Chapter 10. Investigation.

Meta Workers were those who chose not to be heroes but use their powers to benefit society in another way. There were mammals who used their powers for construction, resources, healing, traveling, and other things. They too were given a classification system, and were also assigned to Meta Agencies though their initiation was different. Their IDs placate what they were best suited for, like the IDs of Meta Heroes, but different.

When a Meta Worker is hired by an Agency they are assigned with normal mammals to get the job done, both sides needing the other. This helps relations between normal mammals and Meta mammals, keeping one from being seen as obsolete, and the other from being seen as dominant. In order to help those relations, when a Meta was assigned to a group they were either a leader of it or a member depending on their skills and knowledge.

Even with this there were still those that saw an unfair disadvantage compared to the Metas, thinking that the system in place benefited them more than the normal mammals. Though they were a minority, they tended to be the loudest, and luckily the most ignored, until they became even louder in another way. This created a movement, one made up of those who call themselves Equalists.

Jackson walked into the training room where Kanashi was. He was in his suit so he was Artisakat at the moment.

"I'm here!" Jackson approached Kanashi.

"Ah good," Kanashi smirked.

"So you wanted to give me some shooting points?"

"Yep," he pulled out a remote his M-key was attached too and pressed a button. Panels behind him opened up and out came flying target boards, ten in total, all spreading out. "Alright, bring out your gun, aim at a target, then fire."

"Ok." He materialized an energy hand cannon. He aimed it at one of the targets and closed an eye. He was about to shoot.

"Stop."

"Hm? But I haven't fired yet?" Jackson looked at him confused.

"I noticed you closed an eye. Why is that?"

"To focus my vision."

"That's something for a scope or a sniper. Closing your eyes like that for something like a pistol and in mid to close range is actually limiting your vision, you won't be able to see the surrounding area so well. Now try again with both eyes open."

"Ok." Jackson aimed at the target with both eyes and fired. He got close to the middle, where he hit marked with a glowing red dot.

"Not bad. Now shoot the moving target next to it."

"Ok." Jackson followed the target with his gun.

"Stop again."

"What now?"

"When it comes to moving targets, you wanna lead into the shot, that way you have a better chance of hitting your target. Just aim where they're going."

"Hm...alr- HRG!" A new memory unlocked for Jackson.

Young Jackson was watching his dad play a FPS shooter. His dad was a sniper and was hitting every target.

"Wow, you haven't missed yet! Are you a super sniper?" Young Jackson marveled.

Adison chuckled. "Heh, no I'm just good at leading targets, especially when they're obvious."

"Leading targets? What's that?"

"Heh, it's a secret till you get older."

"No fair!"

"Your old mans gotta have some mystery!" He laughed while Jackson pouted.

Jackson chuckled as the memory ended. "You always did like to hold onto your secrets till the last minute," he said.

"You ok?" Kanashi asked.

"I'm fine." He aimed with vigor. "Let's continue!"

Jackson yawned as he entered his home. It was about ten till eleven but he was tired from such an eventful day. He made his way to the kitchen, wanting to get a drink real quick. He opened the fridge and saw some leftover cake from the party along with a tray of fudge cake.

"Sweet!" Jackson said to himself. He took an already cut up square of the fudge and a box of apple juice, opening the container while taking a bite of the cake, washing it down with a sip of apple. He made sure not to get crumbs on the floor as he went to his room, sitting on his bed, finishing his evening snack and throwing it away in his bin. He laid down on his bed and drifted to sleep.

The morning rays were coming up around the horizon. Jackson was sleeping on his bed, softly snoring on his back, having a pleasant yet average dream. He was feeling peaceful and tranquil at the moment. It was shattered, however, violently and abruptly, a sharp pain in his stomach, which caused him to practically splatter the saliva out his mouth along with the air in his lungs. His body convulsed and twitched as he looked down, seeing a familiar bo staff pressed onto his gut. He looked to the side and saw his uncle. "Uncle Gary...can you...please stop waking me like this?" He shakily asked.

"Hrrrrm." Gary glared at Jackson, making the Meta shiver down his spine.

"Um...something wrong?"

"I noticed something when I opened the fridge," he pulled his Tech-Bo staff back, "the tray of fudge cake that I got last night had a square missing. It couldn't have been me, but why would it be you when you had your own cake? Care to explain?"

'I've made a terrible mistake!' Jackson thought as he sweated in fear. "Um...you see...I didn't think much about it because...well...I was...tired from my gun training with Kanashi. He gave me a lot of good points too!"

"Hmmm."

"Um...it was an honest mistake I swear!....I'm sorry."

"Hm...alright I'll accept your apology."

"Phew." His sigh of relief was short-lived when he heard a crackling sound. He looked up and saw sparks emanating from the end of his staff.

"Once you've screamed enough for it!"

Jackson whimpered in total fear, stiffened by it. There was no escape.

"GYAAAAAAGH!!!" A loud cry of pain and misery could be heard outside the house and bright flickering flashes could be seen at one window. Any passerby would be both confused and awkwardly scared of what was going on.

"Now then," Gary placed his staff behind his hip, talking to Jackson who laid fried on the ground, "now that you're awake, let's get to your training."

"Ok….but...its gonna have...to be quick cause….I…got work," Jackson managed to say.

