Disclaimer
The following is a work of fiction. Any real names, real events, non-original content, or likeness of celebrities are used in a fictitious and parodic manner. All other character names and events are fictional and any resemblance of real names or events are purely coincidental.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: APRIL – LET FOREVER BE
Claudia Daring sat in the back seat of a moving car. Blindfolded, the driver was taking her to a surprise that Jason Saxon had arranged for Claudia on this day. For today was Claudia Daring’s birthday, and Jason Saxon had promised her something big for her birthday. But what could a man who has given her so much to this point have to offer now as a grand gesture of love and affection. But Claudia did indeed enjoy surprises. The car came to a slow stop and the driver informed Claudia that they have arrived at their destination. The driver also instructed her to keep the blindfold on and to wait to be escorted. Then two Initiative soldiers approached the car and opened the back door. “Miss Daring? We’re ready for you now,” one of the soldiers said as Claudia stepped out and the two men took her by her arms and walked down towards a giant office building in downtown Toronto. The three of them stopped and one of the soldiers removed the blindfold off from Claudia’s face. Claudia rubbed her eyes in disbelief as she saw Jason Saxon, blue power suit and all, standing in front of the corporate offices of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
“Well, my dear, what do you think?” Saxon asked, holding his arms out and presenting the building like a grand prize on a game show.
“It’s… don’t we already control it?” Claudia asked back.
“Well, yes we do. But lately, they’ve been getting under my skin with not presenting things the way I want them presented. It’s time for a change with Mothercorp here. I mean, what’s the point of having a state-owned media outlet if they won’t report what the state wants them to? So, phase one will commence with terminating all of those disloyal to us. Phase two is installing a new face to broadcast our ideals to the masses. A face as trustworthy as Peter Mansbridge but way hotter than Katie Couric. That face is yours, Miss Daring.”
“Really?” Claudia said, who at first seemed unimpressed but then became lit with joy. “That sounds so wonderful, Mister Prime Minister!”
“Indeed it is!” Saxon boasted. “Figured since you write most of my speeches as it is, the next step would be to communicate them further on the unwashed masses. You know how wonderful I am, now it’s time for you to further sell me to the rest of the nation.”
“I assume we’ll be cleaning out the deadwood in here, right?” Claudia asked
Saxon motioned for about twenty men in blackcoats to show up from the other side of the block. “Of course my dear!” he said as he took Claudia’s hand and held it with affection. “Shall we hand out some pink slips?”
“It would be my pleasure,” Claudia said with a smile that seemed like it would go on for miles.
“Why didn’t I think of it before?” Rachel Mills said as she slapped her forehead and put down another set of maps on the table. She then pulled open a laptop and begun typing away profusely. Benny and Sullivan, both engaged in a game of checkers, looked at Rachel – curious as to what she was doing.
“Whatcha doing, Bone?” Sullivan asked.
“It’s ‘Bones’ actually,” Benny said, correcting his bluecoated fellow game player.
“Can’t believe you got him in on it too now,” Rachel said as she continued to type away.
“Aww, come on! He’s one of the few of these people around here who seems interested in our little foibles, way of life, and pop culture.” Benny said in defense.
“Word up, ho!” Sullivan said as he motioned for a high-five. Benny just shook his head and said “Think we still got a lot of work to do. Anyways, whatcha got going on there, Bones?”
“I finally remembered there was a very archaic database within one of the Section 31 files. I tried for many years to crack it, but it seems to be encoded with a binary code that is beyond me.” Rachel said as she let out a sigh of frustration. Lucas walked into the room, sucking on a juice box and said to Rachel “Binary code, huh? Figured you would be able to crack in your sleep.”
“Normally yes, but some of the algorithms were done by a master code writer. You almost need two hackers to get the job properly done without tripping off any firewalls or silent alarms that would let the government know you’re trying to steal some of their secrets.” Rachel said.
“See, this is where allowing us access to your technology would be a lot more handier.” Lucas said to Sullivan, as Benny jumped some of his checker chips.
“We’ve been over this before. Full access to our technology is forbidden and could cause irreversible damages to the timeline!” Sullivan said.
“As opposed to Jason Saxon cloning an army of Viisks to ride roughshod all over the world?” Benny asked.
“Abiding by the rules is what separates us from men like this Jason Saxon.” Sullivan replied back.
“Wait, you said binary, right?” Benny asked Rachel, who nodded yes. “I think I know a guy.” Benny said.
“Oh Christ, not him!” Lucas bemoaned.
“Yes, let’s go kids! Gonna ask Principal Belding if we can go see the Wizard.” Benny said as everyone else looked in confusion. He just shook his head in disbelief “None of you ever watched ‘Saved By The Bell’?” he asked.
