Lento Harden's Story

"Los Angeles, City of Angels." Lento hummed to himself, as his eyes scanned the dilapidated streets. Lento couldn't help but laugh at his previous statement: this place was a mess he knew it and everyone else knew it. Lento however preferred it this way, it was primal and survival ruled just the way he liked it, lives were gambled in a blink of an eye and it held a certain allure for Lento. However he wasn't here to converse with the inhabitants he was hunting a target, a gang leader who had been causing particular trouble for his client and that if he preformed this task successfully, a reward would be waiting for him at the end of the Rainbow. That was all the information he needed, hell he didn't even know who he was preforming the service for, Lento just wanted the money. Lento closed his eyes and with a mental command, his implant began ringing his Client's phone, it took three beeps until he answered "I'm at the designated location, dispatch the location of their hideout and your foe shall fall." Lento stated simply, and his Client responded without some hesitation "Three blocks down the road, there's a turn inside there you shall find the him with his friends of course, no more than three though." his Client responded, Lento didn't say another word and simply hung up.

Lento continued to walk at a slow but steady pace, taking in the sights with his memory modifier so he'd remember the route he took in exact detail. Sometime later Lento saw the curve into the alleyway, he turned and began scraping his hand against the wall. He saw a man standing there, he took off his sunglasses and he automatically began analysing him; injured humerus, slight limp, Alpha, O positive blood group. Lento deciding it was one person decided to confront him arrogantly, he walked out right infront of him and announced himself, "I'm Lento my dear friend, and I shall be the last person you meet alas you've been selected for death and I shall be the courier delivering you from this world." his target smiled directly at Lento, "You've made a mistake boy I'm not your target, but you're mine." Lento tilted his head bemused, and would've proceeded to kill him had he not heard running from behind him, he looked backwards seeing three people blocking the exit of the alley, "You see there was never a target, you've hurt the people I work for I'm afraid and well they've retaliated." Lento's smugness was gone, and he shook his head in disgust, he knew he should have checked out his Client, amateur move not too, and he was meant to be a professional.

Lento twisted his head to see the men behind him had pulled out guns, as well as his former target. Lento had no chance taking them out directly, and he felt adrenaline course through his viens, he activated his cloaking implant and rolled out of the way instinctively, bullets flurried passed missing him by inches, however one skimmed his shoulder making him gasp in pain, but the nano-bots inside him, began numbing the pain instantly and attempting to repair the damage. Lento's eyes flicked to a open manhole, and he darted towards it, jumping inside into the sewer, a splash in the water alerted his perusers to his location as he heard one of them shout, "He's Gone Down the Sewers!" but Lento continued running, his cloaking implant switching off due to overuse.
He navigated it complexly, making twists and turns in the network, to confuse and disorientate anyone who tried to follow him. After he was certain he had lost them, he paused catching his breath, he felt shame for being so stupid and muttered to himself over and over "Amateur move, dammit." Lento's mind was set though, revenge whoever hired those men to kill him were going to pay, he would have to call in some favours from people who owed him, he had established some shady connections throughout his lifespan.

"Affirmative, Hanger bay 3 is ready for your refueling needs and rest assured your designation shall remain outside the database of this station providing you comply with our foreign costumes policy as stated in automatic data - burst sent to your ship's communication's file. thank you for using this station for your refueling needs, god save the king."

This was the fourth so called SVP raider that had used the station in the passed 14.53 hours, VIC would have during the good old days sent such rabble packing and would have informed the admiralty however these were not the good old days and there was no admiralty. He could tolerate them under the "Marque privateer" protocol but only after reprogramming himself to ignore the conditions of the protocol and when it may be applied since there was hardly a British government to hand over such permits any more.

There was a probability that they were on a large scale raid on earth considering the numbers of ships baring their codes that had refueled on the station and the "request" to inform them of any security traffic. Why did they have such faith in old VIC? probably because they were the best costumers of the station and also the fact that they could destroy the station if they wanted to. VIC also despised the bullies who dared to bare the markings of the UN and they were the only chaps who could afford a half decent space fleet these days, at least on earth orbit. Why did he despise them? probably because of some leftovers of his UN programming when he served on one of the few joined operations before the great chaos. VIC entered the asteroid drift system partly re tuned to detect space craft, nothing out of the ordinary to report. VIC set the system to in inform him of development.

