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Chapter-22

"I don't like this," Eric said.

"My piloting wasn't that bad," Tucker replied.

"That isn't what he means," Theo said. "Where is everyone?"

Tucker had had to weave around people standing in the way the entire time he piloted, hovers were meant to be higher, but without a computer to control it The tiger hadn't been willing to risk vertical controls, but for a few blocks now, as the Government Center came into view, they had all vanished, leaving the path empty of obstacles.

"What do you think it means?" Eric asked.

"Nothing good," Cass offered for Theo.

"I think the problems are going to be inside. The Rogue AI is able to override people's implants, make them see what it wants, even change their memories."

"How do you know that?" Eric asked, suspiciously.

"Is Tommy going to be okay?"

"He's disconnected like we are. He won't have been affected." Eric leveled his gaze on Theo.

"I tried to enter a building and the guards stopped me. It was a public building, but he claimed it was empty, always had been. And that was as people were exiting it."

"Why would the AI be emptying a public building?"

"It was where the anarchists were hiding out. Where they inserted the AI in the city's systems"

"And why were you there, Mister Laramy?" Eric asked. "Exactly how did you manage to get this kill program from them?" The tone was conversational, but Tucker glanced at his father, looking worried.

"Dad, is this really important? He's on our side, he'd going to use that program on that thing, right Theo?"

"Yes, that's my plan."

"I don't doubt it's your plan, but I'm curious as to how an Independent like you managed to steal this drive from them. They managed to build this AI and yet you just happened to be able to get into a guarded building and take it from them?"

"You do know not all Independents refuse to use technology, right?"

"Careful Theo," Cass warned.

"You don't have an Implant, Mister Laramy, just how advanced am I supposed to believe you are?"

"Hey!" Cass objected. "We're more advanced than you think."

Theo had to fight to keep from smiling.

"Is something funny?" Eric asked.

"Yes, this belief you have that someone must have an implant to be able to accomplish anything worthwhile. Do you realize how stuck up it makes you sound? And you're surprised why most Independents don't want to have anything to do with the corporations?"

"Mister Laramy, Independents couldn't do anything that would be a benefit to us. Their insistence on-"

"A bunch on Independents managed to cobble together an AI. Tell me, Captain Orr, how many of those has your corporation made? Having an implant doesn't make you better than us. It just means you have a different lifestyle."

"Don't look at me," Tucker said when his father did just that. "I don't care if a guy has an implant or not, so long as he's willing to have sex with me." He slowed the hover. "We're here."

"You're not getting us closer to the doors?" Theo asked.

Tucker shook his head. "You said this AI can make people do what it wants. If it has guards at the door I want us to be able to move quickly. We're easy targets in this thing, and it doesn't have any armor."

Theo narrowed his eyes. "Are you trying impress me or something, because that sounded really thought out."

"No." Tucker smiled. "But is it working?"

"No," Theo replied flatly, but he was. He hadn't thought Tucker had that level of reasoning in him. "But the guards there aren't armed. I've been there."

"There's an armory, in case the center comes under attack."

"How do you know that?"

"All our government buildings have them. So it makes sense they do too."

"Tuck."

"It isn't a secret, Dad. Any quick search on the net will tell that much."

'Cass?' Theo coded.

"He's right. I didn't mention it because it was never a factor in our mission."

Theo nodded. "Then I guess we need to be careful. Any idea what kind of weapons they might have?"

Tucker looked at his father, and the older tiger gave a small shake of the head. "Sorry, I don't."

Theo didn't believe him. He tried to remember what Tucker did on the cruise ship, but other than sleeping with passengers he didn't seem to have a job. So how did he know about armories and what they contained? Theo got a sense he wasn't the only one hiding things.

"Are we risking the front door, or looking for a less conspicuous entrance?" Eric asked.

"Who's going to see us? It's deserted."

"I'm with Tucker, whatever security the Rogue has setup will be inside, and any entrance will be protected, so we might as well go for the closest one." He tried to open the door but it was locked. He looked at Tucker, but his father was holding his hand away from the control. "I'm going," Theo stated.