"Oh you got plenty of time for that. It's only six anyway."

"What!? It's six!?" Jackson said, only raising his head.

"Yeah, woke ya early for training. Now come on, to the dojo!"

"Ok just...give me a minute."

Gary hooked his staff around Jackson's shirt and flung him out the door.

"WAAAH!" He slammed into the wall and slid down onto his head.

"Still need time?"

"Nah...I'm good."

Jackson stood in the dojo, barefoot along with his uncle. He stood in the middle while his uncle placed his staff on the bench.

"Let's start with a warm up, that way I can get a good gauge of your progress," he walked up to Jackson, spread his legs, and rested his arms beside him, entering his counterpoint stance, "ok...Counterpoint!"

Jackson entered the Counterpoint stance and started attacking Gary. Each attack was met with the smaller feline pushing or maneuvering it away, retaliating with his own. Jackson did the same thing, pushing away Gary's strikes and reprising with his own.

"Breakpoint!"

Jackson switched to his Breakpoint, going for Gary's joints and openings, all his attacks being deflected by Gary. When Gary countered he blocked, continuing his assault, managing to block every attack, but not landing a single hit.

"Counter!"

He went back to Counterpoint, keeping up his pace even though things were switched up. He tried his best to land a hit on his uncle but barely got close to doing so.

"Smash!"

Jackson tended up his body, going into the stance of Smashpoint. He rammed his fist at Gary's face, the cat pushing it away, twisting, and elbowing him in the side. Jackson grit his teeth and tanked the hit, swinging his fist around. Gary went down, pushing the punch up, thrusting his palm to Jackson's chest. He grunted and smashed his fist down.

Gary bent down, did a forward spin, pushing the punch behind him as he closed in on Jackson. "Counter!" He thrusted his palm to his nephew's chin.

Jackson pushed the palm away, moving in to elbow Gary in the face. He managed to connect it but Gary remained sturdy and rammed his fist to Jackson's chest, the mammal pushing down on the fist in an attempt to maneuver it away. He didn't even move it a smidge and was punched hard in the chest. "GOF!"

"Horya!" Gary jumped up and flipped forward, crashing his heel down on Jackson's head, slamming him into the ground. "Enough!"

Jackson groaned as he raised up, rubbing where he was kicked. "Ow…"

"Know what you did wrong?"

"Yeah...I tried to counter your punch when I should've just avoided it...though I thought you'd hold back."

"You should never assume things on an opponent unless you have something to back up that assumption...besides I did hold back...till the end. Now, let's begin with your Meta training."

"Meta training?"

"You know how your powers work?"

"Creation? Well I scan a schematic and it's saved to my brain, then I create the machinery I've scanned."

"Know how it's made? The materials and everything?"

"Not...really."

"Lemme tell ya, your power is something special. The things you create are made practically from nothing. There's something in your body, an energy of some kind, that forms the materials for the machines you make and gives it shape. Apparently producing said energy uses up your stamina, which is why you fainted yesterday. That's what today's training is gonna be.”

“My body produces the energy?...Wait, we're gonna do some stamina training?”

“Yes,” Gary went to the back and into the closet. He pulled out a Gi that was Jackson's size. “Put this on.” He handed it to Jackson.

As soon as Jackson took hold of the clothing, he nearly collapsed under its weight. “Whoa! This is heavy!” He struggled to lift it up.

“It's supposed to be, now put it on.”

He slowly and stugginly placed on the clothing, feeling all its weight press down on his shoulders, his knees near buckling. “How's this gonna help?”

“Easy. You're gonna do a few walks around the dojo in that and you wont stop till I say so.”

“WHAT!?”

"Relax, you don't work till nine so I'll give you an hour break."

"Isn't there something else I can do?"

"We could fight while you wear it instead."

"Walking is fine."

"Then quit griping and let's get to walking."

"Ok…"

Few hours later.

Jackson rolled his arm, getting a crink out. He was currently flying as Artisikat. "Ugh I still got a crink in my shoulder."

"I bet. At least he gave you pauses," Mitch said through the comm.

"Yeah. Anyways back to work. I should expect Peacewolf at the Nix agency right?"

"I contacted them ahead of time to collaborate on what they found during the aftermath. Easier to do them than wait for the logs."

"Logs?" Anet asked. She was next to Mitch.

"Whenever another agency does an investigation they log it into a file and share it to a shared database that any agency can access."

"Ah I see."

"I see the agency," Jackson said. The building he saw was two stories in height, but several miles long, three quarters as long as the height of the Sky Limits agency, being a perfect rectangular shape. The rooftop had many helipads and launching bays and he could see a few mammals working and some lifting off. He could also see the words Nix in big purple letters at the front and on the sides, showing multiple entrances. He flew down to the front entrance and walked in.

The inside had gray carpeting and light purple walls with stripes of black. Near the doors were casual couches and chairs for waiting along with a coffee table in the middle. There was a drink station at each side with a vending machine for snacks and beverages along with free water and coffee. Besides them were the restrooms. The front desk stood across the doorways right beside two pairs of closed double doors that led somewhere. That led somewhere. Jackson approached the desk, meeting a male bear in a suit and a nix tag.

"Hello! How can I help you?" The bear asked.

