It’s dark when Mike pulls up to his residence. A large white suburban home that accurately reflects his income. All the lights are off, which must mean his wife and kids are asleep at this point. Damn it, he thinks, I promised Evelyn I’d be home by nine. He parks the car in the driveway and steps out.
“Alright Wren, welcome home, or at least for however long you’re going to stay. Oh! Umm, you don’t need a-”
“No. I can use human amenities adequately.”
“Good. Good. I guess I should treat you like a guest then.”
Mike walks up the curved path to the front door, Wren in tow. He steps onto the porch and waves his hand in front of the motion-sensor light. It turns on, and he starts fiddling around with his keys.
“I should really get that fixed.”
“Uhhh, Mike?”
“Yeah?”
Mike feels something touch the back of his shin. He turns around to look, thinking Wren wanted to tell him something. Instead, he was met with a smelly pink technicolor abomination pawing at his suit.
“Hewwo nice mistah? Fwuffy am vewwy hungwy. Hab nummies?”
“Gah! Fuck! I just had this suit ironed yesterday!”
He kicks the fluffy, more so launching it than intending it to hurt, sending it spiralling out onto the lawn like a football- illuminated faeces spinning in every direction.
“SCREEEEEEEEEEE!”
“God damn it, I don’t have time to visit the dry cleaner tomorrow. Fuck. I’ll just have to buy another suit leg before work tomorrow.”
“So… that’s what these things are like. And they’re, everywhere?” Wren asks inquisitively.
“You haven’t met them before? You’re quite literally made by the same company.”
“Yes, but as far as I know non-commercial models don’t spend much time outside their sites if they’re not on deployment. I’ve only seen them from a distance.”
“Huh, the more you know I guess.”
“Pwease nice mistah- kaff nee’… nummies’ kaff fow… speshuw fwie-” The pink fluffy had the audacity to try again. Mike sighs before taking a breath.
“I don’t care you little shit. Now get the hell off my lawn before I shoot you like a three-pointer.”
The faecal-covered mess runs off into the night, its wails fading into the distance. When did the world become so awful? Mike thinks, before realizing he said it aloud.
Mike is microwaving some leftovers for himself, the TV quietly humming in the other room while Wren watches some sort of adult comedy. His wife creeps down the stairs past the den entrance. She’s wearing a blue robe that hangs down to her shins. She sneaks up on Mike.
“Hey.”
Mike jumps in surprise.
“Jesus, you scared me. Hey hun.”
They kiss briefly.
“Mike, you told me you would be home by 9.”
“Well… I… had more work to do than I expected. I couldn’t leave the office until 8.” This, of course, was a complete fabrication. Mike had only remembered that he had to leave earlier as he was walking out of the door. “Look, Evelyn. I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you somehow.”
“Mike, it’s not about me. It’s about the kids. They barely get to see you. Ethan is always telling me how he wishes you were here with us. I want to see you be a father more. Please, just, be home for dinner tomorrow. We really want to see you.”
“OK. I promise.”
“Alright, I’ll hold you to that. And, who’s that in the living room? Please tell me you didn’t buy a fluffy. You know neither of us have time to take care of one.”
“Evelyn, that’s Wren. I got her from a job at work. Look. I know you might be against this decision, but they were gonna kill her. I couldn’t just stand by and let them do that.”
“Mike, it’s a toy.”
“It… no- she, has feelings. Emotions. She can think and talk just like we do. Please, just give it a chance okay? If things go south we can make her leave, but right now she’s not hurting anything.”
Evelyn thinks for a moment.
“Fine. But … she- has to stay in the guest room. And you’ll have to buy all the things she needs.”
“Look, I’ll catch you up on everything later. I’m going to make dinner for the both of us. See you upstairs in a few?”
“Alright, come up when you’re done. I’m going back to bed.”
Evelyn leaves the room and ascends again, Wren watching her as she passes. Mike brings two plates of food into the room and sits on the couch next to her.
