** um haven't been here in a while! This got left behind after L9 pretty
much crashed. I thought it had potential. But apparently UPN thought
otherwise. But it lives through it's obscure cult following. I decided to
write some more on this after examining a lot of my stories, most of which
have been left behind. I hope you enjoy this. The show had a lot of
potential and I'm just trying to extend this obscure small science fiction
show a bit further. **
The fridge felt like something more like the Antarctic freeze at the moment. Travis had shrugged on a coat and was trying to sleep. His curly mop of gelled hair was all Sosh could see as she blinked behind her glasses. Jargon was slumped over on the work space, snoring quietly. She took a sip from her fifth cup of coffee. It had no taste anymore.
In the time since Annie called, the team had not been back. It had been about an hour and a half since then and Sosh was trying to balance the healthy sense of worry with the mind numbing tiredness she felt. She felt as if her brain couldn't handle very much. It was almost like her old research days, when she got excited over the newest hack and the newest code. Spending all night in front of a bright screen did bad things to people. But the quest for knowledge squelched any desire to stop.
There was a muffled voice and Travis looked up, eyes still closed, a yellow post-it stuck to his face. He opened his eyes and brushed the paper off.
"Anything?" He asked.
Sosh only shook her head.
He checked his watch. "That's it." He stood up and took off the coat. Dropping it onto a utility closet, he took out his motorcycle jacket and put it on.
"What are you doing, Travis?" Sosh asked as he headed towards the door. She stood up and ran in front of the entrance.
Jargon woke with a start. He saw Sosh and Travis at the door. "What's going on?"
"Come on they haven't been back in almost two hours. If we don't do at least find out where they are then who's going to take the blame when police find them somewhere?"
"Stop talking like that." Sosh said. "They're probably done with sweeps."
"Sweeps don't take two hours." Travis said, his voice escalating. "Are you coming or staying?" He asked Sosh, then looked at Jargon. "And if you're not going, are you going to get out of my way?"
Jargon sighed. "One of us has to stay here." He said. "I'll stay, you and Sosh go."
Sosh nodded with reserve. He threw the door of the fridge open. Before leaving, he held up a small silver cell phone. "You know where to call me."
Sosh slid her card into the security slot at the garage of Level 9 headquarters. The door trembled and shook as it rolled up. The lights burst on and Travis whistled.
"I'm in a candy store." He said, walking in. He examined the SUVs parked in their painted spaces and the shiny metallic paint. His eyes caught a fire engine red motorcycle and grinned.
"That's Nakano's." Sosh said as she opened the cabinet where the keys were locked up.
"I didn't even know that this was down here." Travis said, sitting on the bike.
"That's Nakano's." Sosh said again.
"So?" He asked.
"Take another one. She'd kill you if you did something to that bike."
Travis rolled his eyes. "As if they won't kill us if they find out anything happens to any of their other toys?"
"You have a point, but still, I think we should take one car." She said, holding up the keys to the Chevy Suburban.
"Why?" Travis asked, now eyeing the black ninja motorcycle. "If we split up, and there's trouble, one of us can get to the fridge faster."
"I don't think so, Travis. If we're going to find them, we need to be able to be coordinated."
Travis smirked, crossed the room, opened the utility closet, and tossed Sosh a vacuum sealed earpiece and microphone. He took it out of it's packaging and secured the earpiece inside his ear and the microphone inside his motorcycle helmet. Sosh sighed, and feeling the vestiges of willpower slipping away, she got into the surburban.
Jargon felt tired and not at the same time. He felt as if he could close his eyes and not open them for a few days. But at the same time, he felt that nagging curiosity, wondering where Price, Tibbs, Wiley, and Hooten were. He looked at his computer screen and decided to aid Sosh and Travis.
Wiley's head throbbed like someone had hit him with a sledgehammer. Actually, maybe someone had. He remembered nothing, except for the split second between being hit and slipping into unconsciousness; he felt a trickle of blood roll down his forehead. He raised a hand there now and found that it had dried and that his wound was minor.
He looked around and saw the crumpled figure of Annie Price. He squinted and saw Hooten also. He didn't know where Tibbs was. They had spread out, each covering a final section and making sure the enemy wasn't still around.
"Annie." He whispered. There was a mumble and he rolled her to her back. He saw a nasty bruise on her face and ventured that she had fallen that way.
"Wha-" Price blinked and the pain hit her like a wave.
"Ten bucks it's the Red Knights." Wiley said, sitting her up slowly.
"I didn't see who hit me. They attacked from behind." She said.
"Most likely dressed as common people, maintenance staff." He said. He grimaced as he felt the pain in his side.
"Where's Tibbs?" She asked, seeing Hooten, still out like a light.
