Once Jason disconnects, faced with the somehow threatening task of calling Akiko - for the first time in four years, how has time fled? - he's fortified himself with a quick shower and a change to a clean buttoned shirt and jeans that actually don't have holes or wrinkles, and wiped a depilatory pad over his chin to remove the stubble. But there's no escaping the inevitable doom.
Now Kimon stands beside him silently, and a thinscreen displays the words, "Call in progress: Akiko Summers." Her hold program features a cute cartoon fox in a kimono bowing apologetically and serving cartoon people tea and cookies while they wait, against a background of a tea house. Shamisen music tinkles from an unseen source.
RIU sits up on Jason's shoulder. Beep?
"Her message doesn't help," Jason grumbles as he fidgets about in his office chair. "It would have to be cute and distracting. How am I supposed to even tell her she might be in danger? First call in years and it's ... hey, you might have a target on your forehead! And ... I'm talking to myself again."
ping! The hold program disappears to be replaced with the live image of... Oh wow, is that Akiko Summers? She's grown up! No longer young and schoolgirl-ish, she's now a sophisticated-looking Asian woman, carefully made up in a ladies' business suit. Behind her is the office setting of Arcadia Investments, complete with the logo in gold directly above her head. "Jason!" she says happily. "How are you?"
Jason jerks upright when the call finally goes through and nearly dislodges the poor dragon on his shoulder. "Hi!" he replies reflexively as he tries to regain some composure. "I can't complain. Well, actually I can complain. A lot. But then RIU bites me," he babbles as he tries to remember why he called. "Sorry it's been so long. Time just ... gets away," he admits as he shifts his position a bit uncomfortably. "You haven't seen the news yet today ... have you?"
"You're not here about the simulation data we were supposed to get from Avatars, are you?" Akiko says, looking cutely perplexed. "I mean, I haven't heard from you in the longest while, surely you didn't call me just for small talk?"
"No, no ... " Jason says. "Are you alone right now? I mean ... no one is listening in?" he asks.
Akiko leans forward, which shadows her neckline - she has a neckline! Somehow Jason hadn't noticed until now. "I've got my own office, right outside my boss's, but we're safe unless she wants something. So are you calling for a date?" She smiles.
Jason shifts uncomfortably again. "After that mess four years ago ... I knew you wanted to have a normal life. Normal is rare for me, so I thought ... well ... you would prefer some time to just get everything back together. Then, well ... time passes and there's always something in the way and ... okay, I'm babbling," he admits and holds up his hand to collect himself for a second. "I'm sorry I haven't called. I wanted to, but ... it's stupid and I'm stupid. I've been afraid to. Something happened today, though, that forced me to get over it. Try to remain calm ... but Sasha has reappeared. And to make matters worse, she's working for a group that is creating those world bridges again ... only this time into that new game, the Gloaming. I'm sorry to drag you back into this ... but I'm worried you might be a target. We all might be. There was an attack in the Towers earlier today that may have been targeted at Holly's child, Tracy."
Akiko listens, at first touched by Jason's speech, then with growing incredulity. "Sasha? I thought... I prayed we were rid of her for good!" She seems a bit teary, then shakes her head. "How much of this can I tell Penny? My boss?"
"Nothing. The group Face Reality is behind the current mess, but they have big backers. I haven't figured out who they are yet. Until then, the less that know, the better," Jason says as he rubs his face. "Too many unknowns still ... and I need to be sure you are safe. I know I haven't ... I mean. I don't know what I would do if you were hurt again. Is the building you live in now safe? Good security?"
Akiko says, "The best! Penny -- Ms. Arcadia -- hires Eagle Security, not knockoffs like Irongrip Security." She wrinkles her nose. "I'm not worried about myself. At least not while I'm at work..."
"I probably worry enough about you for two people," Jason admits. "Randall has gone to pick up Tracy and get her someplace safe. I've ... spent the day annoying Sasha remotely. If she pieces the clues together she'll figure out it was me. And well ... I'm far enough away from large populations any attacks would be low collateral damage at least."