Kevin Brody was furious with Benny’s request. “Absolutely not!” Kevin said. “Last time you went back, Amy died. I have enough blood on my hands as it is!”
“Look, you keep harping on us about redemption and crap like that, give me this chance to redeem myself. At least for Amy’s sake.” Benny begged.
“So, you figure this ‘Wizard’ guy you know will be willing to aide us?”
“He hates the system as much as I do. Plus he’s an old school shit disturber on the internet. Remember that guy that convinced Oprah there was a child molestation ring with over nine thousand members?”
“That was him?” Kevin asked.
“No, but the Wizard got into a long drawn-out flame war with that guy. Things were said. Butts were hurt. Mothers’ names were flung around with degrading sexual innuendo attached to them.” Benny replied.
“You sure he can help Rachel with this file acquisition?”
“He’s one of the best,” Benny said. “Please, allow me to redeem myself.”
“Very well,” Kevin said as he slowly got up from his chair. “Take Sullivan with you. I’ll have a team on standby in case something goes wrong. This time, the second you’re in trouble, get out quickly,” he said with urgency.
Benny, Rachel, Lucas, and Sullivan found themselves standing in line in the front of a semi-abandoned warehouse in Darington, Alberta. The faint sound of electronica music came from the building as the four of them stood amongst a crowd of men and women, waiting to get inside the building. It was an underground dance club
“Okay, remember, if anyone hands you a drink or funny looking pills, don’t take them at all!” Benny instructed the three of them.
“Yeah, not making that mistake again.” Rachel said.
“Doesn’t effect me too much,” Sullivan stated. “We’ve developed a high tolerance of most narcotic and alcoholic substances.”
All eyes turned to Lucas, who seemed rather quiet on this subject. Benny slapped his forehead in anguish and said to Lucas, “Don’t tell me…”
Lucas interrupted, “… she told me it was like Tylenol.”
Benny shook his head “Crap! Okay, Bones, you’re gonna have to make sure he doesn’t start totally trippin’ balls on us!” he instructed as the line slowly moved ahead. Before long they were at the door and greeted by large bouncer.
“Is the Wiz dee-jaying tonight?” Benny asked the bouncer, who simply gave a low grunt like a gorilla. The bouncer opened the door and motioned for them to enter.
Once in the warehouse, the music pulsed and pounded as hundreds of men and women danced wildly and erratically to it. Strobe and multicolored lights were flashing as well. The four walked through the crowd, with Lucas bobbing his head to the rhythm of the beat. They made their way to the front where a husky man - shaven head and long red Jim Neidhart-like goatee – manned a computer and old style turn table. This man was Sheldon Blackburn, also known as “The Wizard”, a once prominent hacker and general nuisance on the internet. Sheldon was also a childhood friend of Benny and was the DJ to his once budding rap career.
“Wiz!” Benny shouted to his former friend. Sheldon looked and saw Benny standing with Rachel, Sullivan, and Lucas.
“Holy fucking ass crackers! Funkmaster!” Sheldon shouted back as he motioned for the four of them to come behind his work station. As they made their way, both Lucas and Sullivan focused their attention to a young woman with dark reddish-brown hair, dancing in the middle of a large group of people. The two of them watched her – sweat dripping down her body, her white tank-top somewhat soaked, and dancing very sleekly and seductively. Lucas had never seen such raw beauty in person and was feeling things he had only felt a couple times. Sullivan was more cautious and recognized her as the adult version of Willow Brody-Toroshenko. “Excuse me for a moment!” Sullivan said to Lucas, who remained somewhat oblivious to the goings on as the pills he was given seemed to be kicking in. While this went down, Benny and Sheldon shook hands and gave each other a friendly brother-like hug.
“What the fuck, man! Heard you died like twice already!” Sheldon said with a jovial tone.
“Eh, figured if Buffy could it, why couldn’t I?” Benny said back jokingly.
Rachel looked confused and interjected with “Is she another friend of yours?”
Sheldon just laughed and asked “Is she for real?”
“Very much so, yes.” Benny replied back as he gave Rachel a friendly tap on the shoulder. “But what she lacks in pop culture knowledge she makes it up with map reading and mad computer hacking skills!”
“Really?” Sheldon said with some curiosity. “I once posed as Chris Hansen on NAMBLA’s messageboard. Made the entire pedo community shit their pants in fear!”
“I kept records of a covert government agency and used it to write a book!” Rachel said.
Sheldon rubbed his eyes in disbelief and then realized who he was talking to. “Holy shit! Rachel Mills! You’re like a goddess to the modern hack squads!” he exclaimed and with enthusiasm shook Rachel’s hand.
“Well, I wouldn’t say I’m all that good.” Rachel said as she blushed with modesty. “Have some difficulty with binary codes.”
