The SPD officer – a different one this time – looked around the semi-damaged building. “And you said that you were attacked by the gang you reported yesterday, but now they’ve brought assassins?”
Adagio put on her most helpless girl look. “Uh – yeah! I mean, just look at the robots?” She pointed to the starlight coming into Dining Room 3 and the Mark II automatons that were pincushioned to the ground via a dozen arrows.
The cop looked at the robots, still wiggling around as if reacting to short-circuits; she noticed the red eyes, but didn’t react further, as she’d seen more than enough weird stuff in her days. “Looks like someone removed the main circuit control to the building as well….” she mused, looking at the damage done to the wall. “This…doesn’t look casual.”
“I know, that’s what I’m saying!” Adagio gasped, hoping she was putting on a good enough show. “My life could be in danger here, officer!” Of course, given all the weapons that had been at her disposal, she probably could have easily dealt with gangbangers, but the arrow strikes and the way they’d used the robots – which somehow had inexplicably had their power packs reinstalled – was a hint that it was CSIS at work. But the proof in the pudding that it had to be Les Scars was the sensor grid that she’d found around the building while waiting for the police to arrive.
Only a pro would do something like that – and she hadn’t mentioned that much.
“So…you think they tried to steal the robots?” the officer asked. “I don’t get it, though: Why shoot ‘em full of arrows if they’re trying to steal them?”
“Officer, I’m just a cute but dumb high school student with a summer job. I couldn’t possibly fathom the ways of crime like you do.”
The officer grinned. “Well, we’ll have our detectives come by in a few days and look at things.” The officer’s watch chirped, and she said, “Well, it’s six in the morning. You should get out of here and relax – and if I were you, I’d consider getting a safer job.”
“I’ll think about it, officer,” Adagio lied through her teeth.
Shim and Sham looked at Adagio with looks of worry on their faces.
“Adagio, please – we have to think of your safety,” Shim said, tears practically coming to her green eyes.
“I don’t think sis or I could bear to see you hurt,” Sham said, her tears fogging up her glasses in the warm summer morning.
“I’ll be okay, I promise. I’m more worried about failing you both,” Adagio told them, and meant every word of it. The two sisters had been nothing but great bosses to her, and had she been a normal girl, she would’ve been proud to be Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Employee #1. Part of her wondered that if in another time, they would’ve made great SIREN operatives – they were certainly as nurturing as any grande sœur she’d ever met.
“No, like we said – you’re the best employee we’ve ever had!” Shim said sincerely.
“Aren’t I the only employee?”
“Not the point,” Sham agreed. “We know talent when we see it, and we know you’ll be a legend working for the company. We’re proud of your accomplishments in such a short time.”
“Thanks,” Adagio beamed.
“Well, you’d better go get some sleep and get ready for tomorrow,” Shim told her.
“Yeah – we have some electricians and construction crews coming anyway to do some work, so hopefully they can make some patch-ups in time,” Sham added.
As Adagio drove off, Shim looked at her sister. “I’m worried for her safety, sister – these gangsters look like they mean business.”
“We’ll look into a professional night guard service once we get more employees,” Sham insisted. “Adagio’s a treasure: we shouldn’t put her in a position where she could get hurt.”
“Good idea.”
Sham grinned. “After all, we need her to be our calendar girl! We could put her in a maid outfit, and she can be all ‘Danna-sama! Dai suki!’”
Shim’s only response was to facepalm.
The moment Adagio got home, she bellowed at the top of her lungs, “Fireteam, muster on station, now!” Within seconds, a pair of girls rushed down the stairs and moved into position. Both had long hair and the first one wore camouflage pajamas, while the other one wore shorts and a t-shirt. Despite the fact that both were half-asleep, as if on instinct, they both moved into an attention formation.
“At ease,” Adagio said, as her sisters relaxed.
“What’s up?” Aria said, while Sonata merely yawned, rubbing her eyes.
Adagio looked at the middle sister grimly. “You were right, Ari. It was them – Les Scars. Either they were after me or they were looking for a place to hide out and thought the building was empty.”
Aria hid her smile, looking at her sister; even though she was glad to have warded off the attack on Adagio, she couldn’t reveal that she had a hand in it, lest she mortify her older sister. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. They were good at it, and if one hadn’t botched the op and landed on the roof, I wouldn’t have known. As it was, I found a lot of evidence that they were there.”