"No idea. My hope is that he avoided them and got back to HQ."
"Me too." Prince said, sighing.
"You're right near it." Jargon said, speaking into the headset. Travis sighed and it came out almost like a growl. He sped past Sosh and her eyes became wide as he sped across into her lane and into the dark unlit garage area.
"Make a left Sosh, Travis is going the right way." Jargon said.
"You failed drivers ed, didn't you?" She said to Travis as she got out of the car. he was standing next to his bike, helmet under his arm.
"Never took it." He said, grinning. He breathed in deeply. "Jargon, where are we, man?"
"They're right on your level. At least the car is." He said. Sosh walked ahead of Travis while he was still listening to Jargon. She saw a dark figure next to the car and shouted to Travis as she rushed to it.
"What's going on?" Jargon asked.
"Tibbs. He's down." Travis said quickly.
"Come on, we have to get him to a hospital." Sosh said.
"I'm fine." Came the reply. Sosh was so surprised, she almost dropped the arm she was supporting.
Travis looked at the dried blood on Tibb's shirt. It ran from his collar all the way down in a slightly soggy mess. "Thibodeaux, man, you're not fine."
"It's not my blood." He said, getting up with the aid of Travis and Sosh.
"Then whose is it?" Sosh asked.
"The other guy."
"Come on, let's get back to the fridge."
Back at Level 9, Tibbs was put into the infirmary, while Travis was with him. Sosh and Jargon settled down to find the source of the Red Knights.
"I can't believe we even have an infirmary here." Jargon said, his face contorted into disbelief.
"Neither can I." Sosh said, shrugging. "Okay, Tibbs said that he managed to shoot his attacker. They fought and Tibbs got a few good whacks before the guy hit him from behind. And Tibbs shot the guy before he lost consciousness."
"So they couldn't take Tibbs, but got Annie, Wiley, and Hooten." Jargon said.
Sosh shook her head, her dark hair waving. "I guess so." She said.
In the infirmary, Tibbs laid a bandage over a gash on his arm. He was feeling slightly more alert now. His head had stopped spinning and he felt a bit better, though his muscles were sore and would stay that way for a while.
"Thanks for coming out." Tibbs said. "Price puts a big deal on not disobeying orders, but really, you guys did a good job."
"I got tired of sitting." Travis said, grinning. Tibbs smiled and Travis left him to rest.
Entering the fridge, he was met with two faces, both bearing inquisition.
"Well?" Sosh asked.
Travis met them with a grim stare and sighed. He shook his head. Sosh felt her heart sink.
"What?!" She almost shouted.
"Well. I'm sorry, he's sustained a lot of injury." Travis said. "Mostly up here." He tapped his head. "He even thanked us."
Sosh felt like strangling Travis, but the wave of reassurance kept her from leaving her seat.
"So what are we doing now?" Jargon asked. "We still have to find the others."
"Right. I took initiative on that and called Nakano."
"You took her off vacation?" Sosh asked.
"Hey, we need the manpower. Or womanpower." Travis replied. "So anyway, she's on her way back. She's catching a redeye back. Meanwhile." He picked up a file. "Price's classified details on this case none of us know anything about. Not much on the Red Knights, except for what they've done in the past. And that doesn't give us names or dates, just places, most of them don't even exist anymore."
"How'd you get it?" Sosh asked in disbelief.
"Well, let's just say that no mere mortal lock could keep me and my lock pick from the cabinets." He said. "Interpol and CIA still use paper."
"Well, I did some research on the Red Knights. Seems they date back all the way to the mid 70's. Back then they weren't dealing with information and computers, they were activists. Environmentalists."
"So the hippies died out and paved the way for the new group of hackers." Sosh said. "What else do we have?"
"Well everything in here outlines what really happened to the Avatar Technologies guy. James Franklin, age 35, recent addition to the Fortune 500."
"Well, he's not there anymore." Jargon said. "Didn't Avatar Tech get a government deal to make satellites?"
"A few weeks ago, yeah." Sosh said. "But it was rumoured that he got the deal from illegal means. A little strong-arming against different competitors."
"So Avatar Tech kicks the other competition to the curb, gets the satellite deal, and then their CEO is murdered. Obviously the Red Knights have something to bitch about." Travis sat down and moved a finger on the laptop touch pad. "Why don't we start out by trying to find out what Avatar Tech was doing with their time and energy. I'm sure it wasn't all spent on charity fundraisers and rebuilding the Projects."
"I'll try to find out who the members are." Sosh said.
"And I'll find the security camera footage from the garage, as much as I can. I'll see if I can find out where they went." Jargon said.