“Well kiddo, looks like you can stay.”
“I’m thirty years old.”
The next morning consisted of Mike’s usual wake-up routine. Waking up 10 minutes too late, taking a cold shower and cleaning up. He decides to go check on Wren in the guest room, however she’s not there. Strange. Maybe she left in the middle of the night. Either way, he’d find out soon enough. Mike makes his way downstairs where Evelyn, his 13 year old son Ethan and 10 year old daughter Neve were eating in the kitchen. Evelyn and Ethan were at the table, with a coffee and cereal respectively. Neve was on the floor with- there she was. Wren was playing with Neve- not as he had seen other families playing with pets, but as an elder would play with a child. It was good to see they were getting along.
“Hey. Good morning. You were out cold when I woke up, so I decided to get up first. Coffee is on the stove.”
“Thanks hun. Hey Ethan. Have any plans for today?”
“I’m going out to see a movie with Sean and Diego today.”
“Oh, that’s good. Make sure your mom gives you money to buy snacks.”
Evelyn had been trying to get the kids to eat healthier, so she shoots him a glance.
“Ok.”
“Daddy you didn’t forget about me did you?” Neve gets up from her previous occupation and runs over to Mike.
“Ohh come on, I didn’t forget about you. You’re my second favorite child.” Neve frowns at this. “C’mere you little rascal.” She comes closer and Mike puts her on his lap.
“How about you Wren? Did you sleep well?
“Fine enough. I’m still concerned BRIET could pin my location.”
“Unlikely, but you have these guys around to report if anyone tries to break into the house.” Neve hops off his lap to continue interrogating Wren.
“Oh, and Ev?”
“Yeah?”
“A fluffy went #2 all over the porch and lawn.”
“Eeeeeeewwww,” Neve burst into a fit of laughter at this.
“At this point, I’m not surprised anymore. I’ll call cleaning services later.”
“Thanks.”
Mike pulls out his phone to scroll through emails. A couple questions, some advertising, and his heart drops. An email from Sherry West. Damnit, he thinks, this day was going so well too. He takes a sip of coffee. He starts reading.
Dear Micheal Collins,
*You’re needed at HQ at 10:00 today. You will be on deployment- your transport will be here at 11:00. Your packet briefing will be on your desk. Be ready by then, and don’t be late. *
Regards, Director West
Mike almost spits out his coffee.
“Hey Ev, I need to leave now.”
“Really? But you just got here.”
“I just got an email from the Head Director at HQ. She wants me there by ten.”
Evelyn has a very evident look of disappointment on her face.
“Alright. Go. I knew what I signed up for when I married you. Just, be here by dinner. Okay?”
“I-”
“What?”
“Nothing. I’ll see you later. Make something for Wren when you leave.”
“Sure.”
As he pulls out of the driveway, he notices a splatter of pink and red at the other end of his street.
Mike drove as fast as he could to work, almost getting into an accident. It would be an ironic way to die considering what he did for a living. He arrives at the office at 10:03, 2 minutes before his pre-assignment briefing starts. He takes the stairs, running at full speed to grab his packet and bolt to the meeting room. He slows his pace and casually but unconvincingly walks through the glass door just as the last person at the conference table sits down. He takes his place next to Varenna.
“Impeccable timing as usual,” she whispers sarcastically.
Mike sets down his folder, plus other documents he managed to grab on his way there. There are a total of 9 people in the room. One at the front, the ECD Special Forces director- a chubby balding man with rim glasses that looked like he should have retired 20 years ago, two other young ECD operative pairs that are participating in the mission, and a couple other men in suits with clipboards he doesn’t know. The SPD speaks up.