"I'm Artisakat. I'm here to meet up with Peacewolf, we called in earlier," Jackson answered.

"Ah, one sec," he went to his computer, typing on it, "hm… I'm afraid she's out right now, there was an emergency call while she was returning from patrol. Her navigator may be available, lemme call him real quick."

"Ok."

The bear reached for the phone and hit a few numbers when he picked it up, placing it to his ear. "...Hello, Reno, there's someone named Artisikat here that was supposed to meet with Peacewolf...sure I'll let him know...you're welcome!" He hung up

. "He'll be here shortly."

"Alright thanks, I'll wait over there," Jackson pointed to one of the couches, going to it as the bear waved him off.

"You wanna uh...freshen up before meeting him?" Mitch said.

Jackson knew what he meant by freshening up. 'Hm...my limit is still unknown but I've only been suited up for like half an hour,' Jackson thought. "I'll be fine."

“If you're sure dude. Anything you're hoping to find out?”

“What we were distracted from. We know someone was watching and some of those bots were being manually controlled, that I have no doubt on. There's also gotta be another reason they scrambled video feed.”

“Maybe they stole something?” Anet asked.

“That's what I'm thinking but I'm hoping we thwarted that.”

“Well all the bots were destroyed, right?”

“Yeah, but...something just feels off.”

“Artisikat?” A male voice said beside him.

“Hm?” Jackson looked to the origin.

A five foot six inch tall orange fox stood beside him. He wore a white shirt with a peace symbol on it, black dress shoes, and brown slacks. His fur was smooth and shiny and his tail was fluffy but smooth, having creamy white fur go from under his chin and downwards, some being seen going under his arms. He had hazel colored eyes and a softly sharp gaze. He waved at the Meta mammal. “Hi, I'm Peacewolf's husband and navigator, Reno.”

"Oh," Jackson got up and shook his hand, "I'm Artisikat, pleased to meet you."

"Same. You came to get a report of the investigation correct?"

"Yeah, and to collaborate on the information I got."

"Alright, follow me please." Reno led him to the door on the far right of the front desk. Once they entered there was a long hallway with three moving walkways, one going forward, one going backward, and one unmoving in the middle. Each side had a numbered door that was followed after an M mirroring the other, spaced apart by about eleven feet. "We're heading to the end where the elevator is."

"Ok," he got on the walkway with him, holding onto the rails that were in the middle, "so uh...this is my first time here, but I'm guessing this is where your meeting rooms are?"

"Well kinda. The meeting rooms are upstairs, the doors here lead to the stairs going up to them."

"Ah I see. Is the middle walkway for emergency uses?"

"Ah, smart lass. Yes indeed, they go at a higher speed and it depends on where you activated that it'll go in a certain direction."

"Neat."

They came to the end of the walkway where there was an elevator to the right. They went in and took it to the second floor, the doors opening from the back. Down it was another hallway with two corridors on each side spaced by fifteen feet. The first pair had two plagues with an arrow pointing at the path, with a number range that was followed after the letter B. The other corridors had the same thing but had the letter T.

"This way," Reno said, taking the right B path. The left side had an arrangement of doors, all with the letter B followed by a number, and having a keypad next to it. He stopped at door B20 and pressed his M-key on the pad, unlocking the door. They walked in. The room had a monitor on the wall across the entrance. Beside it was a computer desk that stood adjacent to the wall monitor. Facing the monitor were two rows of tables with four seats at each, each spot having a pointer. On the side was a counter with coffee, water bottles, cups, and an ice machine. Reno walked to the computer and typed on it. "Put your M-key in here and twist the knob to the right, we'll link your navigator to the computer."

Jackson placed his M-key in the console, twisting the knob to the right. It flashed red twice then green.

"Alright I'm connected….what the hell?" Mitch said.

"What?" Jackson asked. The screen on the wall turned. Jackson looked at it and raised a brow. "What...what am I looking at?"

On the screen was an assortment of pictures, some from yesterday's mission, and they all had Peacewolf, her being the main focus.

"Oh whoops!" Reno shuffled them away. "Sorry! Was doting on my wife earlier."

"Did he just admit to that?” Mitch said, his voice now coming from the screen.

“It's not my fault I have such a beautiful, stud of Meta as my wife,” he gushed, “I mean seriously, she just looks down right hot in action.”

“...Moving on. Can we see the report of the aftermath?”

“I'll bring it up.” Reno opened up a file. It had an assortment of data and pics of Wells robotics. “What would you like to see first?”

“Can you show us if anything went missing? Like parts?” Jackson asked.

“Starting off with weird, aye?”

“Weird?”

“Well, here take a look.” He brought up the storage logs, showing one before the attack and after. “As you can see, none of their items were stolen or missing, except,” he hovered the mouse over one item in particular.

“Spray paint?” Jackson questioned.

“Why would they steal spray paint?” Mitch asked.

“Yeah...and where would they take it?...or...Where DID they take it?”

“You lost me.”

“We destroyed all the bots didn't we? and I don't remember any holding spray paint.”

“There was that one Kanashi spotted that ran back in, and the one that ran out just to get destroyed. Though I doubt they had any spray paint, nor would it make sense for it to be all it took. Were you guys able to bring up any video footage?”

