Chapter Nine
The masked man laughed, "If you are willing to be reasonable, Miss Drakes, then you will soon be free to go."
Suzie glared at him, "You tortured my daughter. Killed my husband... Why would I be reasonable?"
"Because your daughter is not yet dead." The man said and shrugged, "But your ingenuity is precisely the reason you were brought here, and you have shown it. A walking electrical suit of armor. Not a bad play."
Suzie sighed, "What do you want me to build? For Arlia?"
The man nodded slowly, "You and your daughter will go free. We have already begun creating the device. Look to your right, on the desk."
Suzie glanced over, noticing the bundle of computer chips and wires for the first time. She ran it through her memory, identifying each piece.
"A weapon. It's supposed to... Stop hearts?" She asked slowly, and the man laughed, "Yes, indeed. It utilizes sound waves to-"
"Shut up." Another man said striding into the room, "You have no idea how it works. She does."
Suzie smiled, "This your work?"
The new figure nodded, "Yes. I'm Isaac Ibrahim, you had my boss arrested."
Suzie winced, "So you used to work for McIntyre... But he would never have allowed you to make something like this. It's the weapon of a terrorist, not a government."
Isaac shrugged, "Why drop bombs and destroy all the resources when you can simply kill the people inside? So... How does it function, Miss Drakes?"
Suzie frowned, "It negates the brain's own signals, so that if the heart stops, it won't start again. But you haven't found a way to stop the heart yet."
Isaac shook his head, "I have, I just haven't finished it yet." He produced a bundle of chips and lay it on the desk, "Now... Get out of that thing and turn it off, or Arlia dies."
Suzie switched off the batteries and shrugged the copper wires onto the ground, limping over to the benchtop.
She glared, "You're using Pika. My own robotic platform."
Isaac smiled, "Exactly why we needed you. Pica allows us some predictive analysis and control over the frequencies produced, but we need something more. Coupling Pika and Broly Core together would be preferable."
She winced, "Then I'll need my arm back. Broly is stored on it, with the legend commands preventing him from running on any other hardware."
Isaac nodded, "Fair enough."
***
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Drakes: Heroes and Villains
Science FictionThree years after Drakes: The Five Eyes, a global investigation into the events is under way, and all eyes are on Suzie Drakes, some wanting to label her the scapegoat, others wanting to hold her up as an ideal to the whole world. But she doesn't wa...