“Good morning all. I hope you slept well, you’re going to need it. I hope you all read your briefings, they contain vital information to the mission. As you all know we will be performing an extraction protocol at a sub compound belonging to Hasbio’s Bio Research Initiation of Experimental Technology, or BRIET. Our target is a man named John Simmons. Rumor has it that he is a senior level bio-engineer at BRIET. Our sources say that he will be at a supposedly “abandoned” warehouse that BRIET is occupying, using it to develop an unknown bioweapon we only know as “Dominion.” Now, there are three teams. You and your partner will be acting as a team here, independent from the others. You two,” he gestures at a duo sitting across the table, a young black man and a latino woman, “will be team A. Your assignment will be handled outside the facility. The BRIET compound is supposedly expecting a team of routine inspectors from somewhere higher up the chain at 1:30 sharp, no later. Your job is to find, eliminate, and take the place of these inspectors. Where they are coming from we do not know. You will have to find them before they come in contact with security at the BRIET compound. Use your inside access to find out anything you can about this “Dominion” and report back to HQ. You will be supplied extra document alteration kits to complete your task, and your failsafe protocol is detailed in your briefing. Any questions?”
“No.”
“No.”
“Good. Then I expect you to pull everything off without a hitch. You two,” he gestures to the other duo across the table, a pair of men with blonde and dark hair respectively,” are team B. You are the failsafe for our friends inside the compound. You will subdue and take down any excess guards, and create a clear route of escape for team A and C. We do not know the layout of the warehouse nor it’s guard schedule, so your job will be mostly winging it. Your secondary objective is to take any documentation you may find and secure it. Do not let this compromise your main objective. You need to have an escape cleared by exactly 2:00 sharp, or you risk everyone’s lives inside the compound. At the change of the hour, open fire on the remainder of the guards and create a distraction for our teams to get out. Are we clear?”
“Yup.”
“Crystal.”
“And lastly team C. You’re the crown jewel of this whole operation. Extract our man, unharmed and unscathed. Get in, get out and don’t be noticed. Find a way into the compound and abduct John Simmons, and have him subdued and portable before 2:00. When you hear the gunshots, you move with the target to the evac. You cannot fail. Understand?” Both V and Mike nod their heads. “Then it’s time to move out. Suit up, gather all your tactical gear requirements in your briefings and get up to the roof. Your transport is waiting for you there. Do not let us down.”
Everyone files quickly out of the room, down the stairs to B2. The armory is a massive underground space deep below HQ. It was originally an underground cave system before the CIA filled in the exits and built a base on top. Other branches would periodically come here to restock on weaponry occasionally, and the compound acted as an arms supplier to other semi-national sites. Mike and Varenna access their lockers and gear up, stripping their suits in favor of black gear, collecting the items granted on their lists. At 11 sharp, all six agents ride the elevator to F6, which was an antechamber to the helipad. Two black helicopters were waiting for them, along with a team of inactives in each. The two guys take the left chopper, and the other two teams take the right. The helis lift off, and set off for NYC.
Some time later Mike and Varressa find themselves perched on top of a buildings across the street from the compound. The location is poor and almost abandoned, most of the buildings having long been neglected. There is a mesh wire fence surrounding the warehouse, topped by barbed wire rounds. They would have to cut through it. Varenna looks through her binoculars at the guard posted outside the warehouse, who is bearing a modified assault rifle.
“Aaand 3… 2… 1… Change.” The guard walks around the corner, leaving his post empty. “So we have about three minutes to get over there, cut the wire, get through, disable the cameras and get on top, all without being noticed. I don’t see how this could go wrong.” She hands Mike something, putting it on his lap. He’s lying face-up in the sun.
“Is this the camera-freezing thing?”
“Yup.”
“Cool.”
“You don’t seem like you’re taking this very seriously.”
“I mean, I was. An hour ago. We’ve been on this rooftop for two hours, in the baking hot sun. I feel like I’m going to have a stroke.”
“Yeah, well you can have a stroke after the mission is over. Every second counts here.” She resumes watching. “Guard’s back. Different guy. Guess they don’t want to be in the sun either.”
