16- Purgatory
As they neared, the Beta Team could tell that Purgatory was on minimum power, only a few lights on. At the pier were several police launches, one big, the rest smaller. More than one boat spotlight reached their way. “Stop and identify yourselves!” a voice called out through a megaphone. Captain Proton recited their bona fides, citing everything required by the enabling legislation. “Approach!” the same voice called out.
“Okay, pull us in next to the big boat, Shocker. We need to get a handle on this situation.”
“Aye aye, Captain…” Shocker muttered as she slowly approached the pier.
Several officers were there to help moor the boat, some with guns drawn. “We have not heard anything about you,” said the voice from the megaphone, revealing himself to be a grizzled reddish-skinned sergeant. “Sergeant Umber, North Shore precinct. We were sent over to help when things started getting rough in town. As we were docking, that bright flare came down the rock and the power went out. Can’t raise anyone inside. Can’t open the gate, either.” he explained.
“Let me guess, they default to locked position in case of power failure, right?” Proton asked as he climbed out of the boat.
“That’s right. Internal doors fail open, outside doors fail locked. Seeing as there are only two outside doors, the main entrance and the exercise yard, it’s hard to get out.” Umber explained.
“Okay, the first thing to do is to help you get inside the building complex. Shocker, Imago, go with some officers and watch over the exercise yard. If anyone gets through the outside door, you know what to do. Breaker, Gray Man, with me to the front gates.” Proton commanded.
Proton and his team went with Sergeant Umber and six officers to the main entrance. The gate was locked shut, but there was an intercom box on a stand. Umber went up to it and pushed the call button. “Purgatory Control, this is Sergeant Umber, North Shore precinct, with a squad to help out. Report conditions inside,” he said in a no-nonsense voice.
“Sergeant, this is Captain Slinger, watch commander. I can open the gates from here, and I’ll wait until you’re at the door to open that. We’re on emergency power, and all the cells are open. I’m in Control with a squad of ten, while the rest are trying to get prisoners back in their cells. Not all are awake, but those who are have their powers back, and it NOT good!” came from the speaker as the gate clicked open.
“Well be right there!” Umber said as the squad slipped in through the opening gates, guns drawn, the members of the Electric Company following.
When all were gathered at the main door, a clunk sound was heard as the heavy door unlatched and slowly swung open. The sounds of shouting can be heard from deeper in, along with the occasional shot from a guard’s pistol. “Simanchi, take the squad and help out! I’m going to control! Captain, you and your men with me!” Umber barked out. The squad corporal took five officers and headed in. Umber led Proton, Gray Man and Breaker to the Control room door.
Proton stopped in the passageway outside the control room. “Breaker, Grey, head inside and relieve the guards there so they can head in. I’ll stay here and keep any prisoners from getting out this door,” he ordered.
“Ja, kapitan,” Grey replied. Breaker just gave a thumbs-up to show he had heard.
In the control room, Breaker went to the main control console, taking a chair next to the operator, a young policewoman who looked out of her depth. “What sort of computer runs this complex?” he asked.
“A Precision Industries 3600 mainframe,” the policewoman, whose name tag read ‘Myers’ said in return.
“My! Sparing no expense, did they?” Breaker said as he looked over the control board, his hands waving over the panels, but not touching them. “I can feel the power…”
“Just what are you doing, sir?” Myers asked as Grey took a position by the door, after the guards had left.
“Just getting a feel for the system, is all. I like what I feel,” Breaker said just before he disappeared in a bright flash.
Myers jumped up with a squeal of fright as Grey turned to look. “Breaker! You are where?” he called out, well, as best he could with his monotone drone, crossbow at the ready.
One of the monitors changed to show Breaker’s face. “Wow… this is different… working inside the system is fascinating. Don’t worry, Grey. From here, I can control all the doors that have intact wiring, as well as look through all the cameras. Inform Proton there is a mass of prisoners making a rush toward the exercise yard doors, while another group is going through the kitchens. Let me see if I can find the radio circuits…” Breaker mused as he ‘looked’ around him.
