[REND] 9 - Cue in Planning Montage

Am I in an actual planning montage? I was back at the base of Dario’s group. Our base, I could say. Deen was here with me, plus the six hero wannabes. I fidgeted while sitting on a pile of blocks. This was so much fun. I could imagine the cuts, the splices, layering the shots, and the background music. Main characters were always part of planning montages.

“Are you uncomfortable?” Deen asked. She was sitting on a lawn chair beside me. “Want to trade places?”

“No, no. I’m fine.”

She shifted to the side of the seat. “I think you can squeeze here.”

I almost shot her the most incredulous ‘What?’ in the history of humanity. Was she inviting me to physical contact? No way! “Not saying your butt’s big,” I said, “but I don’t think I can fit there. We’ll probably topple and—”

Deen bristled in indignation. “I don’t have a big—”

“I said the opposite,” I interjected. “Anyway, Dario’s starting.”

Dario drew a rectangle on an old whiteboard behind him. Reo said they found the board here when they moved in, probably left behind by construction workers when their projects were abruptly halted. Dario capped his black marker and tapped the rectangle with it.

“Let’s say that this is the area of the docks controlled by the 2Ms.” He nodded at Deen and me. “This is our target. For what purpose do you think the 2Ms bribed and threatened a lot of people to establish themselves at the docks?”

We’re getting quizzed? He probably wanted to bring us up to speed since the rest of the group already knew about this. I shrugged, saying, “Uh, transporting illegal stuff? Lots of illegal stuff that they’d need a place for proper boats to dock instead of just using the beach or something.”

“Correct. They regularly transport quite sizable containers. You have encountered some of what they transport.”

“The mutants,” Deen said, a flare of anger passed over her face.

“Mutants, big and small, among many other things related to the Adumbrae.”

I raised my hand. “They transport Adumbrae stuff to and from where?”

Dario pointed his marker at me. “Great question. The answer is, Red Island.”

“Red Island? Is that like a codename for a place?”

“It’s what the 2Ms call this island—and we do think it’s an actual island—housing their laboratories and other facilities to create Adumbrae artificially. Their headquarters, essentially. These are just guesses. But it’s logical not to situate their labs on the mainland because of security risks. You might have an employee go to the bar, get drunk, and spill their secrets. On an island, everything is in a bubble.”

“And it’s no problem if a monster experiment escapes,” Myra added. “They can just hunt it down with no witnesses.”

I raised my hand again, genuinely curious. “If they create Adumbrae on this, uh, Red Island, does that mean that their rich clients go there?” This should be my target. Labs and stuff, huh? Could they have something that’d push back Spooky Erind? 

“You’re right,” Dario replied. “However, the 2Ms don’t use the city docks for transporting their clients.  Perhaps you and Amber can someday help us find this other route. Amber can navigate the social circles of the elite, none of us have access to.”

“Reo can’t navigate any social circle,” Myra murmured. “Whether elite or not.”

“Hey, I’m keeping quiet here,” Reo said. “Attacking with no provocation. That’s a war crime.”

“Are you saying that some of our acquaintances are… Adumbrae?” Deen asked as she glanced at me, probably wondering who it could be. At this point, I would be surprised if someone wasn’t an Adumbrae or Corebring, artificial or not.

“A couple of your classmates are part of families we suspect support the 2Ms,” Dario said. “But that’s a conversation for another time. Let us return our focus to the docks. Why are they transporting mutants from Red Island to La Esperanza? What do you think?”

“That guy with the purple mohawk said they use something in the brains,” I said. “Stops the Adumbrae from taking over.”

“That does seem to be the case. But why are they transporting intact and living mutants? You’ve seen them, haven’t you? The mutants? It should be much safer to harvest the brains on Red Island, process them there, and transport the products to the mainland. Less costly than this roundabout way. Less suspicious too.”

“They like to keep it fresh?” I guessed, looking at Deen for ideas.

“I don’t know,” Deen said.

“It’s because of the games,” Everett said. “Sounds so innocent, calling them games. Fights or matches. The 2Ms hold these secret fights to entertain their clients. Think of it like gladiator matches in the Colosseum.”

“Colosseum…” My mind went back to what Purple Mohawk was doing with their kidnapped victims. “They’re making normal people fight Adumbrae?”

“From the docks, the monsters are transported to a secret arena hidden underground.” Dario drew a circle, labeling it ‘arena.’ He then drew an arrow from the rectangle pointing to the circle. “The 2Ms kidnap people no one would report missing—

“Dozens of people,” Johann said.

“—and match them against mutants to appease their bloodthirsty clientele. Then the fake Adumbrae would also fight the mutants—a very controlled fight that wouldn’t put them in harm’s way. It’s an opportunity to let off steam and test their superstrength and powers. They couldn’t do that in the open, obviously. This is what we’ve learned from a client of the 2Ms that we caught before.”