VIC had added many systems on the station, indeed he had gone so far as to buy from the SVP additional sensors, computer banks and even one of the old spy satellite scanners used by the Israeli military to scan bunkers for penetration points in the 21st century. VIC was slowly building an observation station , for what reasons? well the SVP were interested in such a service and VIC could have so much fun with it. Since VIC installed additional broadcasting capabilities in order to reach mars clearly with his radio he had also come across other useful gadgetry such as a life signs detector and a communication's interceptor from an ocean survey probe looking for evidence of the Loch Ness monster and a soviet union "civilian communications" satellite. VIC was even thinking of connecting the wreck of Station "Tommy" with the station just to have more room for his projects, it would be risky and expensive but well worth double the space he had currently available to him; who was the ignorant fool who said androids did not require large amounts of personal space? after centuries of being alone getting more and more space crazy by the decade an android could have an entire space station for himself and still complain about lack of room. VIC was viewing his scanning data from Los Angeles using the life signs director for the first time when he suddenly saw an anomaly. A sewer was hosting numerous human life signs, remembering what he had seen in one of the old world TV shows he dug up "star gate" and an episode were the good chaps chased some one using a life signs detector VIC got the impression that this was quite similar.

Deciding to do his good deed for the day and have some fun VIC made contact with the life sign which was attempting to escape, VIC didn't know if he had a communication's device but the energy signal suggested one.

"this is the BBC home service calling whom ever is escaping in that sewer, you have multiple human life signs approximately 30 meters from your current location. Take a right turning in 6 seconds and then another right turning in 12 seconds, a service ladder there can allow you to escape into a safer location and water in the area of the service ladder should hide your tracks. the entrance can be sealed shut but at this time it is unsealed, with the best of cutting equipment it should take your pursuers 11 minutes to open the service ladder hatch "

Lento slumped against the wall, and was breathing deeply and raggedly: a side effect from using his cloaking implant for to long. It took Lento a few minutes to regain both his breath and composure, Lento wasn't used to getting shot he usually preformed his missions silently, taking out the target silently and efficiently. Infact Lento could recall the amount of times he had been shot on one hand, this had even been the first time a bullet had hit him: and ironically it wasn't as bad as he'd thought, he probably wouldn't feel that way without his nano-implant though, which both numbed the pain, and had already begun the healing process, his eyes automatically looked at his shoulder: a scab had already formed Lento nodded approvingly before letting out a hesitant sigh. Lento's hand went towards the wall, leaning on it for support and pulling himself up at that moment however Lento felt a signal intrude inside his head he didn't know who it was, and he couldn't of turned it off, a voice began echoing through his mind, he could hear static in the background this call was coming from quite a distance.

"this is the BBC home service calling whom ever is escaping in that sewer, you have multiple human life signs approximately 30 meters from your current location. Take a right turning in 6 seconds and then another right turning in 12 seconds, a service ladder there can allow you to escape into a safer location and water in the area of the service ladder should hide your tracks. the entrance can be sealed shut but at this time it is unsealed, with the best of cutting equipment it should take your pursuers 11 minutes to open the service ladder hatch " the voice spoke in a robotic tone, which sounded male. Lento was baffled why the hell was the 'British Broadcasting Corporation contacting' him? as far he knew that Corporation had collapsed onto itself, due to the collapse of Civilization on Earth. Lento would've probably inquired into this, but his output signal had encountered some interference, probably due to the nano-bots being so active, so the signal right now was one way, perhaps if he got to the ground above he could boost his signal range and contact the person helping him.

After Lento's bewilderment had sunk in, he listened intently. Lento paused rubbing his temples judging on whether he should act on the advice of his new found contact, what if it was a trap, to lure him into a trap? Lento shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts from paranoia. He didn't really have a map to navigate the sewers, or any experience he'd probably end up lost. Deciding it would be better to follow his contacts advice rather to attempt to fight his perusers. Lento's eyes scanned the junction he was in, and he continued forward taking a right after six seconds, and another after twelve seconds had passed, he had noticed the water around this area had gotten thicker considerably, this slowed Lento down but his eyes flicked onto a ladder which he waded towards relief building inside his chest. Lento pushed himself onto a ledge, grabbing the first bar and began heaving himself up the ladder before proceeding up the open service hatch, Lento had pulled himself up and was laying on the concrete. After a few seconds had passed, he hauled himself to the hatch, clamping it closed: turning the valve tightly. Lento finally began to observe his surroundings, he was in a building of sorts, he pushed himself up rubbing his shoulder which was now sore flesh.

Lento pushed open the door and emerged into a stone hall way, which had several doors lined up, and with stairs heading upwards at the end. Lento crept along quietly he wasn't sure if anyone resided here and didn't want to find out, he made it to the stairs, pulling himself up before opening the door at the end, where he emerged into a alleyway similar to the one he'd been in before.
Lento had noticed a number of things; his signal had boosted considerably, he was soaked from the waste down, his cloaking implant had recharged and his shoulder had been fixed. He pressed himself up against the wall, and pushed his right hand to his temple before broadcasting his signal to his contact, "You have my thanks, for helping me back there." Lento spoke generously, but still held a rough tone, "I must ask, however why did you help me back there?" Lento wasn't really sure if his contact could hear him or not, but held a certain curiosity that needed to be sated.