"I think it's best if you stay here."

"Really? I'm the one with the kill program."

"If you give it to me I'll make sure it's inserted in the communication system for it to affect the AI."

"Do you know how to make the needed changes?"

"Do you? You said a friend looked the program over, I don't see anyone else here with us."

"I know enough to get the job done."

"Oh sure, take the credit for what I'll be doing," Cass said.

'Make yourself-' Theo stopped coding as he saw Eric glance at his hand.

"Dad, we can use the help. It's just the two of us against whatever's in there."

"I'll make you a deal. We go after your son, Tom. He's your representative, right? I saw him argue you family's interests. We get him first, then you can leave and I'll handle the Rogue."

"Looking to get rid of us?"

"No, but you guys are corporate, your family is all that matters, right? The rest of the words can burn down so long as the Orrs remain standing. That's your view on things."

"Hey, we're not like that," Tucker said, but his father remained quiet. "Dad?"

"You're right, Tuck. We are not like that. We rescue Tom and then we help you reach the communication controls. Once the AI is dealt with, we can leave."

"Okay, I'm certainly happy for the help."

Eric unlocked the doors and Theo hurried out, before he changed his mind.

"What were you going to say?" Cass asked.

Theo had made sure to be on Eric's right, so his body hid his right hand. 'You can reveal yourself to them if you want the credit so badly.'

"Oh, funny. Can you imagine the trouble we'd be in with Anderson if I did that?"

'I can, that's why I'm the face of Cass, the programing genius.'

"Flattery? Really? I like it."

They approached the doors from the side, and Tucker quickly peeked through the clear material. "There's no one there."

Theo looked in. He was right. The lobby was empty, even the guard's desk was unoccupied.

"Didn't you say it would be guarded?" Eric said.

"After the cleared perimeter it's what I expected. The Rogue has to know I have the kill program. It would make sense for it to try to stop me from using it."

"How would it know what you're planning?"

"It's an AI. It's thousands of time smarter than any of us. It's got to have worked out the only sure way I have to stop it."

"So why is it going to use the communication tower to escape? There's plenty of other broadcast system."

"This is the only one capable of sending a signal directly to Earth without having to bounce off ships to make it there intact." Eric said. "Something as complex as an AI can't afford any signal degradation."

"Uncle-"

"Isn't part of this discussion."

'Any file on an uncle into computer science?'

"No, no Orr is working in that field."

"We need to hurry," Theo said. "As far as we know it's already in the process of sending itself."

Tucker placed the black box against the door's control panel and it opened. If it worked like the design Theo had studied when Anderson had sent him one of the schematic that had been retrieved, it was a dumb system that only forced an open program into the door. One way communication, no chances of the Rogue rendering it useless.

The lobby was eerily silent, the only sound being the door closing behind them once Tucker entered behind them. Tucker headed to the counter to check behind it, guns first, as if it wasn't the first time he'd done such a thing. He could be mimicking scenes in movies, but his motions were too precise for that.

With the only hiding place cleared the tiger headed for the only other door and applied the black box to the control. It opened and sound erupted.

The sound of people talking, and walking. Surprised the three of them into stillness. A heavy set armadillo in the gray outfit of a SolGov clerk walked by the door without even glancing at it.

"Maybe they were protected?" Tucker asked.

"There is nothing in the center that could do that. This must be the AI's doing. Camouflage, maybe?"

"Whatever it is, let's take advantage of it and find your son. You know where his office is?"

"I do."

"Then lead the way."

"I think we should put away the guns unless we need them. Let's not draw attention to ourselves." Tucker put his away in a holster at his back. Eric's holster was under his arm. One put it out of the way, the other within easy reach. Interesting, Theo thought. He didn't have the luxury of a holster, so he put his in the waistband of his pants, at his back to ensure he wouldn't accidentally knock it out of there.

Tucker entered last again and the door closed. They made their way down the hall, having to get out of the way from the people walking and running about, because as far as they could tell, no one saw them.

"Are you sure this AI is trying to stop you?" Tucker asked. "This doesn't feel like it would get that done."