Akiko tilts her head. "So wait, you're inviting attack? You finally call me after four years, after rejecting all those letters I sent you, you didn't even make your clone's incineration, and you call me now to tell me how much you worry about me and you want to get attacked to draw off fire?" She looks skyward. "Give me patience, Maker!"
"If any of us have to be in the line of fire, I would rather it be me than any of ... wait," Jason says. He blinks several times, then looks to RIU. "You sent me letters? When? I never got any letters from you. And what's this about my clone's incineration? I never heard anything about that, either. When did you send this? How did you send the information?" he asks Akiko when he looks back.
RIU looks at Jason blankly. Apparently it recalls no letters either.
"Kimon, records check please," Jason says to his mobile-computer. "How many personal letters have I received in the past four years?" he asks, "Were any about a clone or from Akiko?"
Akiko pulls up a screen. "Let's see... Um. Last one was about a year ago. They were done examining the body they'd recovered, you know, the copy of you that I saved..." She blushes. "But said that the HRA required them to incinerate the body. Prevent, you know, someone from stealing your identity. They asked if we wanted to watch, to, like, be sure that the clone was destroyed." Tears begin to well in her eyes again; she dabs at one with a handkerchief.
After a brief search, Jason nails it down. Someone's added a line to his spam filter that rejects Akiko's mail, and anything from the HIE - the Human Individuality Enforcement agency that was created to enforce the laws against human replication. They were the people who received the body of Jason Zero, or so Randall called it - him, whatever - back when, for 'further investigation'.
Akiko is happy, if surprised that Jason needs the emails, to fill in the blanks from what she's received. They diagnosed the replicant as an ordinary clone and disposed of the body two years ago. She still has a small vial with the ashes in her apartment in the Towers.
Jason sits back, his brow twisted in astonishment. "I never received any of this," he says, "Not one. I wasn't ignoring you, I never got it. I just assumed you were happy and had your life back in order. I didn't want to bring up bad memories and .. well, being afraid to call and ... " He has to stop there and rub his temples. "And who would have put a filter in to block you? I would have never done that. Christ. And how did they? I don't believe this."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," Akiko says, looking as if she wants to be there to give Jason a hug. Or maybe to get a hug. "And really, I have gotten better about learning to be independent. All that time of being in that simulation... I did need some time to myself."
"You didn't upset me," Jason says, "This does. I would have replied. Someone has deliberately ..." That's when something comes to him. "You still have the ashes? May I have them? I want to be sure that they're of the clone. What if the person who set the block was the clone? It is my system. I can't fathom who else would have done it."
Akiko hesitates a moment. "All right, did you want them right now? I could add you to my apartment access. Or tonight, when I go home?"
"I can meet you there tonight. I would feel odd being in your apartment without you there," Jason admits. "And speaking of learning to be independent ... and you can tell me to drop it if you want ... can you still contact Inari? She will be a possible target too. And to make matters worse, I isolated one of Face Reality's headquarters to a city in Califorina ... which is close to her last I knew."
"Inari!" Akiko looks surprised. "Well, I mean, sure, I call her every now and then, but she's always got her entourage--" she pronounces each syllable, to give it ostentatiousness. "-- with her. And if not them, at least those cambots that're always floating around. I always feel pretty awkward talking, y'know, serious stuff in front of them. Being memorialized for posterity, even if it's minute #7550 in the daily log."
"I can't say that her little groupies make me feel much better. I don't like any sort of public attention," Jason admits, "I haven't spoken with her in four years either. Though, ah ... have you heard her new song?"
Akiko smiles. "Yes. I'm not much into that kind of music, I like Zen Techno more, but I do keep an Inari sub paid up." She leans forward. "So, you want me to warn Inari? What should I say?"
"Something vague that she'll understand. Maybe something like 'the hunter and her panther is searching for old prey'. Something song-liric-y to not attract too much attention but she would understand. Her recent song is a result of that, sort of. I make an anonymous posting to her fan site that seemed to get her attention," Jason admits.
"I'm honestly worried that since she is an artificial construct from what was VR, she will soon be a high target for Face Reality," Jason admits.
"You did!" Akiko grins. "I'm kind of jealous, maybe I should have become a famous musician myself so I could get fun anonymous posts from you."