“Hey V, remember that fluffy that tried to attack the Head?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“I adopted it.”
“I figured.”
“How so?”
“Imagine my surprise when I go out and buy popcorn, only to find out later Affairs cancelled the execution. A shame really. Now I’m down six bucks and up a box of popcorn I won’t use.”
Mike sits up and shoots her a dirty look.
“Relax, I was kidding. I’m sure you have a good reason for what you do.”
“Most of the time I don’t, actually.”
“Well, that’s what I like to think. Don’t shatter my immersion please. It’s fragile.”
“Uuuuuuggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-” The radio cuts off Mike’s cry of suffering.
“Come in B and C. We have eliminated the targets and taken their position. It’s time to go. I repeat, we have eliminated the targets. Get ready.”
Varenna responds. “Roger that A. Moving in on the compound.” She re-attaches the walkie and checks her stopwatch. Twenty-one seconds. Mike, get ready. We’re moving on the dot. Remember the plan?”
“Yeah. You cut the wires, I disable the cameras, we move as fast as we can and get up and over before anyone knows we’re here.”
“Good. So you were listening. Ten seconds.” … “Let’s move.”
Mike and Varenna jump over the ledge of the building from their concealed outpost- just as the guard walks away from his post, pulling his shirt from the heat. They run down the rusty fire escape of the abandoned condo and cross the deserted street. Mike quickly spies a feral herd of biotoys crossing the street maybe a quarter of a mile down. Varenna immediately gets to work with the bolt cutters while Mike pulls out the device, a miniature rifle of sorts that fires concentrated bolts of electromagnetic energy. It is designed to disable any security cameras by manipulating the voltage flowing to the camera, making the camera stop functioning as normal and only “record” a still image for a few minutes. This fools the system and thus the person watching it that the still frame is the actual footage. A simple trick, but effective if used sparingly. Varessa cuts the last wire and pushes through, bending the wire up and crawling under. Mike does the same, V helping him up and they make a mad dash to the side of the building with thirty seconds left on the clock. They each pull out their grappling devices and aim for the highest point on the building, each catching successfully. They release the switches and start hopping up the wall. Mike makes it up before V, and gives her a helping hand as she reaches the top. V’s foot slips. She’s now hanging only by Mike’s hand. His adrenaline surges even more and he pulls her up with the strength of two men. They each immediately flatten themselves against the roof of the building as they hear a door slam close and footsteps return to the empty position, filling the empty post. Both get up as quietly as they can and creep farther away from the guard toward the center of the building. Three stories up, they were now out of earshot of the guards as long as they kept their voices down. They were near the first of seven long skylights that looked directly down into the main chamber of the warehouse. Varenna sighs in relief.
“Alright, that wasn’t so bad. Thanks for the hand down there.”
“No problem, but we’re only getting started. Take a look down there- is he in there?”
Varenna pulls out her binoculars and stares down through a missing pane in the dilapidated skylight.
“Looking now. Holy fuck- what is that? Mike. Come here now. You need to see this.”
Mike takes out his own smaller pair of binoculars and peers down.
“…what the hell…”
It was a whole production line. A symphony of metal clangs, screeches and shrieks echoes from the room below. A massive machine, perhaps taking up the entire space, is responsible. Thousands of moving parts, all siphoning to a few conveyor belts that deposited boxes of vials to a few workers who carried them off in a hurry to another room. From what he saw, there was a deep purple liquid in these vials, coming from an unseen source from their vantage point. He assumes the machine must collect, create, assemble, label and package these vials for the workers to carry off for who knows what. This must be the “Dominion”. He desperately wanted to sneak in and get a sample, but it wasn’t his job. After more observation, there were a lot of workers maintaining and operating the machine, and even some
“Are those fluffies?” Varenna blurts out.
Mike scans the room. In the far corner, there are cages containing maybe thousands of the things. They were incredibly easy to spot. There was also a huge mound of dead ones in another section, surrounded by yellow caution tape on the floor next to a large garage door.
