The Rescuing

"Damn!" commented Volodja. "Quick change of plans! Atticus would you be so kind to find out who is the source of that energy and decide if it's possible to disable the bomb in holo-suit or do we need to remove the bomb carrier somewhere else? Chris volunteered to help you in any possible way while I handle the major evacuation from that area because we can't risk with our people's lives. And as they said between the colleagues and friends in Guangzhou: "Chop chop!" which means "Hurry!"

I mentally responded with, "Daking hell! It's like somebody is constantly reading my mind and then overreacting when I think about wanting a little more action! Volodja Sandy's information does not confirm a bomb.

It could just mean that Lady is subconsciously upset about the recent events just enough that the sensors picked it up. However we also can't rule out a bomb. Of course the most likely candidates would be Lady and Ruby. I can tell you that in their current swimwear I definitely do not see any way that they could visibly hide a singularity device.

However given that Ruby is synthetic it could have been implanted in her positronic brain which would also have the 'benefit' of masking the bomb's signature unless somebody as thorough at their job as either Gish or Kaj are constantly running security or signal scans or in this case both. Either way I would prefer some sort of evac without causing panic!"

"And now to the part where I have to handle the evacuation as promised," thought Volodja during his run. "The question is - "How to remove mass of people from the holo-suite area avoiding the possible panic?" Our people have been in a lot of surreal circumstances but one still can't take the risk. Thus we need an organized and yet somewhat playful movement into determined safe point and the simplest way to achieve that would be...Let's try this one!"

"Attention, Paradise Protectors!" echoed Volodja's voice through the loudspeakers in Fortress K'Shaa's holo-rooms area. "The purpose of this unexpected event, which is going to happen right now, is to learn something through the play, no matter how unconventional is might sound! We are going to learn how different people mixed together can act in the most organised manner during a crisis situation! Thus I officially order everyone in this area to exit their rooms, take place in a row, put arms around the one who stands before them and repeat my movements. You'll learn during the event so don't worry about your dancing skills! Music, please! It's Conga time!"

Volodja's voice was familiar to everyone in that area and people had enough time to learn that Volodja's ideas usually served some useful purpose despite their seeming absurdity. That is why they didn't protest when they saw the passing Conga line but took their place in it. Besides - who could object a chance to Conga?

Hearing that I said outloud and over the EGO channel, "Congo?! Really?!"

As people looked at me, I responded with, "Fine. We conga! However Stephanie could you and the twins join Kara in the main Conga line? As this is obviously one of our Morale Officer's games to get everybody to have fun and play nice together, all of you may as well enjoy that scheme. However I do have some things to discuss with Lady and Ruby in private. So after we Conga to the main courtyard; Ruby, Lady and I will go to my family bunker where the three of us can talk in private while all of you have fun with whatever our Morale Officer is planning now."

With that I notified Volodja via EGO saying, "Alright Volodja slight change to the change. If we don't atleast Conga a little ways, people may get suspicious and still cause a panic, not to mention that my big mouth accidently verbalized my distaste for Conga...So now all eyes are indeed on me at the moment as your Conga lines form. So we will join the Conga for a little ways. Then after the three of us get into the courtyard; Ruby, Lady and I will be going to my home bunker. The basement should provide shielding to keep outside sources from setting off the possible bomb remotely while also being able to contain most of the damage should it still go off. So have Chris meet us there. And Volodja, Lena seems to have my calls on Mute. Well that and Kabule is quiet so he may be with and therefor distracting Hope quite a bit as well. So could you try to get ahold of Marcel and have Lena join Chris Ruby lady and myself? I know Chris is amazing with his job, but so is Lena and she has a LOT more experience with finding and disabling bombs on Synths."

As I mentally conversed with Sandy and Volo; Lady, Ruby and I safely congaed to the main courtyard. From there I walked at a brisk pace to my family's bunker with Lady and Ruby keeping up with me. Once we got inside I said, "Ladies let's go downstairs to talk as I left my main guns and armor in the base and as you know I feel naked without them. So I would like to pick out some armor to put on while we talk. While we are down there, I will also explain the reason behind Volodja's little impromtu dance party."

With that the 3 of us headed to my main armory/workshop in the basement.

Once in the basement of the Batman Bunker with Atticus and Ruby, Lady frowned at Atticus, asking with a pretty pout, "Whassup?"

Ruby on the other hand asked with an impassive face, "May I have some more Irathian Rum please?"

As I looked over some of my various armors I turned snd looked at Lady's frowning face. So i stepped away from the armors and walked over and poured Ruby some more rum. Then I gently kissed Lady before saying, "Snow Angel please don't pout. I know you would like to go back to the little party. However you also know I always have a reason for what I do and will never lie to you. So here it is.

Not long after I returned from a trip into the Forbidden Zone where I encountered a synthetic Bat-Messiah and Lady Christianna, Ruby brought you back to me which I am very glad for.