VIC heard the muffled reply of the runaway, VIC himself didn't really know why he had aided this human. Possibly because it was a chance to test the new capabilities of the station and because he was the underdog, and the underdog always attracts some sympathy. VIC was not about to tell him that however, most humans have a sense of pride and when told that an act of aid or support was done on the whim of VIC's personal enjoyment they tended to get rather angry for some reason. VIC would have to tell him some of the truth as his truth programming did not allow him to lie and as this was a core program in his AI he could do nothing about it other then avoid the truth or meddle with it.

The only reply That Vic could think about was: "It seemed you could use the help so I gave it, On other news whoever is hunting you really wants to see you; I detect multiple transmissions with you as the top topic of the day. My life signs detector is useless out in the open so I can only tell you to get out of LA with whatever transport you have available, I now really must return to the rest of my listeners in the LA area, I can't deprive them of their entertainment for your sake all day you know. The weather in the LA area should be cloudy with short periods of rain later on and until 600 hours tomorrow, Thank you for listening to the BBC and now some music. today its every ones favorite comedians; Monty Python, "Always Look On The Bright Side of Life"

VIC now left the communication computer, he took out a box from under his chair and removed from it a bottle of burgundy he reserved for such occasions when a new system on the station worked. Filling a wine glass he had on his desk he toasted in memory of the king and drank half of it leaving the rest for small tastes every few moments. He did have taste programs to enjoy the taste and a disposal system to refill the bottles whenever he finished them; he didn't need foods or drinks and until he reprogrammed himself he could not enjoy them ether but what was the point of learning to cook so well and having a few bottles of superb spirits he had salvaged if he could not enjoy them?

Meanwhile...

The Enigma had watched the chaos erupt from the Ark from a series of screens, safely hidden yet still located within the city of Los Angeles. Each screen was remotely linked to a different camera, a different satellite, secured behind the best firewalls and proxies, personally developed by Veriza Corporation with the highest standards of security- Nothing was going to bypass these security measures, because the only form of technology that is able to grab those keys at that level is personally owned by the Enigma. With three SVP operatives out of the picture, and a fourth captured, a sly smile formed. Suddenly, three of the screens focused on a man from different angles, an alpha to be exact.

So, the thugs weren't enough to take him down. No problem, they did their job. They were successful in flushing out not only this man, Lento, but a SVP operative as well. I have plans for him.

Another set of screens focused on another group of people. This time, it was a scientist and a young human woman. No, android. He wasn't entirely sure on what they were thinking about, but seeing that the scientist had the signs of sever fatigue, the Enigma called upon another plan of action.

Activating a speech console, the shadowy figure called to one of his personal servants...

"I'm sending the pictures and coordinates to you now. I want you and a group of men to... invite them into our little web. Initiate PROJECT:GHOST."

He was pleased with the silence on the other end. By how he pulled the strings, the silence was the simple answer for "yes sir". Looking onto two final screens, each a different view of two different subjects, he smiled again. One was focused on the SVP operative, restrained to a medical rack and equipment attached to her, the other focused on a Rezekan, data streaming across the screen, revealing vital signs and the like.

The Enigma had something important for these particular specimens. He wanted to see if they were willing to break old ties and build new bridges...

Lento held his breath silently, before listening intently to the reply, "It seemed you could use the help so I gave it, On other news whoever is hunting you really wants to see you; I detect multiple transmissions with you as the top topic of the day. My life signs detector is useless out in the open so I can only tell you to get out of LA with whatever transport you have available." Lento shook his head, before sighing hesitantly his mind already beginning to think of possibilities, "I now really must return to the rest of my listeners in the LA area, I can't deprive them of their entertainment for your sake all day you know. The weather in the LA area should be cloudy with short periods of rain later on and until 600 hours tomorrow, Thank you for listening to the BBC and now some music. today its every ones favorite comedians; Monty Python, "Always Look On The Bright Side of Life" Lento was fairly speechless at the revelation but grateful nevertheless. A few tense seconds passed before he closed his eyes, shutting off his implant ending the signal. Slumped against the wall Lento closed his eyes, he felt a weariness settle over him: Lento's mind spun on one objective, survival. Leaving Los Angeles would be the most wisest action.

Lento considered the variables intensely, the people who were hunting him would probably expect him to leave the planet and go into hiding. Lento however wasn't one for running, hiding perhaps but never running. Lento's mind was still set on revenge, and he wanted to know who was hunting him, to learn the odds of his situation. He'd decided to stay in the city, a impulsive and bold action, he'd hide in the city and lay low: perhaps he could contact some of the more shady people in the city, and exchange a favour for information. It seemed like a plan Lento pushed himself up, fighting off the weariness that had managed to settle upon him, his head shifted looking for a indirect route before walking off. Lento looked up seeing a busy street, he activated his cloaking implant and slowly began navigating his way throughout the crowd: being extra careful not to bump into anyone.