"I have no idea what it's trying to do. I thought it would try that, but for all I know it just likes to watch them."

"What are they even doing?"

Theo watched in open doors at men and women seated at their desks deep in conversation. Some looked to be on a call, and Theo wondered if there was anyone on the other side of it.

"They're working."

"Like trying to fix this?"

"No, as if nothing was wrong." He happened to glance in an another office and the elephant behind the desk looked up.

"There you are Marcus," Representative Abigail said. "Where have you been? You were supposed to be hear hours ago."

"There was a problem with-" Theo had the excuse ready out of habit, but she didn't let him finish.

"Of course there's a problem. All these representatives have been at each other's throat all day and I've had to depend on some runner I don't know to get things done. I needed you here."

"Marcus?" Tucker asked, but Theo ignored him, falling back into the role he'd had to play for her.

"I'm sorry, Madam Representative. It won't happen again."

"You'd better make sure it doesn't, if you don't want me to demote you to system monitor. Now, I need you to-"

"I'm sorry, Madam Representative, but I need to handle something first, I'll be-"

She stood and planted her hands on the desk. "Absolutely not. I won't have you run off right when I need you the most Mister Bowfinger. You have a job to do and I expect you to do it now. Do you understand me?"

Theo bowed his head. "Yes Ma'am."

"Good, now get that file to Herbert on Accounting, tell him he needs to get on it right now. We have to keep the Halibury representative from managing to pull that on us." She sat.

Theo stood, waiting.

She looked up. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

Cass hmmed. "I haven't received any files."

"Very well, Ma'am." Theo turned and started walking again.

"Wasn't Marcus Bowfinger the name of the man you left my ship with?" Eric asked.

"Yeah? Why did she call you that?"

Eric stopped and blocked Theo's way. "Because Mister Laramy is a spy infiltrating SolGov. It explains many things. Although not how an Independent has the knowhow to pull this off."

"Do you mind if we deal with this after the Rogue's been stopped? If Miss Abigail catches me here not doing what she told me to there will be hell to pay."

"You don't have an implant, so she couldn't send you any file. I'm not even sure how she knew you were there. She didn't seem to notice us."

"She isn't blind. She saw me and behaved as she was programmed to."

"Programmed?"

"By the Rogue AI. I think this is how it plans on getting in my way. By forcing me into the role I played here. If I encounter anyone who knows me they're going to force me to interact with them."

"Fine, but we will be addressing what you are doing here and who you work for once this is over." Eric began walking again.

Twice more Theo was stopped and forced to interact with coworkers. One requesting he come with her. Eric knocked her out and sat her behind a desk.

When they reached the floor allocated to the Orr corporation it was obvious. The clothing became colorful, as well as more revealing. The one thing Theo didn't see happening, which surprised him, was the no one was making out. He wondered if it was because this was one place Orr citizens kept their behaviors under control, or if it was because the Rogue didn't know enough about them to put that into their behavior. If Eric or Tucker noticed, they didn't comment on it.

They reached one of the few closed doors and Eric stopped. "It's this one."

Tucker placed the IDO against the control and it opened.

The tiger in the room had been reclining on a couch and was in the process of jumping to his feet, gun in hand and his clothing changing from the bright green shirt and shorts to a mate black thick looking material. It stopped spreading halfway to his knee and over his face.

"Dad!" He ran to the older tiger and hugged him. "What's going on? I was in the middle of work when I got disconnected, I've been locked in here since."

Eric held on to his son. "That was for the best, an Independent built AI has taken over the city and the people."

"The independents built what?"

"I know, I have trouble believing it myself."

Tucker pulled his brother away from their father. "I want some of that too." They hugged and then kissed. The heat in that kiss was enough to make Theo look away.

"Okay," Cass said, "Now I kind of wish you had a brother so I could record something like that."

'I can fake it,' Theo coded.

"No, I don't think you can. This is definitely something you only get with actual brothers."

Tom and Tucker pulled apart, panting. "Fuck I needed that," Tom said.

"And it's all you're going to be getting for the time being," Tucker said with a grin, "We need to move there's still stuff to do."