“Not really. Videos were scrambled as you know, and even though we got it back up, nothing was recorded except for your fight with Dyna and Clensings with Jet Roller until the lights went out,” Reno explained.

“Wait...so other than that everywhere else was completely unseen?” Jackson asked.

“Yes. We didn't look further than Jet Roller and Dynafist, but even so we couldn't view any other areas. It was strange so that's why I wanted to see the storage logs.”

“Hm...can we see the video you have of Jet when she escaped while Dyna fought me?”

“Sure, there's some static and it's a bit choppy but we got it.” Reno played the video on the screen. It was multiple windows of multiple cameras showing Jet Roller rolling up the stairs. Behind her were a squadron of Fang-bots following her. It froze and lagged every second or two and the static made some things hard to see, really affecting the quality.

“Wait, stop the video!” Anet said.

“You see it too?” Mitch said.

Reno stopped the feed. “What is it?”

“Go back like five seconds and play again.”

“Ok,” Reno did so.

“Jackson, pay attention to the bots following her.”

“Hm?” Jackson focused on the horde. “Wait...did one just-?”

“Exactly!”

“What is it?” Reno asked.

“Can you give me control?”

Reno brought up a panel and selected a few things. A second mouse came by with a tag on it that had Mitche's name. “There.”

Mitch went to the video and rewinded it a bit, stopping at a certain frame, screenshotting it before playing it some, stopping it, and screenshotting that frame. He pulled them up side by side. “It's a little hard to see due to the static but this one here,” he circled a Fang-bot on the side, “isn't present here.” He circled an empty spot in the next one where if you look close enough you'll see it's the same position as the last.

“Wow, and to think we missed that.”

“What's between these floors?”

“Let's see.” He brought up the floor plan. “Looks to be the Distribution service and where they get their orders.”

“It had to have entered one of those areas, and something tells me it wasn't where they took orders,” Jackson surmised.

“Did any of the computers in Distribution show signs of being accessed or tampered with?”

“Well no, but they do print their logs off and store it in a cabinet,” Reno said. “There was someone saying one of their cabinets was unlocked but they stated it coulda been cause they were evacuating and they accidently left it open.”

“Hm.”

“Do the printed logs have upcoming distribution dates?” Anet asked.

“Well, yes actually, but just for the day and for ones upcoming. Cause of the attack their deliveries are delayed but I believe they're getting back on schedule,” Reno answered.

“What are you getting at, Anet?” Mitch asked.

“That bot that Kanashi found trying to escape, could it have been the one that broke off from the rest? The one that entered where Distribution was?”

“Maybe, but it ran back in, remember?”

“What if they had a plan B?”

“Plan B?”

“Wait, you said that they had printed files for upcoming deliveries right?” Jackson asked.

“Yes. Are you suggesting it took a photo of an upcoming log?” Reno questioned.

“I'm thinking that, yes, but that last bot at the end has been bothering me.”

“The one that practically suicided? If you hadn't tossed it then it would have exploded and harmed everyone around. They likely were gonna try and free Dyna or Jet somehow through the confusion,” Mitch surmised.

“...What if….can you bring up any video feed of parts and services?”

“The only thing you'll see is the moment Jet goes up to where they keep the computer chips. Afterwards there's nothing, but it does get scrambled along with all the other cameras,” Reno explained.

“So you don't see anything?”

“Nothing.”

“...Did it happen to get scrambled sometime when Kanashi appeared?”

“Hm,” he looked at the timesheets, “it was about nine minutes after he appeared.”

“Do the delivery orders also say anything about their addresses or have any routes?”

“Yep. They place the addresses of where they are to go and have a planned route just in case there's detours and someone would have to report it.”

“A bot goes into Distribution, takes a photo of upcoming deliveries, plans to leave with that info, but Kanashi spooks it and it rushes back in.”

“Meaning plan B which is...what?” Anet wonders.

“Something that involves spray paint...the color being,” he scrolled through the report, “...silver...what do they use the spray paint for?”

“Some orders request a painted coating,” Reno answered.

“If it's not painted, like say for their Fang-bot orders...is its body color...silver?”

“Yes...what are you suggesting?” Reno asked with some concern.

“Did they send any shipment data?”

“No, we didn't have permission or reason. Did you find something out?”

“We may just have! Mitch, guide me to Wells Robotics!” Jackson dashed off.

“Wait! What'd you find out!?”

“That last bot wasn't the actual last bot! There's still one more!”

“What!? We swept the area, and found none!”

“That's cause it was hiding amongst the cargo!”

“Hiding amongst the- Oh shit! I'll let them know to let you have access to the launching bay! Mitch you need to-”

“I'm already messaging Ferris to let Wells Robotics know he's coming and to get their shipment logs together!” Mitch said.

“Good!”

“I'm off!” Jackson ran out.

A large Wells Robotics truck was on its route making a delivery, carrying two trailers. They were a day late due to yesterday's attack so the driver, a black rat, took note not to dilly dally and go as quick as he can.

In the trunk of his vehicle were several crates with one big one being in the second one. Nothing would seem out of the ordinary for anyone looking in.

Just then, the lid of a crate was pushed from the inside, eventually prying it open. What opened it was a pair of Fang-bot legs. It stood up, turned to the crate next to it and walked forward, falling down onto the ground.

