POV Colonel Winter
"Ma'am, Agent Horrigan was unable to recapture all the subjects. 3 are unaccounted for. However, we have recaptured the primary target," I report.
"Hmm, unfortunate, but it won't disturb many things. Send the message," the Grand Admiral replies.
"Ma'am?" I ask.
"We are as ready as we need to be. It was inevitable that we would be discovered eventually. We have captured 10 of the 11 targets. It is as good as we can hope. We must now seize the initiative before it is too late. Thus, the message must be sent before Rio can receive news from his escaped agents," the Grand Admiral responds calmly.
"Yes, ma'am," I reply before heading off to deliver the message.
POV Rio
"There's a wild gorilla on the loose!?" screams a certain robot I recently bought.
"Sigh. No, for the 50th time, there are no Gorillas. I don't even know where you are getting that info; your entire memory banks are so corrupted that it's a miracle you can even turn on," I complain while working on said Securitron that I had recently purchased from Jackson's caravan.
I mostly bought it because it was an interesting find, and I didn't have any working models. I could have repaired the robot instantly if I used the Robot Workstation, but I didn't want to do that. I thought it would be a good way to relax, as I have been doing one big thing after another. It's nice to take time to work on something simpler for once.
'Even if this robot is very quirky.'
The robot was ridiculously damaged and worn down, and yet it still somehow worked. Entire parts of the robot were so corroded that they were practically falling off, and in some cases, they had already fallen off. The robot's actions were also really confusing. I couldn't shut it down permanently. It was so broken that it would randomly turn on and off from a power surge in its fusion batteries. Its memory banks were so corrupted that even I couldn't retrieve anything from them. And yet the robot would still randomly act out based on some long-lost memories.
"Want to see a balloon animal?" the Securitron offers, and before I can refuse, he is creating one. Or at least he tries, but with no lungs, he doesn't get very far.
Without air, he ties into the shape of a poodle. Then he goes on a poodle-making spree to anyone within earshot. Mostly because I am pretty sure he can't make anything other than deflated balloon poodles.
'At least he stopped screaming about warcrimes.'
It was as I was going to shut the robot down that a Changeling approached me.
"Sir, something has happened," the Changeling reports.
I was a bit alarmed as they wouldn't usually avoid just saying what happened, even if only in a whisper. I follow them to a briefing room and find that Delta Squad and Guto were already present, as was Quiet. But I noticed a strange lack of people.
"What's going on?" I ask.
"We're sorry, sir, it was our fault," Pharynx says while avoiding eye contact.
"What's your fault? I don't follow," I say with growing worry.
"We can't ascertain the location of several Ghost units and all your companions," Guto replies.
"What?" I say with a now baffled look.
"We didn't even notice until a messenger arrived a few hours ago. They had a recording meant for you," Guto says with a long frown.
"Play it," I say with a now grim tone.
"If you are hearing this, then you are either Rio or one of his followers. We have captured your friends and several of your subjects. They are alive and unharmed for now. If you want them back, then you will come to the coordinates located on the back of this tape. If you are thinking about using one of your many abilities to somehow save them, then be warned that we shall retaliate with nuclear weapons and kill anyone who is left behind. We might not be able to kill everyone, but we can certainly kill many with the arsenal of weapons we possess. You may come with up to 2 companions. Any movements other than to arrive at the designated location in the next 72 hours will be seen as an act of aggression and will be responded to in kind. Know that if you try anything, your people will pay the cost. You have less than 72 hours. You'd best hurry," the recording says.
Everyone in the conference room starts to sweat buckets from the immense pressure I am giving off as I keep my rage and anger contained as best as I can.
CREAK
The creak of the table below me snaps me out of my thoughts as I look down and see that the table has massive handprints carved into it from my anger. I take a deep breath and turn the tap over before planning my next move.
"Sir, what are our orders?" Guto asks.
"I will go and deal with this. You may stay here. If I don't return, you know what to do," I reply before moving to leave the conference room.
"But sir! This is clearly a trap!" Guto argues, but freezes when I look him in the eyes.
"I know," I reply simply before leaving.
POV Quiet
Guto falls to the floor with a shudder, and even I am tempted to take a seat. I had never seen Rio so... serious before. I don't think serious is the right word, but angry wasn't quite right either. Maybe intense would be more accurate. But I knew I couldn't let Rio do this alone. They were my friends as well. So I ran to find anyone else who was his companion.
POV Rio
After I left the conference room, I started to sort out my inventory and figure out a game plan. I couldn't just act blindly. This enemy was clearly not some random group of fools. They had planned this. The fact that they managed to kidnap so many of my friends without anyone noticing was a clear show of power. They also know something about me and the fact that I could pull some tricks. I was very tempted to just use the mirror to save all my friends, but I knew the cost could be catastrophic, especially given that they seemed so prepared. No matter how much I cared for my friends, I couldn't sacrifice the lives of thousands of my subjects for the lives of the few. Not unless there was an alternative.
'What is their objective?'
That was what was really confusing me. Why kidnap so many? To what purpose? Leverage? Why? If they had such skills, they could try to assassinate me. Or at least attack us with such schemes.
'Unless... Could it be?'
I started to connect several things and started to realize that my theory wasn't implausible. The real issue was to what extent they had determined what I could do.
'Even if that was the case. Why this strategy? What is their goal?'
My first thought was my death, but that seemed too simple. All this work just to kill me. Then perhaps I thought it could be for technology. It was possible. Our tech did give us the power to travel space. The other idea was to make the Minutemen surrender, but that led to all sorts of issues. Strictly speaking their was more than enough land to go around, even if most of the land was dead. Which led me to wonder if it was for land or resources.
'A ransom for all this work? Even at the possible cost of the last nukes on Earth? Unlikely.'
All this thinking was to calm myself and to try to figure out a way out of this mess. I didn't know if it was sheer luck, but they had done this, right as I had no good backup saves. The Speed Force debacle had erased all of my previous ones, which, since then, I have made some additional saves, so I wasn't completely out of luck, but it did leave much room to maneuver. I somewhat doubted this was a recent thing. This seemed like a very long-term plan.
"Sigh. I guess I'll just have to go and figure things out," I say aloud.
"Good thing you won't be alone then," says a voice I recognize.
I turn around and see Loona and Quiet both standing in the doorway.
"No," I reply firmly.
"What do you mean no?" Quiet replies.
"They have already captured most of the others. I won't endanger you two as well," I reply.
"F*ck that! I'm going, and nothing you say will stop me," Loona responds with a firm tone.
"Same here," Quiet says with equal defiance.
"And if I leave without you?" I ask.
"Then we'll follow. I memorised the coordinates," Quiet replied.
I smiled and then started to chuckle, which turned into a full-blown laugh.
"Sigh. Fine. But if I say run, you don't stop, you run. This will be an insanely dangerous mission, you can't disobey any orders I give, alright?" I say while staring at both of them.
They both nod resolutely, and I then bring them to the armory to get them fully outfitted. If we are going into this mess, we will do it armed to the teeth. Once we had several sets of outfits for every possible scenario, we got on Pequod and flew to the coordinates they gave us.
'I'm coming for you guys.'