“You no panic, I no worry, Breaker. May you come out better than you went in,” Grey said before relaying the information to Proton.
“I heard, Grey. Shocker, prepare to blast the fence to the exercise yard with high voltage. If you can get at the doors, so much the better,” Proton ordered.
“Shocker copies orders, Captain.”
Inside the cybersystem, Breaker looked around, feeling out what was there and how to use it. “Aha… prisoner control system. Step one, let’s shut all the cell doors. Second, lock and bolt outside doors. Third… trank gas? Oh, my…” he said to himself before calling out to the guards to put on respirators, because he was going to release the trank gas in two minutes.
When he did release the gas, Breaker felt the presence of someone else, ‘looking over his shoulder’. He turned to see a bluish spark hovering ‘behind’ him. “What happened to me?” he heard.
“How did you get in here?”
“I don’t know. There was noise and confusion, and I fled to someplace quiet. It’s quiet here. Should I stay here?”
“No, you shouldn’t. Go back to where you were and wait quietly. When you wake up outside of this, ask for Breaker. You a prisoner here?” Breaker asked as he surveyed the prison complex through its ‘eyes’.
“Yes, for hacking ATM’s for money. Didn’t want to, but it was necessary to live. I’m in the records under the name ‘Petunia Wallach’. I’ll go back to my body now. Thank you for talking to me,” the spark said before fading, leaving Breaker to the system.
Inside Purgatory, those prisoners who left their cells congregated in three main areas: the hall to the exercise yard, the mess hall, and the direction of the main gate. The exercise yard group had the least guard opposition, which the prisoners had already taken care of, and several bricks were doing their best to get the outside doors open. Slow going, but they were making progress.
The mess hall group had also dispatched their guard opposition, and had proceeded to the kitchen- and the loading dock doors. One oversight in the construction process was that the loading dock doors were not as strong as the other doors, because outside was just a small concrete dock, the waters there being very deep as well as cold, along with the fact that no boats were kept there, the supply craft being kept on the city shoreline, so it was thought that no one could escape that way. The place losing all power and having the prisoners break loose en masse somehow never occurred to the designers.
The third group, the one heading for the front doors, ran into the stiffest opposition. The prison guards barricaded the hallway at a junction and were pot-shotting any prisoner that showed themselves. The prisoners were showing little mercy to the captive guards, and the guards showed just as much to the escaping and loose prisoners. Those who stayed in their cells were left there.
All prison guards who were conscious put on their respirators when Breaker told them to over the radio. In the control room, Meyers broke out a respirator for her and put it on before giving one to Grey Man, who took it and slipped it on. “Danke,” was all he said.
Fifteen seconds before Breaker was to release the trank gas, the prisoners by the exercise yard managed to force the door open, only to be met by a wall of electricity, courtesy of Shocker. Some fell, others did not. As the trank gas was released, more fell, but three prisoners managed to get outside… and take off. Shocker managed to stun one, who fell back into the yard, but the other two flew off into the night. “Dammitall!” she swore as the two escapees took flight.
“What’s wrong, Shocker?” Proton asked.
“Two managed to get out and fly off into the night. I managed to pot a third. Prisoners are flowing out into the yard, but they can’t get over the fence. Not yet, at least,” Shocker reported.
“Electrify the fence by you as needed, the other side just leads into the water. Imago, you are weapons free at this point, do as necessary.” Proton ordered.
“Yes, Captain,” Imago replied, opening the flap of the holster which kept a dart-throwing gun, each dart loaded with enough tranquilizer to stupefy a charging horse. Problem being, she only had ten darts.
“Will do, Captain,” Shocker acknowledged.
Breaker was maintaining overview as he watched prisoners wobble, then fall as the trank gas overcame them. “Captain, make your way to the mess deck. Some people forced the loading dock door, and the gas is thinner there,” he reported over the radio.
“Right, will do,” Proton said as he made his way to where the guards were defending the corridor. “Captain Slinger, which way to the cafeteria, and how long will this trank gas work?” he asked the guard commander.
