

Axelman looked at the lone lightbulb above them.

"How do you think the guys are doing?"

Loper shrugged easily.

"They got this. It's what we're trained for. Just a damn shame we can't be there to fight."

"That eager to fight?"

"What I joined up for, man. That excitement, you know?"

"Well...next time, then."

Loper sighed. "Can't believe this is our first military operation and we're stuck in a goddamn elevator."

"Yeah, I bet they'll never let us hear the end of it."

The two chuckled.

"Aw well, man," Loper said. "Alright, my turn, lay down a beat for me."

Axelman lightly tapped his hands on the rice cooker to lay a simple beat for his friend. Loper gripped a pretend microphone.

"Poor old Johnny Ray...sounded sad upon the radio and moved a million hearts in mono..."

While gunfire racked the shelves and counters, Isaac found himself in a one-on-one with a thug wielding a knife in the middle of an aisle. As the thug came at him, Isaac felt his steps feeling lighter...as if he was always one step ahead.

This is...easy, Isaac realized. The pace of Rddhi fights are so much faster...I can feel myself entering a whole different level.

Isaac dodged a slash then roundhouse kicked the thug in the thigh before slamming his fist into the thug's temple. The thug dropped the knife and collapsed into a shelf, knocking over a few cartons of papers.

As gunfire continued elsewhere, Isaac peered out of the aisle and looked around the store. Bullets whizzed by, but things seemed calm and almost slow to Isaac now. The chaos...if I just listen closely, calm myself...it's like I'm moving along a different plain of time.

He felt a Rddhi presence next to him as Alfie approached, dragging a thug with him for a moment before tossing him casually into a shelf.

"You see that?" Isaac asked, pointing to the back corner of the store.

Alfie looked. There, almost hidden, was a small staircase leading down into a basement.

"Let's go!" Isaac said.

Alfie raised an eyebrow. "What, you want to go down there by yourself? We have a decent amount of men here that could that for us."

There were a lot of things on Isaac's mind. Of course, there was that ever-present urge to just rush in and handle things himself. Secondly, it seemed like the MPs were doing a good job with the thugs up here. And thirdly, most importantly...

"Don't you feel that?" Isaac asked.

Alfie sighed. He had felt it all along.

"There's a Rddhi user down there," Isaac continued. "That's our objective for the mission. Let's do it."

Alfie rolled his eyes.

"Alright...fine."