“Which is why we’re here,” Benny added. “Got an old government database encrypted with binary! Rach here says she needs help!”
“I dunno man, last time I heard someone broke into government property, they got their asses whipped by Saxon’s goon squad!” Sheldon replied, unbeknownst to him that Rachel and Benny were part of that particular caper that Sheldon referred to.
“Well, as far as I know, this piece of property is not well known, except for the very inner core of the now defunct Section 31!” Rachel replied back, trying to reassure Sheldon’s doubt.
“Well, it’s been a while since I stuck it to the man,” Sheldon said. “I assume you got everything you need, baby?”
Rachel showed an attaché case to Sheldon and answered back “Right in here.”
“Well then, let’s get to work!” Sheldon said as he placed on a new record onto the turntable – a super long remix of the Chemical Brothers’ “Let Forever Be”. As Sheldon, Benny and Rachel left the DJ booth, Lucas pulled Benny to the side. Dancing like an epileptic person having a seizure, Lucas pointed out Willow on the dance floor to Benny. “She’s hot, isn’t she?” Lucas asked.
Benny looked over and noticed Willow. Still wounded from Amy’s death two months ago, Benny patted Lucas on the shoulder and told him “She’s all yours.”
Lucas lit up like a Christmas light and was about to rush out onto the floor, until Sheldon pulled him aside and told him “Free word of advice kid – watch out for that one! Keep your hands on her waist and only grind into her if she does it first. Seen a couple guys get too friendly and liberal with their hands, and she laid them out with quite the left hook!” Lucas nodded, whether it was to the beat of the music or in agreement of Sheldon’s cautionary tale it was hard to say.
Inside an empty office of the warehouse where the rave was being held, Benny, Rachel, and Sheldon set up two laptops and prepared for their task at hand. Benny set up a network wire to connect Rachel’s laptop to Sheldon’s laptop. Rachel begun typing away on her laptop once it was booted up. Sheldon then got his respective computer up and running. Rachel pulled up a screen that showed a government website with a password box. She forwarded it over to Sheldon, who looked and then hooked up a random number generating device on his laptop’s USB port.
“Ready to rumble, baby?” Sheldon asked Rachel
“More than ever,” Rachel replied back. “Just do your best to keep up.”
Sheldon begun typing and said back “I was gonna say the same thing, baby!”
Lucas struggled to make his way through the sea of humanity on the dance floor. He kept getting thrashed back and forth, occasionally getting knocked down on the floor, due to the facts that he maybe weighed only 90 pounds soaking wet and the drugs he was given had totally thrown off his equilibrium. But he had made his objective – the young lady that he had no clue was an older version of his current employer’s daughter. Willow was dancing to herself with a circle of people surrounded her. Lucas squeezed his head in between a couple of people in the circle, which caught the attention of Willow – who proceeded to motion of Lucas to come forward. Someone from behind shoved Lucas, who now found himself the center of attention. Lucas begun to spastically dance, much to the amusement of the crowd. Willow simply smiled as she wrapped her arms around Lucas’ waist and pulled him in close to her.
“Never seen you here before! You new in town?” Willow asked loudly into Lucas’ ear, as the music made it impossible to carry a normal toned conversation.
“Guess you can say that! I’ve never done this before!” Lucas said back into Willow’s ear.
“You’re doing fine, scrawny arms!” Willow said as she took Lucas’ bony arms and placed his hands on her somewhat exposed hips. Lucas blushed as this was the first on-purpose contact he had ever had with a member of the opposite sex. Then two giant jock type men walked into where Lucas and Willow were dancing. One of the men shoved Lucas out of the way. “Get lost, McLovin!” the one man said to Lucas.
“Wanna be with some real men, sugartits?” The other man asked Willow while proceeding to feel her up. Unfortunately for him, Willow was not impressed with this and proceeded to flip him over her shoulders and onto the floor. Willow then took out the one man who pushed Lucas down with a roundhouse kick. The crowd cheered with approval and small chants of “Fight! Fight” broke out as Willow took a MMA fighter’s ready stance after pulling up Lucas.
“Sweet! Think someone tried to get too fresh with that siren!” Benny said, looking out a window in the office where he, Rachel, and Sheldon the Wizard were busy trying break into an old Section 31 database.
“I pity those fools!” Sheldon said in his best big-white-guy-imitating-Mister T voice. Just then a tiny “ding” was heard from his laptop and Sheldon noticed the “password accepted” prompt. “Wooo! We’re in now, motherfuckers!”
“Excellent!” Rachel exclaimed as she begun to search and look for files pertaining to what they needed. She came across two folders: one entitled “Looking Glass” and another one entitled “Lazarus”. “Think I found what we needed.” Rachel said as she saved the two folders onto a flash drive.