And tortured for information, I added in my head.

This got me thinking about fighting Adumbrae. It sure was thrilling to have a challenge instead of killing normal humans. Nah. I shouldn’t get tempted by these thoughts. This was Spooky Erind convincing me to give up being a human.

“After the mutants are killed,” Dario continued, “their harvested brains would be returned to the docks.” He drew an arrow from the circle back to the rectangle. “This is our way to get past the guards and scanners around the docks.”

Our? I smirked internally. Deen shifted in her seat upon hearing that. Sounds like these hero wannabes wanted us to join. Another thought poked me. Was this the opportunity to test eating mutant brains? Spooky Erind was probably angry at me for thinking about this.   

“A week from now,” said Dario, “we will attack the docks. We have several goals. The main purpose is to plant a tracker on the ship from Red Island. The second most important goal is to steal several samples of mutant brains and other chemicals or items we’ll find there—the Professor requires this for their experiments.”

It sounded to me that being heroes wasn’t the real intention of this Professor and the secret organization backing Dario. If I could steal some samples too…  

“We will destroy as much as we can to hide our actual mission,” Dario said. “For our entry, a truck will transport the harvested brains from a suspected arena location to the docks.” He explained to us the route of the truck while drawing on the board. He was surprisingly great at illustrating city blocks and roads. He also mentioned something about switching trucks, Adumbrae guards, and possible escorts. “Reo will now tell us about his plan for getting inside the truck.”

Reo stood up and extended his arms. “Listen to my tale, children. I’ll regale you with my genius, my calculative mind, my—”

“I have a question,” Myra cut in, looking at Dario. “We’re doing this truck infiltration bit because the place is guarded by heavies. We know Jim Ambrose and his augs boys are there. Several Adumbrae, too. So, if we do get in with Reo’s plan—”

“We will,” Reo said. “Never doubt me.”

“—how are we getting out?” Myra finished. “The guards won’t instantly disappear once we get past them.”

Dario pointed to the rectangle on the board again. “The ship that will take the mutant brains to Red Island also brings with it the batch of mutants for next week’s fights. This will be our distraction—release the mutants.”

“Sounds like ‘Release the Kraken,’ Johann said with a laugh.

Dario went on, “We’ll make Jim Ambrose and the other guards choose which targets to go after—us or the mutants? They can’t afford any mutants escaping the docks and revealing themselves to the public. Even if they won’t completely ignore us, we’ll have divided their forces. And that’s not all. We’re going to have a bit of help from the Professor. Remember the boosters I’ve told you about before? Testing has finished, and we’re getting the first batch of the working product.”

“Heck yeah!” Myra slapped her leg and hooted. “I can’t wait to try those out.” Reo and Everett also cheered.

Boosters? From their conversation, it sounded like it would amplify their artificial Corebring powers. There was a lot I wanted to try here, although I'm not the adventurous type. I rarely ate spicy food, for example.

“That doesn’t answer Myra’s question of how to get out,” Johann said. “Do I drive through the gate to fetch you guys like when we rescued Amber and Erind? I don’t fancy my chances of surviving a missile chasing the van.”

“The short of it is…” Dario said, the slightest hint of a smile revealing itself on his impassive face, “…we’re going to swim. You won’t be in harm’s way, Johann.”

“We’re diving into the ocean?” Myra asked as she stopped high-fiving Reo. I didn’t know why she got so excited about the booster that she was suddenly friendly with Reo.

This mission sounds super exciting, I thought. Definitely something a main character would do. If I could snag a couple of brains along the way, why not?

“I’ll elaborate when we reach that part of the plan,” said Dario. “Any other questions for this stage?”

Myra raised her hand, copying what I did earlier. “One more thing. How sure are we that mutants will be there?”

“Extremely certain, my inquisitive lady,” Reo said, bowing low. “For a month, I’d been spying on the docks. Boat comes in, the mutants are unloaded, brains are loaded. Instead of brains, it’ll be us! Now, listen to my brilliant plan!”

Reo explained how they’d stop the truck and board it without the driver noticing… because he’d be unconscious. Dario’s power was extremely useful in various situations. There were other parts to it, like causing traffic on one road to divert the truck to another road where it’d be easier to stop. They also had plans for the guards. And if I wasn’t mistaken in my understanding, one of Reo’s fairies could control people? That was a power I should watch out for.  

It was then Dario’s turn to explain the actual fight. He listed on the board the known Adumbrae in the 2Ms’ employ, and their suspected powers.

“We can scratch Firio off now,” Dario said. “We still have plenty of other problems.”