“Down that corridor and take a right at the tee. The prisoners SHOULD be out cold for at least a half an hour, depending on the person. I better see about restoring primary power and getting the prisoners back to the cells. Right now, I’ll take putting them in wrong cells until we can sort this mess out,” Slinger told Proton.
“Where is your power room? I’ll take the chance of people drowning trying to escape while I work on getting power back.”
“Tenser! Orren! Escort the Captain to the power room and help him restore primary power. The rest of you, let’s see about getting these prisoners back to cells. Any cells will work,” Slinger ordered.
“Captain Slinger, there are fourteen prisoners out in the exercise yard, still awake. I can try to seal the doors, but I’m not certain of how much damage was done,” Breaker reported over the radio.
“Do that, Breaker,” Slinger replied. “That should keep them contained until we get power back.”
“Will do, Captain,” Breaker said as he commanded the doors to shut and lock. Shut he could manage, but locking would not respond. “Well, at least I can try to keep the door shut as best I can…” he mused to himself as he examined the circuits.
Outside, Shocker and Imago stood watch over the exercise yard. If anyone tried to climb the fence on their side, they got shocked. They didn’t attempt to try to stop the ones who climbed the far side, only to have Imago call out once, “There are no rescue boats available! If you go into the water, you’ll get cold and eventually drown! Keep that in mind!” Didn’t stop two intrepid souls from climbing, one getting over the top razor wire and descending the other side.
Down in the power room, Proton, Tenser and Orren started checking matters. They determined power was still coming in, but whatever happened earlier that lit up Purgatory Rock like the world’s biggest lighthouse caused all the breakers to trip. “What’s the best way to restore power, Breaker?” Proton asked.
“Make sure all downstream breakers are open before shutting the input breakers for main power, then start closing breakers as I have outlined in what I am sending you now,” Breaker said as a listing appeared on Proton’s HUD.
“Copy that, Breaker,” Proton said over the radio before turning on the external speaker. “Tenser, Orren, let’s check all breakers are open before restoring main power. You know how to do that?”
“Yes, Captain,” Tenser, a yellow-skinned lanky fellow replied. “Orren and I are on the night shift because we went through training to handle the electrics in case something happened.”
“Good! You know the restoration sequence, right?”
“That we do, Captain,” Orren, a muscular chunky reddish-skinned woman said. “Five minutes to verify shutdown, then we can restore.”
“Let’s do this, people!” Proton called out as he reviewed the checklist Breaker sent him, while the guards pulled out pre-printed laminated guides to the process.
Captain Slinger went to the exercise yard doors, to find a pile of groggy prisoners there. “Okay, everyone! Back to your cells and I won’t shoot. Resist and I will.” Slowly, the pile of people sorted themselves out and proceeded back to the cell blocks, under the watchful eyes of Captain Slinger and a squad of guards, with weapons drawn. They knew Slinger meant exactly what he said.
Outside, the shocked flier from earlier woke up and tried to flee, only to catch one of Imago’s darts. She went down and stayed down. The others decided that the tide was not in their favor, and sat down on the floor of the yard, Shocker and Imago paying close attention.
In the power room, Proton asked about the power damping field. “Is it the entire structure, or just in their cells?” he asked Tenser.
“Primarily in the cells, active all the time. The corridors and other facilities are on an as-needed basis, to conserve power. Well, not so much power as wear and tear on the equipment. I hope they develop portable nullifiers soon,” Tenser said. “Let’s get the power back on.”
“Get the main power online, and I can take it from there, people,” Breaker said over the radio.
“You sure of that, Breaker?” Proton asked.
“All in the computer controls, if you know how to access them. I do, and have,” Breaker said with confidence.
“Let’s do this. Inform Captain Slinger we are restoring power in ten seconds.”
“Right, Captain.”
Proton and Tenser shut the input breakers. Within seconds, the noise of other breakers shutting filled the power room, as well as normal lighting being restored. “Attention, everyone! Main power has been restored! Prisoners, return to your cells and wait there. You are being watched,” Breaker said over the PA system.