"It did stir up the rumor mill on the site, I must admit," Jason says as he looks towards the ceiling. "May I ask ... do you miss her? You to were rather close ... then to be separated. And now to where your talks aren't even ... very close anymore. I can't really imagine how that might feel."
Akiko smiles wistfully. "Yeah... She was my Avatar back when. I used to hug her all the time, like a pet dog. We never could have one, apartment rules back when, where we lived. And then Blake happened, and it all became a twisted nightmare. Suddenly we were the bad guys. And sometimes it wasn't even we, just I and me." She shivers, looking lonely. "I miss her."
"Maybe you should go to her? I bet she misses you too. A lot of her behavior seems like ... I dunno. I've never been good with people, but it seems like she's trying to fill something that's missing by surrounding herself with a lot of fake things," Jason suggests, then shrugs. "I know I would miss RIU if he left ... even if he does sometimes wake me up by licking my ear."
RIU nips Jason's ear on cue.
"Maybe! It'd be just a bummer we can't talk about anything real in front of all those cameras," Akiko says. She smiles, looking somehow comforted by RIU and Jason's interplay. "All right, vague warning about a hunter and her panther, and see if she wants me to visit, and we have a date tonight, say, 7, after work?"
The word 'date' makes Jason twitch. "Right, tonight at 7. If I don't show up, assume something bad has happened and you may want to contact the police," he admits. He does actually manage a smile finally and says, "It has been good talking to you. Sorry it has been so long. Completely my fault."
"Not your fault! Mr. X," Akiko says, raising a finger. "Let's call whomever it is messing with your business Mr. X, until we know better. And you're going to track him down and give him a holy what-for, right?"
"Well, if I have to shoot him he might end up pretty hole-y," Jason agrees as he rubs his chin as if considering it. "Now ... be careful. Keep a good eye out for anything unusual right now. And ... if you need a safe house, don't hesitate to call me. I've got room ... even if it is a bit junky. I'll see you tonight."
Akiko smiles. "And Jason... It's so good to hear from you again!"
"You too," Jason says as he leans forward and presses the disconnect button. "Well, she didn't threaten to kill me," he confesses to RIU once the line is silent.
RIU beeps happily!
Beep! "You have an incoming call from Holly Trudeau," Kimon says.
"She also needs to not lean in so much, it was distracting," Jason remarks as he leans forward again to press the 'accept' key. "Sargent Pepper's Sausage Factory, Chief Kielbasa speaking," he deadpans.
"No time for that," Holly says as her image pops up. She looks quite frazzled. "Just give me a straight answer, Jason, did you have anything to do with crashing Blake Forester's Q-Core?"
"Excuse me?" Jason asks as he sits up right. "I don't know what you're talking about, outside of what happened four years ago. The only dealings with a Q-Core I've had remotely recently was identifying that Face Reality has one, and it's running an AD named Hecate."
"Someone crashed Blake Forester's Q-core and when it came back up, it was wiped," Holly states. "It had all the simulation data for North Bend, back from when Arcadia wanted us to model it before and after his arcology project. We were going to turn it over to Ms. Arcadia today... until that happened." The tiny Chinese woman leans forward, inspecting Jason.
"I knew nothing about that," Jason says rather flatly, "except that is the second reference I heard of it today. Akiko mentioned some simulation data they were expecting when I called her. I just got off the phone with her in fact. Call her and verify it if you don't believe me. Why are you suddenly blaming me for this?"
"Because, my daughter is going to go find a safe place, and I'm pretty sure based on where she's spent a lot of time lately that it's going to be at your place," Holly says. "And well, how many superhackers do I know who can break into a Q-core with no trace at all?"
"Another artificial deity. Palmdale, California. Name, Hecate, address to follow. Know operators, Sasha Knightley. It has already been doing data wipes to mask its massive power draws," Jason remarks, sounding rather annoyed that he's being accused of wiping an old system. "What reason would I have for wiping old simulation data?"
Holly sighs. "I have no idea! That data has been sitting for years now, we cleared the last of anyone we could track down out of it three years ago. And good grief, was that a project. All right, the security robots I have landing at your place in an hour won't be set to 'kill and ask questions later' then. Here's the authorization code for them. Just remember this is a loan, I want 'em back in good condition later, okay?"