“Out of all the things in this ninth circle of hell of a room, the fluffies are the ones that surprise you?”
“No. Look what they’re doing to them.”
Mike checks again. There is a row of metal tables that sit a few dozen workers, each with a setup of medical equipment. A BRIET supervisor overlooks them. Every few minutes a box of fluffies and a box of vials are brought to each of the workers. The workers take a vial out of their container, attach it to a syringe, and inject it into a fresh fluffy, which can barely be heard screeching over the noise of the machine. The fluffy promptly dies, after which the worker throws it over the table into a collector full of fluffy corpses. They then unscrew the vial and wash, rinse, repeat.
“What are they doing? Can’t they see that whatever they’re doing isn’t working?” Varenna thinks aloud.
“Maybe they’re using fluffies in place of human candidates. They are much more expendable.”
“That doesn’t explain why they would continue using it on fluffies. Look, there must be tens of thousands in that pile.”
Mike forces down his own curiosity, realizing they’re wasting time.
“V, focus. Do you see our gu-”
“Found him. Look. Behind those workers. He’s in the lab coat.”
John Simmons, a bald fifty-two year old with a master’s in chemistry, had been hired by Hasbio. He was struggling to find work after getting fired from his position as a high school chemistry teacher for “harassing” the students, but this new job had made ends meet. Things were finally looking good for him. He didn’t mind standing all day and night in a noisy room that smelled like mechanical oil and shit, surrounded by people that looked like they wanted to hurt him. He was just glad to have food on the table again. Although, the table was inside the complex since he wasn’t allowed to leave until his contract was up. No matter, he’d have a nice nest egg once he got out of this place. After 7 hours of on and off standing, just watching these goons inject fluffy ponies with this concoction, he was ready to go to sleep. At 1:13 in the afternoon. Oh well, his sleep schedule wasn’t what it used to be. Besides, the facility was supposed to have a routine inspection at 1:30, and the guys with guns told him they wanted him out of the way. Who was he to argue with them? At 1:14 he clocks out at the machine and heads up to his dorm, which was a converted factory office with a kitchen and restroom. His home away from home. John walks from the loud open room to the office portion of the building where the workers slept. He is on the second floor, so he ascends the stairs. He was so looking forward to a well-deserved nap. He unlocks his door with his key, the lock clicking open. He steps forward into his room, the familiar stench of his room flooding his nostrils- he can only hear the machine squealing quietly in the background now. Like a fading dream. He stretches. Yes sir, things are looking up for John Simm- A cloth goes over his face- it smells like chemicals. He knew what this was. He struggled for a few seconds, trying to scream. The hand held tight against his head and his face, not letting him go. John Simmons passes out.
Mike closes the door.
“Good grief. That was horrible. And he looked so relieved too.”
Varenna looks indifferent. “Yeah, well we got the job done. Keep that cloth on him. We wait for the signal.”
They hear footsteps approaching and immediately shut up. Against all odds, the one thing Varenna forgot to do was to mute the radio.
“Come in, this is B. We’ve secured a route- use the hallway to the right of the main room to-” Varenna mutes it.
The footsteps double back. Mike hears two guards on the other side.
“You heard that right?” One says.
“Let’s check it out. Oh, this is Simmons’ door. That’s strange, he usually doesn’t have guests.”
Knock knock knock
Dr. Simmons? Would you come out for a moment?
Mike mouths What do we do?? Varenna responds with a silent I don’t know.
“Dr. Simmons? Are you there? We need you to open up.”
Mike responds with Same thing? Varenna gives the okay and they get in position at the side of the door.
“Dr. Simmons, I’m going to give you to the count of 3 to open the door, or I’ll have to use force. 1… 2… 3!”