“Hm?” The driver was at a stop and swore he heard a thud behind him. He shrugged it off, thinking it was nothing.

The legs got up, walking forward, bumping into the first crate. It brought up its foot, feeling around the crate till it found its edge, brassing its back toe into it, opening it up and sliding off the lid. From the crate rose two arms, worming out and falling to the floor. They followed the legs as it made its way to the crate behind the arms. It did the same thing as the first crate, prying it open, torso’s being inside. Once it opened one of the arms rolled to its back, the other coming to it, feeling on it till it found its forearm, grabbing near the shoulder. It swung the other up, it grabbing the edge and climbing in. The arms crawled to a certain torso, twisting around to attach themselves to it. When attached, the upper body rose up, moving to the legs, orienting in an attempt to attach to it. The connectors slid in and it stood up. It moved up all the way to the back and faced the container on the right, opening it up with its claws. It reached for a head that had its eyes light up, placing it on its neck. Its body was completely put together, facing the wall that rested behind the truck. It banged on it three times.

“What the-?” The driver glanced back for a second, unnerved by the banging. He heard a few more and groaned. “Ah shit,” he pulled the vehicle over to the side, getting out of the way of traffic, parking, and getting out. He went to the first trailer, opening up the back. He saw the open crates. “What the hell!?” He ran to the first one, inspecting it. From behind, an open metal hand came and clasped around his mouth, muffling him. “MMPH!” Before he could even try and retaliate, an electric shock ran up his spine, the voltage going straight to his brain, locking up his body, and knocking him unconscious. The Fang-bot let him go and he fell. It started to take off his clothes, placing the cap on its head, hiding its tail, and puffing up its collar, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

“Hey! You ok there?” A concerned moose pulled over when he spotted the truck, worried since he heard the news about the attack on Wells. He heard a door close and saw someone exit from between the trailers. “Everything alright?” He received a thumbs up from the mammal before they got back in their truck. He sighed in relief but thought that their thumb looked oddly metallic.

Jackson landed in front of the Wells Robotics parts and services garage, entering in.

“You Artisakat?” A tall black furred mouse with gorilla-like nostrils asked him. He wore a gray workmans suit that had the Wells Robotics logo.

“That's me.” Jackson approached him.

“I'm Michael, I'm a supervisor here. Come with me.” He led him to the upstairs office. Once inside he went to his computer. “When your navigator contacted us, I had them send all of today's orders in and the shipping routes. Normally once we finish an order I just delete it off this computer, avoid clutter and all that since distributions got it recorded, but this seems like an emergency.” He typed away at his computer before turning the screen, showing ten files. “These are all orders we have with machine parts. About six have already left by the time you called and were having the rest wait for a clear.”

“Hm.” Jackson took a look.

“If one of the Fang-bots hid with the cargo, they'd have to be in one where they come in already assembled,” Mitch said.

Jackson scrolled through. “Seems like all of them come in with segmented parts.”

“It's a safety precaution. Dont want one activating by mistake,” Micheal explained.

“So they can only be activated if put together?”

“Well, normally yes.”

“Normally?”

“Last year we had a halloween party and one of our programmers was able to activate it while one was separated. Scared the heck out of everyone. Gave the guy a raise.” He chuckled.

“So they activated independently...if that's possible then maybe the one stowing away separated itself and activated while on route?”

“Then the driver’s in danger! We gotta find the one quick!” Mitch rushed.

“I know but there's so many going to different agencies!”

“Focus on any that are like prototypes!”

“Prototypes...I see three labeled as such, one going to the Nix agency, one going to Delta, and one going to Loch Chester.”

“Check the Delta one! I heard they sent designs for a big order!”

“How do I check routes?” Jackson asked Michael.

“You tap here.” He pressed an icon and the route pulled up. “Seems to be on route already, only issue being a traffic accident here,” he pointed to a section of the route line that was red, "meaning they have to reroute.”

“Ok, guess it's not them then. Lets che-”

Michael stopped Jackson from switching files. “Hold on. Somethings not right.”

“Whaddya mean?”

“See this blip?” He pointed to a flashing blue dot.

“Yeah?”

“It's not on a marked route.”

“Didn't you say they would've had to reroute?”

“Yes but when you do that you put the new route on your terminal so we know about it. There's no new route, just a claim that the old route is untakable.”

“Hey, what street is it where they claim an accident to be?” Mitch asked.

“It's….north on Glenway and Bringer Avenue,” Jackson answered.

“Ima give the driver a call,” Michael grabbed the phone next to the computer, calling the driver, “......The hell? He didn't answer.”

“Artisakat! Have him transfer the trucks signal to me!” Mitch shouted.

“Mitch, what is it?” Jackson asked.

“There's been no accident there! It's been smooth driving all day!”

“Oh shit!”

“What?” Michael asked.

“The truck’s been hijacked! I need you to send me its tracking signal!”

“Hand me your M-Key!” Jackson quickly gave him the device and he placed it into a terminal on the edge of his desk, tapping a few keys on the computer. The M-Key flashed green and Michael tossed it back.

“Got the signal!” Mitch said.

“Alright, gotta jet!” Jackson rushed out the office, jumping down the stairs and getting out the garage, taking to the skies. “Where to!?”

“It's heading down Binx Avenue, about to go through the underpass!”