Captain Slinger waved to his group of prisoners. “You heard the man! Back to your cells!” he barked. The prisoners, under the watchful eyes (and guns) of the guards picked up the pace.
“Captain, all those who remained in their cells, the doors are now locked. Empty cells are unlocked until you put someone into the cells, at which point I will lock the doors,” Breaker told Slinger over his radio.
“Sounds good to me! We’ll get these salted down, then we’ll go after the ones in the exercise yard. How does the cafeteria look?” he asked.
“Doors are shut and locked, and the cafeteria nullifier is on. They won’t be going anywhere. The loading door is forced, and I can’t shut it. Two jumped into the water, the rest decided against it.”
“I like the sound of that. Thanks for the help. We’ll talk later, okay?”
“I look forward to it, Captain.”
In the power room, with everything working, Proton decided to check in. “Captain Proton to Spike, do you copy?” After fifteen seconds of silence, he repeated the call. When there was still no response, he tried another frequency.
“Captain Proton to Matterhorn, do you copy?” he called twice before he came to a decision. “Tenser, Orren, report to Captain Slinger. I’m heading outside.”
“Right, Captain!” Orren said for the two as they hurried out. Proton went back to the control room, to find Grey Man and Myers inside, but no Breaker.
“Grey, where’s Breaker? I don’t see him anywhere!”
There was a bright silver flash, and Breaker appeared in the room, standing, with a grin on his face. “I’m right here, Captain! All systems nominal, prisoners being placed back in their cells. Now, I’m going to take a…” he said before his eyes closed and he collapsed, or started to, Proton catching him and getting him to a chair.
“All right is he, Captain?” Grey asked.
Proton scanned Breaker. “If I’m reading this right, he’s just exhausted. I really need to take a few more medical courses,” he said after scanning Breaker. “Grey, head outside and relieve Imago. Have her come in here. Maybe she can read these signs better than I can.”
“Jawohl, mein kapitan!” Grey snapped, saluting (in the Eastern style) before pivoting on a heel and heading out.
“Is he an Easterner?” Myers asked after Grey had left the room.
“Born there, emigrated here, and is a citizen of the Commonwealth. A very good fellow to have on your side. I’m glad he’s on mine,” Proton told the guard, who moved back to the control console.
“If you trust him, so should I.”
Imago came rushing into the room. “How is he?” she asked upon seeing Breaker slumped in a chair.
Proton plugged a cable into a port and called up the scans he did. “You tell me. You’ve had more medical training than I have.”
Imago looked over the readout. “Hmmm… he never did take the orange chewable earlier. He’s in a severe crash. Fortunately, I have something that should be of help.” She took her medkit from behind her back and opened it. Looking through, she pulled out an ampule and a syringe. “A dose of this should prevent him from going into a more severe crash.”
Imago filled the syringe, rolled back the cuff of his uniform and carefully injected the fluid. “You’re not supposed to give an unconscious man anything orally, so I prepared this. I had a feeling he would go too far. Just what did he do?” she asked once the medication was administered.
“From what I figure, he merged into Purgatory’s computer system and controlled matters from there at computer speeds. He’s a good coordinator.”
Imago blinked in surprise. “He did WHAT? He could not do that before!” she squeaked.
“Learn something new every day, right?” Proton said with a small laugh. “Watch over him. I’m going outside and try to call Base. I haven’t heard anything from them since we were told to come here.”
“Will do, Captain.”
Proton headed outside, internally grimacing at the sight of fires burning uncontained in the city across the river. “Damn… worse than I thought,” he said to himself before calling in to base.
Like before, he got no response calling in to Spike or Matterhorn. Coming to a decision, he called a group he was not sure was operational yet- the Wonderbolts. He knew one set of armor had been given to the police, but that’s all he knew. “Captain Proton calling the Wonderbolts. Does anyone copy?” he called.
“This is Captain Spitfire of the ECPD. What are you doing on this frequency, and who are you?” a voice snapped back at him.
“This is Captain Proton of the Beta Team. Failing to contact my superiors, I called on this frequency. I wish to report Purgatory is under lockdown, situation returning to normal, five people known to have got out. Details to follow once the situation fully stabilizes and the duty Captain can get a head count,” Proton reported.
