Dark Energy Supernova - An Anthology of SF SD Shorts

Part 4 - Volstagg

"Best of luck?  Seriously?" Jill Scarlet, a beautiful and vivacious redhead, asked incredulously as she looked over at Robin, who rode in her skimmer's passenger seat.

"That's all he said after sending you in to stop an matter-antimatter reactor from exploding?"

Robin's smile was faint.

"Pretty much," she admitted, earning herself a snort from Jill.

"Awesome.  Talk about going out with a bang."  The fiery redhead's fingers danced over her control surface as she brought her skimmer down from the streams of traffic floating dozens of metres off the ground as they interwove through New London's skyscrapers to street level.

Landing in front of the skyscraper Langdon said was home to the Illuminati cell, the two women were quickly joined by Joan and Tuck, arriving in a second skimmer.

"Feels kinda wierd going in through the front door."  Joan admitted as she stared up at the skyscraper in front of them.

"Yet it is logical," Tuck pointed out.  "If the Illuminati indeed possess sufficient technological prowess to build a matter-antimatter reactor, along with a dimensional tunneling device, then their security measures would be equally advanced.  We may not possess the expertise or the equipment to penetrate those measures in our usual manner."

"Regardless, let's hope these 'illuminati' aren't as clever as Langdon seems to think they are, and more arrogant than not," Robin noted with a thoughtful frown.  "Or they'll find us out pretty damn quick.  Now, let's keep it frosty, girls.  No idle chatter and stick to your cover IDs.  As soon as we're in the door, Tuck, you and I will go for the database.  Joan, you and Jill see if you can find the actual reactor, if it exists, and whatever tech they've got attached to it."

According to Langdon's prep notes, the Illuminati actually used a side door to access their secret facility.  When they found it, it was heavily guarded and electronically protected as expected.  Thankfully Langdon's forged ident chips were very well done and they were in through the door in less than a minute.

The data pads the professor had given them also contained a floor plan

"Fifty floors down?" Jill squeaked after discovering where she and Joan had to go.  "As in, underground?"

"As in," Robin confirmed.  "That's the basement; the most logical location for any powerful device that needs hiding."

"Just remember, the closer you get to the reactor site, the higher the security will be," Tuck warned.

"Great," Jill muttered with a frown.  "I think I'm changing my mind about how fun this is, Rob."

"I'm giving you ten minutes, kids, to find that damn reactor," Robin said after flashing a grin at Jill then glancing at her chrono.

"Let's move, then," Joan indicated and, with a final nod to her friend, she led Jill down a side corridor and out of sight.

For their part, Robin and Tuck headed in the opposite direction and went up.  Logically important data stores had a tendency to either be centralized behind heavy protection.  Or kept close by the guy in charge.  And the floor plan showed some sort of vault fifteen stories up, and offices another fifteen stories higher than that.

Not wanting to get more than their share of notice, the two slipped down less crowded hallways and used cargo lifts to keep off the security cameras as often as they could.  And then they were stepped around a final corner and found themselves looking at a heavily guarded access point.

"Damn," Robin muttered, barely resisting the urge to draw her handgun as she counted no less than fifty guards.  Some manned monitoring stations while others actively patrolled the area.  Robin and Tuck both quickly ducked back around the corner before they were spotted then she looked over at Tuck, who had pulled a portable out of her suit and was using it to scan local network nodes.