However it seems that while we were enjoying ourselves in the holo-suite, Kaj ans Officer Gish were as usual putting everything into their work. It is because of their obsessive security and signal scans that they discovered an extremely strong singularity-based signal coming from the holo-suite. So it was best to take some safety precautions until it could be isolated for certain which is why Volodja came up with his Conga idea to get all who were present in the holo-suite out to the Courtyard and hopefully away from whatever was emitting the signal.

I of course put two and two together and reslized it was most likely coming from one of us three hence isolating us in our basement for now. Seto built this place to withstand almost any kind of explosion whether it is from inside or out and to block any signal once the signal shielding is activated which I did as soon as we entered. So it keeps everyone else safe from whatever threat we brought in.

So Tianna to lay all my cards on the table, here it is. It couldn't be determined from a basic scan whether it was your 'natural' singularity powers acting up, if it was a singularity device that was secretly planted on Ruby that she doesn't know about and could therefore explain her memory lapses, or if during my encounter with the Bat-Messiah that he may have managed to tag me with such a device that my energies are partially distorting. However we shouldn't have to wait long to find out if it is one of us or a device somehow implanted into the holo-suite itself, for Chris Robet is gathering dome scanning equipment and then coming here to see if the signsl is coming from us while his team thoroughly examines the Holo-suite. Volodja is also trying to contact Lena to see if she will join us here, as she was ignoring my EGO messages and Kabule was spending time with Hope. Of course I can hear him back in my head cursing me for interupting his 'date' since the activation of the signal shielding forced him back into my head. So it is also possible given his sudden departure that Hope will also plead with Lena to try to locate us and quit ignoring everybody's EGO messages. In the meantime I would love for the two of us to enjoy this sudden downtime while our chaperone and good friend continues to sample my various irathiant spirits."

In Lena Marr's mindscape, dressed in just a cute teddy and her hair a mess, Hope appeared not looking happy but reporting none-the-less, "Atticus needs us in his bunker - immediacy. Something about a singularity bomb or something."

"Fuck Pooh Bear, you jinxed us!" A naked Lena exclaimed while Marcel, equally nude, was on top of her pumping vigorously, "Hurry up... I got to... defuse... a singularity... OH... MYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With a satisfied smile, Lena got up, throwing on a flowered robe and slipping on pink bunny slippers as she grabbed her tool belt, kissing Marcel before she left saying cheerfully, "You save your energy Pooh Bear... for laterI I got to got to Atticus' bunker to defuse the situation. Get it! Defuse the situation... no... nobody gets my jokes!"

With that said, Lena left their quarters and rushed to Atticus' bunker, getting more than one startled glance along the way. Once at the door to the Batman Bunker, hitting the intercom button and saying, "This better be an emergency Atticus, I'm freezing my ass out here!"

*****

In the Batman Bunker, Atticus Batman said, " ...it is also possible given his sudden departure that Hope will also plead with Lena to try to locate us and quit ignoring everybody's EGO messages. In the meantime I would love for the two of us to enjoy this sudden downtime while our chaperone and good friend continues to sample my various irathiant spirits."

Ruby's small mouth opened trying to say something and the consternation on her cherubic face made it obvious that something was keeping her from speaking, although she kept mouthing without sound, "I am... I am... I am..."

The most petite of the four Synth Sisters threw up her hands in frustration, before draining her glass of Irathiant Rum - then quickly pointing one chubby forefinger to her chest before just as quickly jerking it away. The diminutive Synth sighed deeply before holding out her glass for more Irathiant Rum.

Lena Marr began work immediately scanning with a miniature energy detector both Ruby and Lady Christianna, then said with a wicked grin, "Lady has some residual singularity energy - by the way welcome back BGF - but the singularity energy in our little friend here is through the roof."

Chris Robet came in with a contraption in suitcase form and after consulting with Lena, somewhat distracted by the fact that her bed robe hung open and she was nude underneath. Then Chris cleared a work table and asked Ruby to lay down on it. Ruby complied with a shake of her dark haired tousled head. Once the smallest Synth-Sister was laying flat on her back, Chris unfolded his device over her whole body, scanning her from head to toe before reporting in a matter-of-fact tone, "Yep, she has a singularity bomb in her chest - smallest one I've ever seen or read about. A miracle of miniaturization."

"Lemme see, lemme see" Lena exclaimed pushing Chris to the side as she looked at the view-screen of the scanner, "Crap Atty-baby! It's twined around what I assume is the Synth heart since its pumping some kind of liquid - the Synth equivalent of blood I imagine - through her body. We remove it we kill her, and if we kill her, the bomb explodes." A pretty pout crossed Lena's snow white face as she moved the scanner slowly up from Ruby's heart to her brain commenting, "In fact this bomb should have blown up when she landed here in her plane - it has an altitude trigger. It must of took a ton of willpower to keep it from doing just that." Thinking aloud, Lena rolled her golden eyes and put the tip of a white forefinger into the corner of her lush lips before snapping her fingers exclaiming, "Clever girl! She must of taken something that would deaden that part of the brain connected to the trigger. I wonder what it was?"