"We're dealing with Sasha. I can make no promises," Jason notes as his fingers tap on the desk. "Holly, do you remember that copy of me Akiko rescued?"
"The My First Implant Operation Jason? Sure I do," Holly says, looking confused. She looks offscreen, types furiously, appearing to be monitoring three different things at once.
"Do you know he was supposedly incinerated?" Jason asks next. "Or that Akiko tried to contact me about it, but someone rigged it so that my mail blocked any messages from her or from the division that deals with cloning?"
"No! I didn't!" says Holly, her eyes widening.
"I'm going to pick up the ashes tonight. Something about this seems ... fishy. Especially since I was deliberately kept out of the loop," Jason says. "I don't think he was incinerated. He may also be in the middle of this mess, somehow, including the wipe of your simulation data. At least that is where my gut is leading me."
Holly looks troubled. "Jason, Randall's in trouble too." She winces. "Oh my God! They scored a hit! I've got a satellite feed, he's going down in the Dregs. Looks like that vehicle robbery gang."
"What?" Dammit," Jason blurts as his hands slam down on his desk. "Looks like the prototype is about to get its first field test. Get me the coordinates," he says as he gets up from his desk and kicks the access lever for his elevator and in-process armor. "Keep talking. Tell me what the satellite feed shows while I get ready to go get them."
Holly says tersely, switching to situation monitor mode, "Looks like they've got three Road Warriors. Each equipped with a missile launcher. Two fired first, kept him busy dodging them, then the third one launched last. Close airburst. Mara just fell from the sky. I think they're still alive..."
"They are still alive, don't ever think otherwise," Jason says as the floor splits and up comes his lift. He eyes his armor warily, given he has had only a few field tests of the tesla-based bolt system and muscular assists, not to mention the modified thrust-jet propulsion system, but now's hardly the time to hesitate. After lifting RIU off his shoulder, he tells him. "You'll need to cloak, but you're coming with me." And with that, he steps into the primer-gray painted boots and leans back into the harness. "System sync, neural control, access key already encoded," he tells the assembly. "Enclose and power up," he adds, then holds his breath. Hydraulics around him hiss as the assembly comes to life! Section by section the armor closes in around him and lock-bolts clamp down. The segmented metal then slides and settles down, skinning it in overlapping places of durable alloy. While this happens, Jason' can't help but feel like he's going into a coffin.
RIU chirps worriedly! He perches on the newly attached armor's shoulder.
The HUD kicks on when the helmet closes up. It's an odd mix of what looks like a streamlined bike helmet combined with a shirt 'muzzle' and slid-back pointed 'ears' (probably standard sensor inputs). So ... it have a vaguely 'kimon' shape to the helmet, but but stops short of appearing to be completely foxlike. "Any further updates?" he asks in a rather metallic-sounding voice due to the speaker system and distortion electronics. The harness releases and he steps out of it. Thankfully walking is relatively simple control so that he manages well enough when he goes to check on Holly.
Holly says distractedly, "It looks like they've loaded him on a vehicle. Now they're driving to... They must be trying to lose anyone tracking them by satellite, they're heading for a tunnel-- Jason, what in the world is that?"
"Probably my coffin," Jason remarks as he gets the final coordinates. "I've got to go after them before they get too far. If I can contact you later, I will. If it reaches seven and I haven't contacted you ... call Akiko and tell her what is going on. And ... apologize for me. Kimon, disconnect call once I leave the building." He goes to one of the wall-lockers now and grabs the duffel that has Tracy's stolen sneak-suit in it; she might need it after all. "RIU ... I hope you can hold on, this is going to be a bumpy ride."
"My God, what have you been doing," Holly muses. She shakes her head. "Understood, but you come back, you hear? My daughter needs someone to keep an eye on her if she won't let me take care of her."
"Like she listens to me, either," Jason quips, "Kimon, keep the place safe!" With that, Jason heads towards the back secret exit. "The jets should work. The physics models all checked out. Should respond to my neural controls..." he thinks.