"Aren't we leaving? If the city is under attack I'd expect us to head to the Mercury until it's resolved." He noticed Theo. "Oh, hi, and you are?" Like When Tucker had put his hands down Theo's pants, Tom didn't show any embarrassment had having been watched making out with his brother.

"This is Mister Laramy, although you might have come across him as Marcus Bowfinger. He's an Independent spy infiltrating SolGov."

Theo looked at the older tiger. "Do you have to be this free with that information?"

"It isn't my job to protect your cover, Mister Laramy, and Tom is my son, I have no reason to keep this from him."

Tom looked Theo over once, then a second time with something of disappointment. "I'm afraid I haven't met him before now, and that is a shame. Any chance I can convince you to try to infiltrate me?"

"Really?"

"At least this one asked," Cass said.

"He's hung."

Tom smiled "Why am I not surprised you've already slept with him."

"I haven't, but I felt him up. He enjoyed it."

"Hey, can we focus on what's important?" Theo could feel himself blushing.

Tucker grinned at him. "Oh, this is very important."

"More than freeing the city?"

Tucker looked thoughtful.

"This is enough," Eric said. "You two can gossip about Mister Laramy's endowment while we are on the move."

"Where are we heading?" Tom asked, falling in step next to his father.

"The communication tower's controls. Mister Laramy is confident the AI will try to broadcast itself to Earth and he has a program that can kill it."

"That's a dozen floors up, if none of us can touch the network, how are we getting there?"

"The same way we reached this floor," Eric said with disdain, "Stairs."

"The building has stairs?"

"I know, I couldn't believe it either, but Theo knows where they are."

They headed back to them and went up. Eric in the lead, Tucker and Tom a few steps behind and Theo at the back. The two tigers leaned close and kept their voices low as they talked. Every so often they glanced back at him. Each time they looked him over and Theo could see the thoughts running through their minds.

"They are speculating about your prowesses in bed, and on a desk, a table, under a table, in freefall. Oh, Tom just asked if you are into bondage."

Theo should be annoyed, he knew it, but he felt somewhat proud of being the subject of Elite gossip.

The tiger stopped talking for a floor and then Tom leaned in again.

"This is interesting," Cass said. "This uncle of theirs just came up again. Tom asked Tucker if he thought the disconnection was his doing." Her was silent for a second. "For one of them to have become aware of the AI in time to disconnect them from the network, let alone be capable of disconnecting them speaks of an unheard of level of skill. That we've never heard of that person worries me. The Orrs aren't known to hide talent. All of them are known for what they are good at. Believe it or not, Tucker has a regular segment on the news about his sexual exploits."

Somehow that didn't surprise Theo, Tucker was an Orr, the news would keep talking about him and his family.

"Unsurprisingly enough, Tom shows up in any political discussions, oh, did you know their father use to captain a freight puller? I wonder what he did to deserve that job. Tyson does regular interviews about-"

'Enough. Focus.'

"I have nothing else to do, and this is all archived stuff. We have extensive archives on all the corporate elites. Did you know that Eric's father, Francis is the only recorded Orr to have had sons using sex?"

'Cass, can you slow your processes? I need to be able to focus.'

"Alright, but you're missing great stuff."

And then Theo could hear himself think again. He wondered if Cass' nervousness was a consequence of the trauma, or being unable to touch the network. He was normally better at staying out of the way.

Tucker opened the door on their destination floor and they found themselves in a darkened hallway.

"This doesn't bode well," Tom said.

"I take it this isn't what it should be like?" Eric asked.

"No, it should be like every other floors, lit and populated."

Tucker slipped between them to take the lead. "Something else that AI did?"

"Must be." Theo listened but there weren't any other sounds. "But I have no idea what it might be planning. I'd expect this floor to be heavily guarded."

"Unless it's already gone?"

"I really hope not."

"If it's the control center you want, it's further in," Tom moved to take the lead but Tucker pulled him back.

"We don't know what's ahead. Me and Dad will take the lead."

To Theo's surprise, Tom didn't argue.

They made it two intersection when a tiger stepped out into view. Theo had a thought that the five of them had to be the entire city's tiger population, there couldn't be that many of them.