“Good. That’s one worry off my mind! Now, let me find Mayhem! Don’t call me, I’ll call you!” Spitfire snapped.
“When we are done here at Purgatory, Beta Team will head to the City and take on matters as we find them. Acceptable?” Proton asked.
“Good enough. If you find Mayhem, call me! Otherwise, call ECPD dispatch and ask for the Watch Commander. Now, stop distracting me!” Spitfire barked before ending transmission.
“Just as snippy at work as she is in person,” Proton said to himself as he walked back inside. “Hold on… I thought Soarin was to get the armor, not Spitfire… well, when crap hits the fan, plans go out the window.” Shrugging, he headed back inside to find Captain Slinger and to check up on Breaker.
It was about an hour later when Captain Slinger said that all was back under control in Purgatory. Headcount was made, wounded taken to the on-site hospital, and Breaker was back on his feet, the injection and two orange chewables restoring enough energy to enable him to keep going. Captain Proton gathered the Beta Team, boarded their commandeered boat, and headed back to the city, Proton calling in to the ECPD Watch Commander.
“Captain Proton calling ECPD dispatch. Rare Innovations Beta team available for assignment. Situation at Purgatory now under control, heading for North Shore precinct dock,” he said.
“Captain Proton, this is ECPD Dispatch. Report to the North Shore precinct and find Lieutenant Staff. She will have an assignment for you,” Dispatch told Proton.
“Understood and complying, Dispatch. Find Lieutenant Staff and report to her. ETA three minutes.”
“Dispatch aye.”
While they were tying up to the North Shore dock, a tall yellow-orange skinned woman came out to meet them. “Beta Team, yes? I’m Lieutenant Staff, duty commander. We sure can use your help,” she said, running her fingers through her short red hair.
“Where do you want us, Lieutenant?” Proton asked as Grey Man and Breaker tied the boat to the dock.
“Can you just walk down Twenty-Seventh Avenue from the precinct to Fire Station Fifteen? If anything untowards is happening, take care of it and call in afterwards. We’re more than overstretched here, and Sergeant Umber and his squad are remaining at Purgatory to help there,” Staff said, fatigue and stress evident in her face and voice.
“That is what we are here to do, Lieutenant! Let’s do this, Beta Team!” Proton said, getting out of the boat and onto the dock.
“Just where do you find the energy, Captain?” Shocker asked as she, and the rest, also got on to the dock.
“Stimulant juice in the helmet, Shocker. If anyone needs any, ask Imago.”
“I got mine,” Shocker said as she pulled a small bottle of lemon juice from her belt, opened it, and drained it in five quick gulps. After a shiver, she smiled. “Let’s go!”
“Ja. Do this, we should, and now,” Grey Man droned.
“This way, people. I took the time to read up on you earlier today. I’m just glad you are here to help,” Staff said as she led them around the precinct building to the front gate.
“Part of our job, Lieutenant. We’re also glad we are able to help,” Breaker said.
At the front gate, the five looked down Twenty-Seventh Avenue. Several small fires were burning unattended, clumps of people moving quickly from light post to light post, skipping the ones that were smashed or tipped. “This is SO not good,” Imago said.
“Got that right, Imago,” Proton said. “Let’s start walking. We see any looting, we stop it. Any muggings, we stop it. Anyone wounded, we help. We’ve stopped Mayhem’s signal, so the rioting should have stopped by now, but there are after-effects. We can’t clean the whole city, but we can help.”
“That we can. So let's get started!” Shocker declared, setting off southbound on the sidewalk, the rest of the team falling in behind her, Proton bringing up the rear. The sensors in his modified Wonderbolt suit will alert him to any problems coming up from behind them.
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welcome back friend it's good to see you back at the keyboard,
I'm so glad you're back and that you're all so healthy after what you went through!
10525677
Healthy? Not even close, pal.
10525691
I tried.
Nice update!
10537083
Glad you liked. Next two chapters are done, have to wait for approval.