"Affirmative," Kimon responds. RIU clings to Jason's armor snugly, little claws hooked into carry points.
Holly gives Jason the information on where the Road Warriors went into the tunnel system - a disused subway system.
Once out the back door, he checks the coordinates on the HUD Holly provided. "Right, must keep low to avoid too much attention, he thinks, "Should be other entrances ... will use one of those. Now ... lets see if I don't fly myself into a building!" With coordinates in hand, he tries to activate the complex flight system of control jets, thrust jets, and gyroscopes! "Up up and away? No ... too silly," he decides.
Power system... Check! Guidance system... Check! Thrusters... Warming up, and check! The suit lifts off slowly. Under normal power, it looks like it will be enough to move Jason at a running pace, at least if he wants to be fully manueverable. And there's the rub: while he's run simulations of that, wanting to be able to fight in the air as effectively as Randall and Mara (and the irony is bittersweet), he's never tested ballistic mode, which he'll need to engage if he wants to pick up enough speed to catch up with those vehicles.
"No time to be careful. If I don't go all out, they'll go six feet under," Jason thinks grimly. "Thruster increase in ten percent every ten seconds to ninety-percent capacity. Now!"
Flames light up under Jason's feet, first red then increasing up the scale. Orange, yellow, blue-white... He's keeping low to the ground, concentrating on avoiding incoming buildings and vehicles, and the limits of North Bend proper (or the Old City at any rate) are coming up at surprising speed. It's working! But it's a significant drain on the batteries.
"Go go! Have to catch up to them quickly!" Jason pushes it, frowning within its confines. "Tracy is certain to say something stupid soon and get herself killed."
Battery power drops. 90%... 80%... 70%... Jason estimates he'll be at 50% charge when he gets to the tunnel, and he has no idea where to go from there. Beneath him stretch the heaps and piles of trash that make up the Dregs, with red-black smoke billowing away from the smokestacks of the refinery where the junk gets reduced to its component elements in order to be remade. Ahead is just a tiny blob of grey concrete, the old train station.
"If they used a vehicle, there should be marks to follow in the dirt," Jason decides. "Might be able to find power lines to tap and recharge, too. Think. Why would they even bother shooting them down? Someone had to have hired them..."
The train station takes on form as he approaches. Everything looks eerily different through the helmet display, with lines marking interesting objects, and text appearing beneath them with an onboard analysis when he turns to look at something. A wireframe of the station constructs itself in the air as he studies it. Parking lot surrounding it. Stairs to access the upper level, that connected to an elevated tram to North Bend, long fallen into ruins. Big open loading zone for cargo vehicles to drive in and be unloaded. The Road Warrior vehicles should have driven into that, and with the tracks being unused, they could have just driven on the rail to wherever the trains used to run.
Jason cuts back the propulsion now as he approaches ... and lands within walking distance of the station. "Okay, RIU, be wary. Do you sense or see anyone?" he asks his dragon-companion as he starts towards the structure, hoping his primer-grey armor blends in fairly well and makes him harder to see.
RIU pops into invisibility, a shimmer-effect running down his scales from head to nosetip as he engages his active camouflage ability. He darts off to scout around the station.
Paydirt! Jason's vision gets doubled as he's now able to see what RIU does. Tracks! While the Road Warriors may have eluded overhead surveillance by going underground, they did nothing to hide the dust and ground-up debris that clings to their tires. RIU darts into the tunnel to track it, then pauses when it's getting to the edge of its range from Jason.
Jason nods, the synthetic muscles mimicing the movement. He now moves up to follow RIU. "Better sensors may be in order," he ponders as he heads for the tunnel to join the mini-dragon.
The trail leads past several junctions to an underground station, where they've pulled up. RIU perches invisibly - though Jason senses that RIU won't be able to keep that up much longer, and doesn't have enough power to zap them - and watches as they unload the trucks. This must be where they keep all the ill-gotten spoils of their raids, judging from the crates! Twelve armed men, and they look like they lean toward the Spazztic! side of armaments. They are unloading Mara, who looks to be unconscious. Randall isn't immediately visible but he could be in the station offices.