Sonata yawned again and spoke up. “If they catch us, there goes the mission. We can’t afford for that to happen.”
“That’s why I think we need to take the fight to them,” Adagio replied. “With a small team, we can take out whatever forces they have and make sure that they don’t trail us.”
“I think we should get a hold of Vesper,” Aria replied. “Maddie’s out of town, but Vesper’s still in the area. We should get her.”
“No! She’s known to them – if she gets involved, they’ll know we’re here and that’s just as bad!” Adagio said. “No, we have to do this on our own, girls.”
“Okay, what are your orders, sis?” Sonata asked.
“I’m going to go get some sleep for a few hours. Can I trust you two to get a battle kit going? Urban warfare, low intensity. Don’t assume we’ll have the high ground. Expect worst case scenario – if we have to go down, I want to make sure they go with us and I want no way they can trace Maddie or the others. They have the job to do; ultimately, we’re expendable.”
“I’ll do a gear check,” Aria insisted.
“I can make sure we have everything ready to go,” Sonata added. “We’re going to need to make sure we have it all ready to roll anyway. We can transport it all in my car.”
“We can fit all that in your car?” Adagio asked.
“Tight fit, but my little Beetle can do it!”
“Okay. I’m going to get some shut-eye for a few hours, so wake me up at about three so we can inspect everything, okay?”
Aria smiled. “You got it!”
Two hours later, Aria and Sonata were both discussing which weapons to use. “If they mean business, we’re going to need something with high lethality but low penetration power,” Aria mused. “Means that carbines aren’t going to be of much use.”
“I’m just curious: why can’t we use the carbines, sis? Three burst – boom, boom, boom! – and it should be done, right?”
“Yeah, but Dagi likes working there, and we don’t want to endanger her job,” Aria explained. “We should be considerate of that.”
“Point. So, frangible rounds, maybe?” Sonata offered. “We don’t have much of that, but we do have enough to equip us for this op.”
“Yeah, do that. Substitute grenades with flashbangs, if we’ve got them. Make sure we’ve got knives and collapsible batons as well for CQB.”
“Already did,” the youngest triplet replied.
“Too bad we can’t use anything with the rapid firepower that the carbines can give us,” Aria sighed. “We could really use something with crowd-clearing power.” Suddenly a wide smile came onto Sonata’s face as she hummed. Curious, Aria asked, “Something up, sis?”
“I think I know what we can use….” she said in a sing-song voice.
“Spill, Soni.”
“Better if I show you,” Sonata said, grabbing her sister’s hand and dragging her out of the room. “Remember that present I’ve been working on for Maddie’s birthday?”
“Yeah, what abou—” Aria asked as Sonata dragged her into the garage, which had been soundproofed and converted into a weapons forge.
“What do you think?” Sonata asked, leaning on it.
A violet eyebrow rose slightly. “Really?”
Sonata nodded. “Uh-huh?”
A wide, proud smile came onto Aria’s face. “Sis, you’re a genius,” the middle triplet said sincerely. “So, tell me more.”
Feeling a little better, Adagio came downstairs, dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, carrying a bag holding her CADPATs; she’d change while there. Seated on the couch were Aria and Sonata, watching TV. “Feeling better, Dagi?” Sonata asked.
“Yeah, thanks for asking. Everything loaded in the car?”
Aria nodded. “Was a kinda tight fit, but we made sure that everything was stowed away and ready to deploy,” Aria replied, handing Adagio a clipboard as she approached. “Here’s the gear we decided on.”
Adagio looked it over, murmuring, “Nice choice,” before she came to the final decision. “Special Experimental Unit One?” Adagio asked with a curious tone.
“It’s the thing I made for Maddie!” Sonata said with a smile. “Aria thought it was a good idea since we can’t use carbines, and that it should do the job.”
“Okay, I’ll believe you then,” she replied. “Let me call my bosses, and then we can leave.” As Aria turned off the TV, Adagio pulled out her cellphone and dialed the pizzeria. “Shim? Yeah, this is Adagio. I have a favor, if you don’t mind: my younger sisters were curious about the place and they wanted to come visit me tonight. Would that be okay?”