They went to work and in the reaches of the infirmary, Tibbs sat up and with a groan, took out his cell phone. He dialed a number and the phone rang.
"Speak."
"It's me." Tibbs said. "The nest is unguarded. There's no one else here but the kids."
"Good."
The fridge felt like something more like the Antarctic freeze at the moment. Travis had shrugged on a coat and was trying to sleep. His curly mop of gelled hair was all Sosh could see as she blinked behind her glasses. Jargon was slumped over on the work space, snoring quietly. She took a sip from her fifth cup of coffee. It had no taste anymore.
In the time since Annie called, the team had not been back. It had been about an hour and a half since then and Sosh was trying to balance the healthy sense of worry with the mind numbing tiredness she felt. She felt as if her brain couldn't handle very much. It was almost like her old research days, when she got excited over the newest hack and the newest code. Spending all night in front of a bright screen did bad things to people. But the quest for knowledge squelched any desire to stop.
There was a muffled voice and Travis looked up, eyes still closed, a yellow post-it stuck to his face. He opened his eyes and brushed the paper off.
"Anything?" He asked.
Sosh only shook her head.
He checked his watch. "That's it." He stood up and took off the coat. Dropping it onto a utility closet, he took out his motorcycle jacket and put it on.
"What are you doing, Travis?" Sosh asked as he headed towards the door. She stood up and ran in front of the entrance.
Jargon woke with a start. He saw Sosh and Travis at the door. "What's going on?"
"Come on they haven't been back in almost two hours. If we don't do at least find out where they are then who's going to take the blame when police find them somewhere?"
"Stop talking like that." Sosh said. "They're probably done with sweeps."
"Sweeps don't take two hours." Travis said, his voice escalating. "Are you coming or staying?" He asked Sosh, then looked at Jargon. "And if you're not going, are you going to get out of my way?"
Jargon sighed. "One of us has to stay here." He said. "I'll stay, you and Sosh go."
Sosh nodded with reserve. He threw the door of the fridge open. Before leaving, he held up a small silver cell phone. "You know where to call me."
Sosh slid her card into the security slot at the garage of Level 9 headquarters. The door trembled and shook as it rolled up. The lights burst on and Travis whistled.
"I'm in a candy store." He said, walking in. He examined the SUVs parked in their painted spaces and the shiny metallic paint. His eyes caught a fire engine red motorcycle and grinned.
"That's Nakano's." Sosh said as she opened the cabinet where the keys were locked up.
"I didn't even know that this was down here." Travis said, sitting on the bike.
"That's Nakano's." Sosh said again.
"So?" He asked.
"Take another one. She'd kill you if you did something to that bike."
Travis rolled his eyes. "As if they won't kill us if they find out anything happens to any of their other toys?"
"You have a point, but still, I think we should take one car." She said, holding up the keys to the Chevy Suburban.
"Why?" Travis asked, now eyeing the black ninja motorcycle. "If we split up, and there's trouble, one of us can get to the fridge faster."
"I don't think so, Travis. If we're going to find them, we need to be able to be coordinated."
Travis smirked, crossed the room, opened the utility closet, and tossed Sosh a vacuum sealed earpiece and microphone. He took it out of it's packaging and secured the earpiece inside his ear and the microphone inside his motorcycle helmet. Sosh sighed, and feeling the vestiges of willpower slipping away, she got into the surburban.
Jargon felt tired and not at the same time. He felt as if he could close his eyes and not open them for a few days. But at the same time, he felt that nagging curiosity, wondering where Price, Tibbs, Wiley, and Hooten were. He looked at his computer screen and decided to aid Sosh and Travis.
Wiley's head throbbed like someone had hit him with a sledgehammer. Actually, maybe someone had. He remembered nothing, except for the split second between being hit and slipping into unconsciousness; he felt a trickle of blood roll down his forehead. He raised a hand there now and found that it had dried and that his wound was minor.
He looked around and saw the crumpled figure of Annie Price. He squinted and saw Hooten also. He didn't know where Tibbs was. They had spread out, each covering a final section and making sure the enemy wasn't still around.
"Annie." He whispered. There was a mumble and he rolled her to her back. He saw a nasty bruise on her face and ventured that she had fallen that way.
"Wha-" Price blinked and the pain hit her like a wave.
"Ten bucks it's the Red Knights." Wiley said, sitting her up slowly.
"I didn't see who hit me. They attacked from behind." She said.
"Most likely dressed as common people, maintenance staff." He said. He grimaced as he felt the pain in his side.
"Where's Tibbs?" She asked, seeing Hooten, still out like a light.
"No idea. My hope is that he avoided them and got back to HQ."
"Me too." Prince said, sighing.