“Alright! Keep me updated if it changes!” He flew in the direction.

“I'm getting an RV so we can meet up where you stop it!”

“I wanna say don't bother but I don't know what to expect, so backup from Anet can help!”

“Alright, I'll continue communicating through the RV when I get in, but until then, might wanna give your suit a check.”

‘I have been suited up for a while.’ Jackson thought. “Ok, I'll do a quick check and regain contact.”

“Roger!”

Jackson landed on a nearby roof after checking to see if anyone was around to spot him. He landed and uncreated his suit. He took out his M-Key and waited a bit to avoid suspicion of checking too quickly for Anet. “Hope there won't be too much trouble.”

The truck's signal halted at a nearby parking lot. It was currently on the third floor. Mitch was closer than Jackson so he and Anet got there first in the RV, parking at the entrance.

“Should we wait for Artisakat?” Anet asked.

“We dont know what's going on in there, could be a drop off and there unloading, so I want you to go in and scout it out. Sound good?”

“It's better than going in blind I guess, and it's not like Anet can’t protect herself,” Jackson said through the comms.

“Y-You sure? Won't that get you in trouble?” Anet asked.

“It's fine, just consider it part of the agreement to help out.” Mitch grabbed a earpiece for her and gave her it.

Anet was hesitant but took it, placing it in her ear. “I need a weapon.”

“Your Katanas in the back room,” he opened up the middle door that leads to the backroom, “hanging on the left.”

Anet went in and equipped her weapon. The hatch opened. “The Assassin of Progress is heading out….that's a bad one.” She ran out, zipping in with the use of her powers.

“Mitch, why did you plague her?” Jackson said.

“Oh shut up!” Mitch nearly barked.

Anet quickly got up the stairs. There weren't very many vehicles but she spotted the truck further back near the ramp at the other side. She discreetly progressed her way to it, making sure to hide from view behind pillars and other cars. She got to the corner and around, just a few yards down, was the truck. She peeked around.

“Navi boy, you copy?” Anet commed in.

“I copy, and who said you could call me that!” Mitch answered.

“I got eyes on the truck.”

“Whaddya see?”

“There are a few Fang-bots out. They seem to be taking out parts from the back trailer.”

“What kind?”

“They're huge! Three are carrying some three fingered arm. It's as big as Jackson, and it's got some red armor on it, same for the legs that are just laying out.”

The red armor parts she was describing had thick red slanted armor plates. The edges seemes bendable as if to cover joints better. The arms were indeed as big as Jackson in terms of length but the hands could easily grab his torso, being bigger than his chest. The legs were as tall as the arms were long but they were easily a foot and a half thick, not including the armor, having a side toe on each foot.

“I see some bringing a torso out of the crate in the trailer. It's big! Takes five of them to hold it! And now I see another group getting the head!”

The torso was as thick as both legs combined and the middle panel was jutted out and looked like it could open up. The head was dome shaped with a red ring at the bottom and a large red panel right down the middle. On the front, beside the two panels were its eyes, which were slanted.

“It looks like they're trying to put it together. Should I stop them?”

“A- *scrrrch* hear yo- *bzzrrt* som- *zzzt* -ming the connecti- *schchchc*” Mitch tried to communicate but Anet was receiving some form of interference.

“Mitch?...Mitch!...Hm?” She heard movement behind and saw two silver Fang-Bots jump from around the corner, lunging at her, “Shit!” She jumped back, avoiding their claws, brandishing her weapon. One ran to her, bringing a blade out its arm, its edge having razor sharp teeth, swiping it at her. She deflected it, slicing at its middle. It jumped back and kicked, allowing its partner to double kick from above. Anet zipped to the side and stabbed at the first one's head. It ducked and thrusted its palm at her stomach. She progressed back, the other slamming its claw down from behind her, surprising her but she still managed to block it, pushing it back just in time to jump over the first bots kick. She held her blade forward, sticking it to the side, and zipped forward with her power, going past them, striking the one on the right. She turned to continue but as soon as she did she was face to face with an incoming pair of claws. They were a centimeter from contact before Anet quickly ducked, using her power of progression to avoid the hit, spinning and cutting upward, cutting off their arms from the elbows.

She hopped back, gaining some distance. She realized something as they fought. ‘They know my weakness. But how?’ She didn't have time to think about it as the Bots were going after her again. She did have a plan though. She leapt forward, pulling her left arm back, going in a striking motion. They were ready for her, the left one already preparing to block with its remaining arm. She activated her power, zooming between them but not striking, twisting around as she landed. They twisted around, the one blocking doing so later as it was taken by surprise from the lack of a hit. Anet went for the other one, having run around to avoid its gaze when it turned, Progressing into it before it noticed her, stabbing it through the mouth. The remaining Fang-bot brought out its blade, swinging it at her. She pushed the other Bot into it, making it cut that instead, and jumped to the side. She was about to run up to it, readying her kodachi to stab. The Bot was quick to toss off its ally, sheathing its sword. Anet dashed forward, activating her power and the Bot was ready, swinging its palm down in an attempt to pin her. Anet stopped midway, the Bot's swing whiffing her, throwing it off enough for her to close in and swing her sword down on its neck, beheading it.