"Go ahead and decloak so you can recharge," Jason nudges his friend. He then starts looking over the crates, trying to determine if any happen to be explosives. "And ... think you can find Tracy and take her this duffel? Or ... is it too big for you?"
RIU sends a mental beep to Jason, being smart enough not to beep in proximity to the thugs. While Jason can't be sure, it sounds like RIU is reluctant to get too far away from Jason.
"S'ok," Jason thinks. He gets an idea and looks for a crate nearby that he could fit in ... and just spy for a bit until he gets a hint where Tracy and Randall are.
It's hard to be sure about explosives, given the metalloceramic crates aren't marked as such, but they do bear manufacturers' markings - Eagle Security, Spazztic!, Einhorn... The last being mostly construction machinery people, but they do manufacture large military-used security robots. Prising one of the crates open might attract some attention, but it should be easy to hide behind a stack of them. As long as the armor doesn't creak.
"Military-use robots, hmm?" Jason ponders, then smiles inside his suit. "Now if I can get behind one and if it has a control panel .. may be I can get a little help... Heheh."
"I can't believe I'm doing this. I am so shaving off Randall's mustache in revenge," Jason thinks as he keeps the armor suit low as she slowly moves it through the collection of crates. Soon he parks himself behind one of the crates containing construction, or military, robots.
Not a minute too soon. A short swarthy man - Mr. Desoto - steps out of the offices. "You! Carl and Eric! Go and sweep the tracks. They send people down to track down that flyboy soon." The two men he names grumble, but head for one of the aircars.
"Ah, it's mister slimeball himself," Jason thinks grimly from his hiding place. He poeers at the crate he's near, trying to see if there's a way inside so he could modify the robot within to be an ally. So, for now he's planning and looking .. and waiting to see if any clues about just what they're up to makes itself known.
Mr. Desoto eyes the wyvern being brought into one of the garages warily. "The pay had better be worth it," he mutters. "Hate dealing with live cargo. If the drugs do not keep this one under..." He brings out his PDA and studies it.
"Heh, he was hired to get Mara. Great. RIU, how is your power level?" Jason asks his dragon friend. It's now he decides to take a gamble ... and open the crate in front of him. Any allies would be welcome at this point.
Jason stops mid-reach for the crate. His attention switches to the implant ... and looking for a carrier signal he can use to hook into the PDA! "Lets see what you have ... and if I can cause some problems with fake alerts..." he thinks.
Bzzt... Static. And then there it is, the clear tone of a carrier. In VR, it looks much the same as any other PDA that Jason has ever broken, a plain sphere surrounded with totally standard cryptographic defenses that look like Tetris shapes. Of course just because they're standard doesn't mean they're trivial; they work against most standard intrusion.
"Time to bit-diddle!" Jason thinks as he wiggles virtual fingers. "It's just a matter of spatial recognition and proper shape rotation. Lets see..."
Rotate here, slide there... And hey, presto! The security layers fade away before Jason's eyes, opening it up like a walnut to expose the meat. Mr. Desoto's contact lists, recent calls log, his inventory of merchandise, a report from his prostate specialist... If more people knew how much Jason could get out of their PDAs any time he wanted, they'd be investing in heavily secured computers like his.
"Now, who hired you to get Mara ... and what are you looking at?" Jason wonders as he tries to bring up the current display.
"Size of a grapefruit? Desoto, that's one heck of a prostate," Jason boggles. "How do you pee?"
It takes a little digital sleuthing but it looks like Mr. Desoto received a call earlier this morning - before the attack! - asking Mav's Mavericks to keep station at a certain point and be ready to intercept a certain flier, then to bring them in, alive if possible, and hold them for later pickup in a day's time, in exchange for N$150,000 - a very large amount of money. They were to use concussive warheads to do this. The caller was anonymous, but the trail leads toward... Jason is not surprised: Irongrip Security.
"/Figures," Jason scowls, "/Bastards are really getting under my skin./" His mind flurries as he thinks. Simple distraction may be best here. News alert. The hacker tries to locate the PDA news feed system and inject a new headline: "Police tired of Dregs Gangs after a firefight just earlier. SWAT team in-route and National Guard called as backup to arrest the gang members." Hopefully that will get Desoto to dispatch more people to defend the tunnels ... and make dealing with those here that much simpler.