Mike was expecting them to bust the door down, but instead they hear a click as the lock opens. The two guards step into the room, and they strike. One already has his weapon drawn, and Mike pushes the gun away and quickly unlocks the latch that secures the clip, which falls to the floor. Having the jump, he punches the guy in the face and quickly sidesteps him, getting him into a chokehold. The guard struggles, but doesn’t put up too much of a fight. He looks over and it seems Varenna has the same idea, but she’s got his rifle barred against his neck. The two were knocked out in minutes. They drag their bodies into the room and lock the door again. They talk as they tie and duct tape the guys to chairs.
“Damn. we haven’t had to do a synchronized takedown in what… a few years?” Mike says, relieved.
“Yeah, it’s been awhile. But hey, it worked.”
“Also were you expecting-”
“Yeah. That was pretty anticlimactic. But I guess it makes more sense to have a master key. It worked out in our favor though, no one heard anything.”
“Not yet anyway. Someone will come looking for these guys. How much time on the clock?”
“Ten minutes. We’ve got to hold out until then.”
“Jesus. This has been a fuckin’ ride.”
“We’re not off it yet, soldier.”
“Anyways, that fluffy I adopted.” Mike continues, “I feel like I see a part of myself in her. You know? I don’t exactly know why I decided to keep her, but now I feel like she’s a part of my extended family. Like blood-kin or something.”
“Huh. You trust it that much?”
“It’s a girl.”
“Her.”
“Yeah. It seems like BRIET is really fucking these things up. Badly. The poor thing just wanted to die.”
“And why not let it?”
“Well, I feel that I should do my best to protect people. Even if she isn’t a person, she’s got the soul of one. I feel like I have a responsibility to undo all the cruelty BRIET causes, even if I can only realistically undo a small portion.”
Varenna stares at him for a minute. She sighs.
“You’re too selfless for your own good, you know.”
“Hey, I just do my-”
More footsteps approach. There are a lot of them this time.
“How many more minutes?” Mike hisses.
“Three,” Varnna responds.
“Not enough time. What do we do now?”
The footsteps get louder, running down the hall straight at them.
The BRIET guards bring down the door. They find the two unconscious guards tied to chairs. One barks into a walkie talkie. “They’re gone. And they got the doctor.” The thirty or so guards start taking apart the room. No signs that anyone is there. One scans outside the window on the roof of the first floor, he can’t quite see but… There are gunshots from the main room. All thirty soldiers quickly file out of the room, weapons drawn. Below the sill of the window, the two agents sweat profusely, the limp body of John Simmons laying against the wall. They check to see if there is anyone there, and open the window they had busted to get in. It was a miracle they hadn’t noticed the severely warped latch.
“Fuck, this guy’s heavy.”
Mike and V carry the unconscious man down the planned route, past the gunfire and chaos in the main room. Some workers run by them, but they’re too caught up in the running for their lives part and don’t notice it’s not two guards carrying a wounded man. They exit through a door near the main exit, a loading dock. Team A is there to meet them.
“Need a hand?” The latino woman says.
“Absolutely.” Mike replies. With the combined strength of the four of them, they were able to easily carry the man across the open concrete expanse to the fence. The fence had been pre-cut for them, an armored transport waiting. They load Simmons into the trunk, The team A hopping into the trunk to keep him subdued. They wait for team B. They don’t show. Suddenly a large boom erupts from the other side of the building, a major indication that something had gone wrong. They had used the c4. A member of team B comes sprinting around the side of the building. He gets in the car and slams the door just as guards emerge from the front entrance and open fire. The vehicle buckles as the driver slams the accelerator. Mike looks back from the passenger seat as they pull away. It’s the blonde one. He’s crying and out of breath.
“He…” He gasps for breath. “Rhys didn’t make it. They got him. He … they got his leg, he told me to run. I… I couldn’t save him. I couldn’t… I…” The blonde man starts sobbing.
The rest of the car is silent, his soulful sobs bringing morale down. Victory had come at a cost.
Varenna asks him quietly, “Were you friends?”
The man from team A leans forward.
“Brothers.”