“Probably in the nick of time too,” Benny said, noticing some Initiative soldiers coming in from the front entrance of the warehouse.
“What?” Sheldon said and looked out to see one of the soldiers smash apart his DJ equipment. “Ugh! See, this is why I can’t have nice things!” he bemoaned.
The Initiative soldiers successfully deactivated the music. Shouts and groans of disapproval came from the crowd. Lucas stared into sea of faces, until someone pulled him down onto the floor. It was Willow, who remaining low to the floor and trying to remain conspicuous. “Stay with me scrawny arms, and you won’t get hurt!” she whispered to Lucas, who reluctantly decided to follow her lead as the two of them slowly snuck out in between the crowd.
One of the Initiative soldier took out a megaphone and addressed the crowd. “Vacate the premises immediately. You are all in direct violation of this city’s curfew laws. Please file out in a quiet and orderly fashion. Failure to comply will result in…”
A sullen looking teenage boy shouted out “Who are you to stop us, man?”
Another teen boy shouted out “We’re trying to have a good time here man!”
A scary looking teen girl shouted back “Go commit your hate crimes elsewhere! Hate crimes!” The girl lunged after one of the Initiative soldiers and took a swing at him. A huge melee broke out as the ravers all begun fighting with the Initiative soldiers. One of the soldiers made a signal with his hand and suddenly, about twenty Viisks phased into the room and started attacking the crowd.
“We better get the frack outta here!” Sullivan exclaimed as he burst into the office.
“Look Starbuck…” Sheldon said.
“…Sullivan actually,” Rachel said, correcting Sheldon.
“Whatever,” Sheldon replied back. “In case you hadn’t noticed, there are Homeland Initiative troops and Viisks all over the place!”
“Not a problem.” Sullivan said. “There’s no indication of a dampening field, so you two should be able to leap back with no problems,” he said looking at Benny and Rachel.
“What about Lucas?” asked Benny.
“I’ll find him and get him back in one piece. Promise!” Sullivan stated.
“Please do,” Benny said. “I’ll miss the little aspie if something should happen to him.” Then Benny and Rachel hit their Chronometers and leapt back to the command center.
It may end up harder for Sullivan to track down Lucas, who was now finding himself in a rundown motel room with Willow. The two of them were able to sneak out before the Viisk started massacring everyone in the warehouse. Lucas nervously sat on a bed as Willow was attending to herself in the bathroom. This had turned into an adventure Lucas was not expecting to happen. Still wearing her white top and hip-hugger pants, Willow stood in the doorway of the bathroom and smiled.
“And here I thought it was gonna be a boring night,” Willow said as she walked over and sat next to Lucas, who was breathing heavily from nervousness. “Relax, I don’t have cooties,” Willow whispered into Lucas’ ear and proceeded to lightly blow in it.
“It’s just…” Lucas said in-between breaths as if he was hyperventilating. “I’ve never… been… alone with…”
“How cute,” Willow said as she pushed Lucas down so he was laying down on the bed. She then proceeded to roll on top of Lucas, straddling him in the process. “Don’t worry, I’ll walk you through it. I promise I won’t bite, unless you want me too…” Willow said as she sat up to remove her top and revealed her bare breasts to an elated Lucas, who nervously reached out for them. Willow leaned back down into Lucas’s body and planted him with a deep kiss on his lips.
Ten minutes later, it was probably the greatest ten minutes in Lucas’ life. He lied in the bed, staring right at the ceiling. Willow lied next to him, somewhat cuddled up next to him. The smile on Lucas’ face probably needed to be surgically removed. Willow then opened her eyes and got up to get dressed.
“Leaving so soon?” Lucas asked, still glowing from their encounter.
“Um, yeah. Just needed to let off some steam,” Willow said, as if the ten minutes of riding Lucas like a jockey on a thoroughbred horse meant nothing to her.
“Can I get your name at least?” Lucas asked.
“Just think of me as an angel of mercy.” Willow said, as she pulled her pants up and grabbed her coat. “It was blast, really. Catch you another time, love,” she said as she blew a kiss to Lucas, who still remained in bed.
“I just laid here and took it. Was there something else I did wrong?” Lucas wondered aloud and to himself in the room.
Willow walked the steps of the motel. Though not fully knowing he was there, atop of the steps was Sullivan. “He’s all yours, Sully!” Willow said not facing Sullivan.
“Can I ask you something?” Sullivan shouted down to Willow, who sighed and rolled her eyes. “Make it quick!” she replied back.
“How is it you said you cared for one man yet you went and made fuck with this guy?” asked Sullivan.
Knowing what Sullivan was getting to, Willow shot back with “Ask Jericho how he can tell someone he loves them and then turns around and takes it back!”. Willow then stormed off into the night scene as Sullivan went into the room to retrieve Lucas.
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