“They might have guys coming over from Red Island,” Myra said. “Since we attacked them, they might think they’d need more muscle. Those boosters better buff us to the high heavens.”

“Don’t jinx it, Myra,” Reo said. “You’re putting a death flag all over us.”

Reo’s right. Myra’s spouting lines that would set up deaths later in the movie. I didn’t want the hero wannabes to die early because I hadn’t even made any use of them yet.

“The element of surprise and speed are key,” Dario said. “Incapacitate them with my ability, and quickly dispatch them.”

“You might be overestimating your impact, Dario,” said Myra. “Is there any other way we can, I dunno, make this attack safer for us? I’m all for fighting the 2Ms, but I do have to survive and find Kelsey.”

As the group brainstormed ideas, Deen and I kept exchanging glances. She’d shrug, and I’d shrug. Then we’d smile at each other. I had no idea what Deen thought I was trying to tell her. I was just copying what she did. I’d like to think she was trying to assure me that everything would be fine.

“Let’s put a pin on that, for now.” Dario wrote ‘PIN’ on the board and listed the distraction plan as number one. “The current idea is bombing the Eve club. A car in their parking lot would suffice. Eve's the entrance to their arena; they'd certainly panic. We’d also work more on our battle plans. And I’ll have to contact the Professor to provide us with anti-Adumbrae weapons. Maybe EMPs for Jim Ambrose’s guys.” That was number two. “Any questions not related to these?”

“I have one.” It was now Deen who raised her hand. “I hoped I’m not misremembering, but this mission was also to divert the 2Ms from looking for Erind and me, right? How will you, like, plant false leads or wrong information?”

“We’re going to pin this on another criminal organization.” Dario wrote ‘Vegas’ on the board. “A group engaged in illegal augmentation called the Tea Party is based in Vegas. Before the 2Ms hopped on making Adumbrae, they were rivals with the Tea Party. There remains some bad blood between them.”

I nodded. This was the group Purple Mohawk was talking about. Amusing how there was drama in the criminal underworld, too.  

“We’re going to make it seem that we are sent by the Tea Party,” Dario said. “And we do that by leaving behind augs parts, supposedly broken off or destroyed during the fight. The 2Ms might not buy it for long, but it should be enough to give us time for another plan while they sniff the wrong direction.” He wrote ‘Buy aug parts’ as number three on the board. “If we can stir conflict between the two groups, all the better for us.”

It took another ten minutes for the planning to end, with Dario discussing how they’d swim a short distance to bypass the fences and walls around the place. He explained that the mutants they’d set loose would be on land, and so they should flee another way.

“Johann, you’ll pick us up once we reach this point,” Dario said, tapping his drawing. “We can’t attack this way because we’ll be too vulnerable coming by sea. Myra can’t swim with her full armor on, for example.”

And we finally reached the important question as Dario wrapped up the planning.

Deen posed it, “What’s our part in this?” She gestured to me and herself. “We don’t have any experience in battle. We’ll just be liabilities.”

“I don’t think they should join this one,” said Reo, out of all people. “Even if they’d develop their powers by next week, it’d be insane for their first mission to be a straight-up battle.”

“Wow, you’re employed as a white knight now?” Myra said.

“I agree with Reo,” Everett said. He was the one I expected to side with Deen. “We’d spend more time trying to keep them alive than fighting.”

“We’ll have to wait to see the progress of your artificial Core,” Dario said. “I’m not forcing you, of course. But if you do develop powers before our scheduled mission… perhaps you can consider helping us.”

Yeah, right. I gazed into my crystal ball to predict that this bastard would find a way to force us to join. Reo had a pained look. Everett was chewing his tongue. They were thinking the same thing.

“In any case, there’s much work to be done before the mission,” Dario said. “Amber and Erind, maybe you can come along shopping, if you want to. Any suggestions where to go?”

“Marsh Row,” said Johann. “We won’t even need to pretend that the augs are from the Tea Party because their illegal wares reach Marsh Row. It’s just a matter of looking for the right merchant.”

“I’ll go to Marsh Row,” I said. “I… I want to contribute to the effort. It makes me feel guilty that you’re risking your lives while I’m not doing anything.”

“Don’t think of it like that,” Everett said. “Even if we didn’t meet each other, we’d still fight the 2Ms and Adumbrae.”

“The bad Adumbrae,” Myra said.

“Well, then,” said Dario. “Buying augs will be the assignment of Johann, Erind—”

“I’ll go with Erind!” Deen blurted.

“Okay, Deen will be there too,” Dario said. “And one more to provide them security.”

“I’ll do it,” said Everett.

“That’s about it,” Dario said. “I’ll think over the other aspects of our plan, and we’ll have another meeting. By then, we’ll see if Amber and Erind have developed powers.”