"This level is closed to all personnel," the tiger said, and Theo easily identified the accent.

"He's from Vanguard, his name is Taavir."

Tom nodded. "I know him. He's Votroff's aid." He stepped between Tucker and their father. "I'm Thomas Orr, Orr Corp's representative. I need to access the communication center for corporate business."

"This level is closed to all personnel. You are required to leave or security measures will be enacted."

"I'm a representative, you don't get to give me orders, step out of my way." Tom strode to the other tiger faster than Tucker could reach for him. When he came within reach Taavir struck him. Tom grabbed his chest as he staggered back.

"Tommy!" Tucker was holding his brother while Eric headed for Taavir.

"You shouldn't have struck my son."

Taavir struck fast, but Eric managed to block and strike back. Theo watched them fight, wondering how it was a cruise ship captain knew military combat.

'Cass,' he coded. 'Does Eric Orr have military training?'

"Not according to our files."

'The files have to be incomplete.'

Taavir was the better fighter, landing more blows, but Eric clothing had spread over his torso and thickened, letting him hold his own.

"Dad, get out of the way." Eric jumped out and Tucker shot Taavir. The tiger tensed then crumbled to the ground.

"I wished you'd just killed the Vanguard ass," Tom said wincing as he ran a hand over his chest.

"I don't think Terry would be happy with me for starting a war."

"He hit me first!"

"He's being controlled by the AI. No one in Vanguard raises to his position by being stupid enough to attack one of us directly."

"He could have been using this mess as a cover. Come on. It isn't too far ahead." He looked like he considered kicking the downed tiger, but instead he continued on.

They reached a reinforced door.

Tucker took out the IDO. "That's quite the door."

"It's considered the nerve center. In case of an attack all the representatives are to come here. And everyone else is supposed to protect us."

"Didn't quite working out that way, did it?" Tucker grinned as he affixed the black box to the control.

'Cass, start recording.' Theo grabbed Tucker by the collar and pushed him against the wall. Before the tiger could react Theo had his muzzle against him and his tongue was pushing his way inside.

Tucker's eyes went from wide to half lidded as he relaxed. Theo kept him pinned against the wall as his tongue explored the inside of the muzzle. Tucker wrapped his arms around Theo and held him as he began sucking on the tongue.

Theo slipped a hand behind the tiger and grabbed his ass. Tucker moaned and pressed his groin against Theo's. Before he realized what he was doing, Theo was grinding back.

One of Tucker's hand was behind his neck, holding him in place, the other was on Theo's ass, squeezing it in time with their grinding. It was Theo's turn to moan.

When he managed to pull away enough to catch his breath Theo grinned at the tiger with the dreamy expression. "I thought you'd appreciate the gesture, being shoved against a wall and getting a tongue shoved in a muzzle."

"I didn't think you had it in you."

Theo patted Tucker's cheek. "Oh, you have no idea what I'm able to do when I have to."

Tucker frowned, but Theo was already moving. He caught sight of the other two tiger who have been watching him make out with Tucker, their surprised expression as he grabbed the IDO and slipped through the door, pulling it off.

The door closed before they could reach it.

"Theo, come on!" Tucker looked hurt.

Eric looked at him through the door's window, his face expressionless. "Mister Laramy, open this door."

"Sorry. You need to get out of here."

"Mister Laramy, do not test my patience, open this door, immediately."

"You can't be here when the Rogue dies, everyone's going to be released and whatever else is going to happen they are going to fall on me like someone cranked up the gravity. I'm a terrorist. You guys can't be associated with me."

"If you expect me to believe you are doing this to protect us, you are mistaken. You may not be a terrorist, but you are a criminal. I will not let you escape justice just because you will save this city."

"To be honest, I don't care what you think. I know why I'm doing this, that's all that matters. And as I said. I don't expect to escape anything, SolGov is going to be here the moment they can think, so go find a place to hide until that happens, and play the victims. Something tells me you don't want them to know you weren't affected by the AI."

Theo turned and walked away.

"You know, that was kind of hot."

"I told you I could pull it off."