Anet took a breath and attempted to contact Mitch again, but before she could, she felt heavy vibrations approach her from behind along with the sound of heavy metal steps. She looked behind and saw the red machine was fully assembled, its eyes being blue, and was coming to her. “Shit!”

The jets in its back and feet activated, its hand reaching for her, trying to grab her. She Progressed out the way and jumped to behind its shoulder. Its torso rotated, swinging its backhand to knock her away. She tumbled back but quickly got to her feet. While she tumbled, it re-oriented and hovered to her, trying to grab her again. She jumped above its first grab, its second attempt being for her in the air, missing due to her using her ability to reach the ground faster. She lunged at its chest thrusting her sword at it, the tip bouncing off on contact. She ran to the side, its head turning to face her. She thought to try and throw it off, zipping back and looking as though she stab at it again, its torso rotating to stop her, but her attack was a fake out. As soon as it rotated, she pulled back and went right under it, going for its blindspot so it didn't see her move, and jumping for its back jets, hoping for it to be a weak spot. Before she could even swing her blade, one of its arms turned back and grabbed her, holding her tight. Its head turned back followed by its body, its wrists swiveling around to keep her upright. She struggled to free herself, but to no avail, not even able to move her sword. She looked at its face with fear, wondering what it'll do to her.

From outside the parking lot, ramming straight into the arm of the robot at high speeds, was a metal covered foot, hitting it right in the elbow, forcing Anet’s release. The animal who attacked was Jackson. He grabbed Anet as soon as she was let go and flew back to make some distance. “Anet, you ok!?”

“I'm fine, thanks!” Anet answered with a relieved smile.

“When we lost communication, I doubled it over here! Just in time huh?” He smiled. He looked forward and saw the robot charge at them. He jumped and flipped over, kicking his heel onto the back of its head, flying over the punch it sent backwards.

“Artisikat!”

“No worries, I think I can take this thing!”

“No, behind you! The other Bots are escaping!”

“Huh?” He looked back and saw the group of Fang-bots running up the ramp to the top.

“Shit! Can you chase them?”

“I'll try.” She was let down and gave chase to the runaways.

The robot rammed to her but Jackson got in front of it, materialized an energy hand cannon and fired. The shots deflected off the armor, not even making a scratch. It punched at him and he quickly brought out his sword, entering Counterstance, swaying to the side, maneuvering inwards and slicing up inside its elbow, agiling himself away from its body after the attack. It turned to him and he saw that his slash did no damage. “Shit!” He uncreated the sword. ‘It's armor is thicker than the training dummies. Electric swords nor my Hand cannon is gonna work,’ he crossed his arms, ‘best bet is either the Claw Shield or Piston Gauntlets.’ He squeezed his hands and formed his Piston Gauntlets. The Pistons sucked in as he swiftly moved his arms beside him, entering Smashpoint stance just in time as it had swung his fist to him. He met it with his own, the Piston shooting out, the two blows canceling each other out. He knelt forward and rocketed to its face, punching it with his other fist, releasing the other Piston. He cracked its eye, jumping back, shaking his fist. “Jeez, that's thick armor!”

Its fist spun and it swung at Jackson, the Meta mammal jumping over it and the bot. It swiveled its body back, keeping up its motion, aiming for Jackson. He was quick to materialize a Claw Shield to block, getting pushed to the ground, managing to land on his feet. The spinning of the hand made it difficult to keep up the guard, his knees shaking. He twisted the handle and grasped the claws onto the hand, gripping it to slow down its motion. Once the hand stopped he lunged forward, aiming to strike its middle with a Piston punch. The machine rolled forward, hovering in the air to avoid the punch. Jackson thought quickly, creating another Claw Shield, opening its claws and having it fly into its face. It gripped on, blinding the robot, it roerinting in the air to land on its feet, trying to pry off the Shield. It grabbed the fingers of the Claws, pulling on them, tearing them off and throwing them way before yanking of what blinded it.

While it was trying to regain vision, Jackson was building up momentum, flaring his jets but staying in place. He was waiting for the moment it unblinded itself, taking the time to build up as much potential energy as possible, in his Smashpoint stance. As soon as the bot tore off what covered its face was when Jackson launched himself. ‘Rokugun!’ He aimed one fist above while the other was parallel to it, both Pistons releasing as he attacked. The robot was quick to bring up one arm to block, taking the brunt of the attack. It hit right onto the forearm, smashing its armor plate, the force of the blow managing to pierce through and damage its arm, it even had to take a step back. Jackson jumped back, his arms feeling somewhat sore from the action.

The robot looked at its arm, examining the damage. The armor was nearly completely destroyed, its wrist taking some damage, enough to impair its rotation, and sparks were seen coming out. It looked to Jackson, who was ready to continue the fight, before looking off to the side off the rails.