With an enigmatic smile, Lady turned to her husband, Atticus Batman and said merely two words, "Irathiant rum." However the smile disappeared from her Castithan face as her blue eyes widened in alarm as she asked with dismay, "Save her Atticus?"

"What's all the damned dawdle is all about?" asked Aunt Agatha when their path crossed with the Conga line, led by Volodja Uljanov. "As I expected I see Volodja in front of this crowd, dragging others down to his level of human degradation."

"I wouldn't take that too tragically, Milady," replied Wolfram von Eschen supporting her elbow. "People seem to have a good time. Besides - my time and experience with Volodja has taught me that he does everything with a reason no matter how eccentric that reason can be. If you give me a moment then I might be able to enlighten the reason of this..."

"Lollygag!" Agatha suggested helpfully right before she and Wolfram were grabbed by passing people and became links of the Conga chain. 

"As I thought," said Wolfram von Eschen after few dancing steps. "This is an evacuation. Something went wrong with the holo-room we were heading to and Volodja decided to evacuate people and practice cooperation at the same time."

"How did you deduct it?" asked Aunt Agatha with a shadow of a doubt. Not because she doubted Wolfram's mental abilities but because she had strong prejudices towards Volodja. 

"An advantage of having an EGO psyche among some disadvantages, like having a personal psychoanalyst inside your mind," explained Wolfram kindly. "Didn't have to deduct but consult other EGO-s. This particular eccentricity is about leading people to the safe zone by giving personal example. And it leads us right to the..."

"Next stage of the eccentricity," snapped Aunt Agatha because they ended up in area where people already were playing the game of "Simon says"  

"At least it wasn't Volodja's idea," told Wolfram.

"If not his idea then his influence is to blame!" moaned Aunt Agatha quietly while clapping her hands just like Simon said...  

Lena Marr stroked her non-existent beard and answered, "Boss, I think we need to approach the problem as organic rather than mechanic. Also it's not so much an affair of the heart as an unwanted cancer. We can keep Ruby basically drunk forever, but the danger of the singularity bomb will remain. I think I need Dr. Orion as a consultant here and then remove the bomb like he would remove a cancer from me or you - a very explosive cancer, but a cancer none-the-less!"

Atticus responded with, "Agreed. Keeping her drunk isn't a solution just a remedy. I will go upstairs to my comn station and contact Sandy and Orion to fill them in and have Orion brought here. Keep an eye on the situation in the meantime."

With that Atticus went upstairs to his bunker's comm center. Then he used it's special frequency transmitter to contact Fortess K'shaa's War Room without having to bring down the sheilding. Once Officer Gish answered, Atticus had her put Sandy on the line. Once Sandy answered he filled her in on the situation then continued with, "I will contact Doctor Orion and fill him in. While I amdoing that, fill Captain Oenfer and Chief Lebeau in on the situation. Then send them to Medical to escort Doctor Orion and his equipment to my bunker. The fewer people sent here the better. So Lena will work with him and Lady, Robet and I will assist as needed."

After Atticus signed off, Sandy had Gish call in Chief Lebeau to fill him and Kaj in. Once filled in and dismissed, the two headed to Medical as ordered. Only stopping long enough to equip themselves with bomb squad gear as Sandy ordered.

After reaching Medical the two men escorted the Doctor out of the base proper and towards the Bat-bunker. However as they neared it, Kaj noticed Micfi sneaking ariund nearby as if trying to track something. So he looked that direction and thought his implants couldn't detect anything odd, he did notice a very weird sensor distortion theough his ocular implant. So he whispered to Lebeau, "Some thing odd is at foot here. So get the Doctor in to the safety of the Bunker using your security over-ride while I investigate. You priority is the safety of the Doctor and the base. So get the two of you inside and lock the door. As this is still inside the compound grounds, I will still be on the base's sensors and security cameras. So I trust that Commander Bell-Uljanov will send a security unit to aid me if I discover trouble."

Hearing that, Lebeau silently agreed by opening the door to the Batman family bunker and getting Doctor Orion and his equipment inside. As the door closed behind him, lebeau said to Kaj, "Good luck wit yer investigation out'ere Mon ami."

As the door sealed shut between them Kaj replied with, "And good luck to you in there my friend."

Then the big purple Bio-man drew his pistol and walked cautiously towards. Micfi and the odd distortion that the young Castithan seemed to be investigating as well.

Meanwhile in the bunker Lebeau quickly got Orion and his equipment downstairs to help their patient and friend. As the got downstairs Atticus raised a brow and said gruffly, "Where is Captain Oenfer?"

Lebeau replied whith, "He be investigating sometin he tought he saw. Ya know as you always say Commandant. Always better to be extra careful, than not careful enough."

Atticus replied with, "Agreed. Speakinf of which it aappears that it is now time for Lena and the Doctor to help our friend."