Mr. Desoto peers at his PDA. "Ah! Of course. I should let him know his merchandise is ready." A line of light burns in the sphere's core as he attempts to call someone... A certain Jason Edwards.
"He should get a message system since I'm not there," Jason thinks as he eyes the call. It's not like he can answer it right now!
A picture of Kimon, virtually speaking, appears on the PDA screen. "Jason Edwards isn't here right now, but if you leave your name and contact information he will return your call when he is back in the office," the faux-fox says in a cheerful, if mechanical-laced voice.
Mr. Desoto grumbles. "This is Desoto," he says. "We have the merchandise you requested. You'd better have the money for it. Meet in..." He gives the address for a warehouse not far from where Jason lives. "Tonight, at 1 AM."
"Message recorded," Kimon states, "Have a good day."
Jason hopes that Desoto soon spots the news alert ... but now it's time to get some backup. So ... he tries to carefully, and quietly, open the crate with the robot.
Mr. Desoto closes the call. He studies his PDA again, then calls Carl and Eric. "Finish up your sweeping, then get back here," he says.
If this were a standard military issue powered armor suit, Jason would be terribly out of luck - but luckily, he's built micromanipulators into it! A little fiddling with the electronic lock that holds the case shut and then he's able to open it up on its well-oiled hinges to reveal the gun-arm assembly unit for an Einhorn Crowd Protection Mecha. The entire thing is as big as Jason's body. It doesn't appear to be loaded however.
"Plenty of ammo down here and ... plenty of thumping strength," Jason decides as he tries to locate the control system (and peek to see if there is any ammo in the crate with the bot), "I just need you to go on a rampage and keep them all busy while I get Randall and Mara..."
"Crap," Jason realizes when he determines the crate isn't useful by itself. So ... he'll check the next one.
According to the manifest in Desoto's PDA, there's a wide range of weapons, ammo for said weapons, explosives, parts for robots... The problem is that armed robots aren't usually shipped ready-to-use; they're disassembled, to prevent unfortunate accidents should one become active in shipping, and reassembled at the other end by skilled technicians. If Jason can manage to avoid notice, which could be difficult, he might be able to rig up a variety of traps. Or an explosive distraction. But on the whole, this looks like it will be really hard for him to take on single-handed.
Jason has to think about this, then curse mentally. "This isn't going to work. But ... there is an alternate way. He wants to meet at 1AM? Fine. We'll meet, and I'll take you prisoner ... and we'll do a swap. Or I'll kill you, depending on my mood you ..." he thinks darkly. Randall is one of the closest friends he has and feeling this helpless brings out his darker tendencies. "Fine. Time to leave and take the battle to my turf. Lets go, RIU."
beep A text-only message appears on Jason's monitor. "Tracy is here in the workshop. She wishes to know if you need her to prepare or do something."
That at least makes Jason feel better; Tracy isn't here too. Randall is tough. Tracy is ... Tracy. "Have her call her mother and get the security bots ASAP. We need them for a rescue tonight. End message," Jason thinks.
The aircar with Carl and Eric returns. "Reporting in, Mr. Desoto," Carl says. "Swept the tracks pretty clean, up and down the way." Mr. Desoto nods. "Good work. Let's button down. Get these crates inside!"
There are a few tense moments when Jason puts an armored boot down wrong and they turn to see what that was... But luckily for Jason, it's always explainable as one of the other eleven men having picked up or dropped something just then! He gets far enough away that he can activate his flight system to scoot.
"Engage ... lets get out of here and get home! We have an assault to plan," Jason thinks as he engages his suit. "And sorry for endangering you, RIU. I just ... it's Randall, you know?"
RIU beeps consolingly at Jason, rubbing its head against the side of his helmet. And holding on, of course.
Being angry, though, does cause Jason to burn at full power again. Which also leads him to realize he has to add battery capacity ... and strength. The trip wasn't without some benefits, it helped him see where is weakness are. And ... that the people and their Avatar's are a target. It's only a matter of time before he's next on the list ... and Akiko and Inari. Dammit!