“Hm?” Jackson glanced that way as well and as soon as he did a large hovercraft flew in. It was the size of two trailers, had four rockets attached to the side, two on each, with propellers attached to the top. It had a loading bay which opened up, revealing the Fang-bots that were in the trailer, the ones Anet went after. Jackson became worried over her but his attention was taken when the large red machine flew its way to the craft. “No you don't!” He activated his jets and went for it. One of the bots from the flying vehicle threw a cylindrical item at Jackson. He put his guard up, thinking it was some explosive, creating two Claw Shields. Smoke blasted out of it, quickly covering him up and blinding him, making him cough. He reached for his visor, attempting to switch it to infrared before he noticed two small shadows coming to him. The smoke made it hard to tell where exactly it was so he raised his shields again. Suddenly water splashed on him, confusing him until thousands of electric volts ran up his body, locking up his muscles, and rattling his brain. His suit disappeared, replacing with his aquatic gear before going away entirely, his Gauntlets switch out from Piston to regular, three electric swords and two pairs of the new twin swords he scanned yesterday materialized around him, and several claw hands along with multiple energy hand cannons were created around him, so were a few drills from behind. When the electricity died down all his creations went away as he fell to his knees, barely conscious. He looked forward with blurry vision, seeing the red robot board it and start to fly off. “Gotta...chase....after it…” He attempted to materialize his Jet Boots but they dispersed part way to being created. He reached forward, vision fading as he fell to the ground, his consciousness fading.

“It's….owerful machine,” the voice of Adison said.

‘Huh?...Dad?’ Jackson thought. He couldn't see anything, only black. Just then an image of part of a large long square shaped barrel flashed in front of his eyes. ‘What the-!?...What was that?’

“Cone-...-e back piece of your su-”

‘Of my what? Were you gonna say suit?’ A flash of another image came, one looking like the back connector of his suit with wires connected to the top outlets yet there was no bottom outlet. ‘Huh?...that looked like…’

“-ope you nev-...it.”

‘I what?’ The next image was of a red handle connected to some console that had a vent on the top. It had a long trigger, big enough for four fingers. ‘This some gun? What is this?....hm?’ A bright light was shining at the end of the void. Jackson peered closer to it, as he did the beam got brighter and there was some sound that came with it. He tried to listen.

*shooom*

‘What's that sound?’ As the light became brighter it looked less like a light and more like something else. ‘Is that a….Oh shit!’

*SHOOOOOOM*

The light was a beam, a large one that engulfed his entire self. ‘AAAAAAAAH!’

“AAAAH!” Jackson startled awake, rising up from the bed he was in.

“Woah!” Mitch was startled by Jackson's scream. He was at the other bed where Anet laid. “Dude,” he turned to face the cat, “you scared the shite out of me!”

“S-sorry...what was that?”

“What was what?”

“Hm.” The blue ring appeared on his eyes as he looked through his schematics.

Mitch noticed. “What are you doing?”

“I'm looking for something...huh?”

“What?”

“There's this one schematic here that I can't view. It's all….staticy.”

“Didn't you say when you first got some memories back that you also had some schematics that were the same way?”

“Yeah but as I remembered more they became accessible. I guess this one has a memory relation too.”

“While you're there, put your suit back on while Anet’s still out.”

“Oh right,” he created his suit, “how long was I out, and what happened to Anet?”

“About ten minutes. Police are sweeping the area. As for Anet, I'm thinking the same thing as you.”

“And that would be?”

Mitch got up and walked to the table adjacent to Jackson where two cylindrical devices were, one blue the other yellow with wires sticking out. “I found this near you and another pair near Anet. I got worried when I saw that craft leave and got no signal from you. Imagine my shock when you weren’t suited up, and laying knocked out. I went up and found Anet knocked out too.”

“What are those?”

“Well, there's a bit of water coming from this one,” he shook the blue canister, drops of water coming out, “and looking at this yellow one, and how the wires are, I'm guessing it's some electrical device. Were you splashed by any chance?”

“Yeah actually. I was hit by a smoke bomb then all of the sudden I got spray and zaped. Hurt like hell and my brain was rattled. So ones a hydro bomb and the other zaps you right after. That's a deadly combo.”

“That's probably why you were in plain clothes. The zap to the head made you lose control.”

“My head does kinda hurt….could also be what triggered what I saw.”

“What you saw?”

“I saw glimpses of these images of what looked like some machine. I also heard my dad say something but I couldn't fully make it out.”

“Maybe the shock triggered something.”

“Maybe….wait,” Jackson just realized something, “speaking off you don't think those Bots saw me in my civilian form do you!?”

“I was afraid to bring that up, but you said you were hit with a smoke bomb right?”

“Yeah.”

“I doubt the smoke would’ve cleared away in time to see you, especially since they were in a rush to leave.”

“True but…” Jackson sighed, “let's just hope you're right.”

“What's going on with him?” Lesiline said, looking at the footage of Jackson losing control. She couldn't see much due to the smoke though but could see a few hazy figures.

“Looks like objects are just appearing around him as he’s getting zapped. Kinda hard to tell with the smoke though. Even so, those grenades worked great!” Said Anchy.

“Can't really call them grenades when they don't explode, can you?”

“Ah who asked you? Anyways, mission successful!”

“Mostly. We still lost a Bot, one missing a forearm, and then the Destroyer has a damaged arm.”

“Yeah, that attack he did was a good one. If only they had ammo in there then it'd have gone so much better!”

“Now now, nothing goes perfectly,” said the feminine voice of their boss, “it shouldn't be too hard to make repairs and even then we’ll still be on schedule for the next phase.”

“I've already gotten into contact with the mechanic. When he hears about this he's not gonna be able to keep his eagerness at bay.” Anchy smirked.

“Good...soon...all I care about shall be protected.”

End.