"You're right near it." Jargon said, speaking into the headset. Travis sighed and it came out almost like a growl. He sped past Sosh and her eyes became wide as he sped across into her lane and into the dark unlit garage area.
"Make a left Sosh, Travis is going the right way." Jargon said.
"You failed drivers ed, didn't you?" She said to Travis as she got out of the car. he was standing next to his bike, helmet under his arm.
"Never took it." He said, grinning. He breathed in deeply. "Jargon, where are we, man?"
"They're right on your level. At least the car is." He said. Sosh walked ahead of Travis while he was still listening to Jargon. She saw a dark figure next to the car and shouted to Travis as she rushed to it.
"What's going on?" Jargon asked.
"Tibbs. He's down." Travis said quickly.
"Come on, we have to get him to a hospital." Sosh said.
"I'm fine." Came the reply. Sosh was so surprised, she almost dropped the arm she was supporting.
Travis looked at the dried blood on Tibb's shirt. It ran from his collar all the way down in a slightly soggy mess. "Thibodeaux, man, you're not fine."
"It's not my blood." He said, getting up with the aid of Travis and Sosh.
"Then whose is it?" Sosh asked.
"The other guy."
"Come on, let's get back to the fridge."
Back at Level 9, Tibbs was put into the infirmary, while Travis was with him. Sosh and Jargon settled down to find the source of the Red Knights.
"I can't believe we even have an infirmary here." Jargon said, his face contorted into disbelief.
"Neither can I." Sosh said, shrugging. "Okay, Tibbs said that he managed to shoot his attacker. They fought and Tibbs got a few good whacks before the guy hit him from behind. And Tibbs shot the guy before he lost consciousness."
"So they couldn't take Tibbs, but got Annie, Wiley, and Hooten." Jargon said.
Sosh shook her head, her dark hair waving. "I guess so." She said.
In the infirmary, Tibbs laid a bandage over a gash on his arm. He was feeling slightly more alert now. His head had stopped spinning and he felt a bit better, though his muscles were sore and would stay that way for a while.
"Thanks for coming out." Tibbs said. "Price puts a big deal on not disobeying orders, but really, you guys did a good job."
"I got tired of sitting." Travis said, grinning. Tibbs smiled and Travis left him to rest.
Entering the fridge, he was met with two faces, both bearing inquisition.
"Well?" Sosh asked.
Travis met them with a grim stare and sighed. He shook his head. Sosh felt her heart sink.
"What?!" She almost shouted.
"Well. I'm sorry, he's sustained a lot of injury." Travis said. "Mostly up here." He tapped his head. "He even thanked us."
Sosh felt like strangling Travis, but the wave of reassurance kept her from leaving her seat.
"So what are we doing now?" Jargon asked. "We still have to find the others."
"Right. I took initiative on that and called Nakano."
"You took her off vacation?" Sosh asked.
"Hey, we need the manpower. Or womanpower." Travis replied. "So anyway, she's on her way back. She's catching a redeye back. Meanwhile." He picked up a file. "Price's classified details on this case none of us know anything about. Not much on the Red Knights, except for what they've done in the past. And that doesn't give us names or dates, just places, most of them don't even exist anymore."
"How'd you get it?" Sosh asked in disbelief.
"Well, let's just say that no mere mortal lock could keep me and my lock pick from the cabinets." He said. "Interpol and CIA still use paper."
"Well, I did some research on the Red Knights. Seems they date back all the way to the mid 70's. Back then they weren't dealing with information and computers, they were activists. Environmentalists."
"So the hippies died out and paved the way for the new group of hackers." Sosh said. "What else do we have?"
"Well everything in here outlines what really happened to the Avatar Technologies guy. James Franklin, age 35, recent addition to the Fortune 500."
"Well, he's not there anymore." Jargon said. "Didn't Avatar Tech get a government deal to make satellites?"
"A few weeks ago, yeah." Sosh said. "But it was rumoured that he got the deal from illegal means. A little strong-arming against different competitors."
"So Avatar Tech kicks the other competition to the curb, gets the satellite deal, and then their CEO is murdered. Obviously the Red Knights have something to bitch about." Travis sat down and moved a finger on the laptop touch pad. "Why don't we start out by trying to find out what Avatar Tech was doing with their time and energy. I'm sure it wasn't all spent on charity fundraisers and rebuilding the Projects."
"I'll try to find out who the members are." Sosh said.
"And I'll find the security camera footage from the garage, as much as I can. I'll see if I can find out where they went." Jargon said.
They went to work and in the reaches of the infirmary, Tibbs sat up and with a groan, took out his cell phone. He dialed a number and the phone rang.
"Speak."
"It's me." Tibbs said. "The nest is unguarded. There's no one else here but the kids."
"Good."