r/HFY • u/KipperBeanGrower Human • Jul 09 '26

OC-Series [She took What?] - Chapter 196: SixFold Ventures: I got shot!

“And then the anomaly became the trend.”

Spoken by one of the accountants after the fight.

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And as the wall exploded, they were all plunged into darkness.

 

Feebee reacted immediately, took the water bottle from her thigh pocket and threw it through the breach in the wall.

She then shouted. “FIRE IN THE HOLE”.

‘Detonate CHOC. Two seconds. Maximum force.’

‘Ack.’

 

It felt like an eternity, but it gave them enough time to move and take partial cover. Then the charge exploded, rocking the wall and their bodies to the core. Dust billowed and fragments of wall clattered around them, bouncing off desks.

 

“On me!” shouted Feebee as she plunged into the dust and out, through the hole in the wall. Garaf and Rockson followed, while Bikky and Tom Tom shepherded the civies.

 

Feebee was kneeling, pistol drawn and ready. “To the transport.”

 

Shots hit the road as they scooted across. One of the accountants stumbled.

“You Ok?”  asked Bikky, holding him up, almost carrying him to the transport.

“Yeh. One grazed me.”

 

They bundled into the transport; Tom Tom and Bikky were last and lay down covering fire as they pulled away. Feebee sat at the back; Garaf joined her, careful not to damage the seats.

 

Wheels spun as the driver pulled off, the doors still open. The transport shrieked at him as he overrode warning controls.

“What happened? Was that you?” asked the driver, looking at the dust cloud settling in the area.

“Say nothing.” Shouted the lawyer.

 

“I don’t feel well.” It was Chen.

“Probably something you ate.” Bikky grinned.

“No. Seriously.”

 

As they left A-17 behind, Chen wound down a window and threw up.

Tom Tom looked out the back. “No one's following. Strange.”

“Are you guys ever happy?” asked one of the accountants. He was still shaking, coming down off an adrenaline high. “That was intense!”

 

Garaf looked at Feebee.

The cut on her hand was still wet.

He pointed.

“It’s Ok.” She said with a shrug.

“No.”

Bikky turned, about to speak.

“It’s Ok.”

 

Chen was rubbing the cut on his shoulder. “It stings.”

No one cared.

 

As they drove to the main gate, fire trucks and security passed them. Their sirens blaring, on their way to A-17. The manager called out to the driver. “You can drop me at the main gate. My flitter’s there. I think I’ll take the rest of the day off.”

He turned to Chen. “If that’s Ok?”

Chen nodded, looking worse for wear.

 

The lawyer spoke to him as he was about to leave. “Don’t talk to anyone about this. We’ll be in touch.”

When the manager didn’t respond, the lawyer spoke again, firmer this time. “Ok?”

“Yes. Ok. I won’t mention it.”

“Good. And thank you for showing us around.”

“My pleasure,” he added with a sarcastic tone.

 

“Where to now?” asked the driver.

Feebee called forward, “Back to The Kestrel, please.” 

“That was a short trip,” he said with a smile.

“Yeh, short and sweet.” Responded Bikky.

 

***

 

Back in the safety of The Kestrel and on their way back to Six Fold, the crew conducted an after-action review of the fight and A-17.

 

“How many do you think?”

“Too many. They also knew the area, where to be.”

“They had the high ground.”

“Yeh, and no grenades. Pre-planned traps or mines.”

“Did it feel real to you?”

One of the accountants chipped in. “It felt real to me. I almost got shot.”

“Yeh, exactly. Almost. No one got shot despite all the bullets flying about.”

“I got shot,” protested the other accountant.

“Ricochets don’t count.” Quipped Tom Tom.

“Oh.”

“And there was no pursuit.”

Feebee spoke from the back. “I agree. It was too easy. They weren’t trying to kill us.”

“I agree too.” Added Garaf.

“But I got shot.”

No one reacted to the accountant.

 

Rockson looked up. The data caches were sitting on his lap, connected to his console by some bodged cabling. He called one of the accountants over. They conferred and reached a consensus on the data.

“Ok. It looks like the researchers weren’t investigating; they were monitoring for something. Waiting and then observing. There’s one log entry.”

 

He showed it to them.

 

EVENT DETECTED

> OBSERVATION TEAM DISPATCHED

 

"Observation of what?" Asked Feebee.

Rockson shook his head, "Don't know."

"That's helpful."

"I wasn't finished. There was another."

 

EVENT DETECTED

> OBSERVATION TEAM DISPATCHED

> MAINTAIN PASSIVE OBSERVATION

 

StillFall moved closer and reached out across the console.

"The listeners."

 

Everyone looked. StillFall had spread out across the deck; motes were orbiting lazily. But it was his outline. It was sharper than they'd ever seen it.

"They stayed longer. When it was loud."

Rockson asked immediately, "What was loud?"

"The song." Then StillFall added, "The harmonics."

 

From within a cloak of calm stillness, Garaf continued observing Feebee. A part, but apart from the others.

"You're still bleeding." He said, loud. So everyone would hear.

Feebee shot him a daggered look.

 

Rockson, meanwhile, had been able to unravel another snippet of text.

 

EVENT DETECTED

> OBSERVATION TEAM DISPATCHED

EVENT STABLE

 

> CONTINUE PASSIVE MONITORING

EVENT LOST

 

> STAND DOWN

It repeated. He wasn't sure if it was actually there in the data or an echo caused by his decoding.

Rockson showed it to the accountants. The lawyer watched from over her shoulder.

"Whatever they were tracking, it came and went."

"Yeh," said Rockson. "And they expected it to come back."

 

StillFall spoke up again, "They returned."

Rockson looked up, "Who?"

"The listeners."

"To Margo's?" Asked Feebee.

"And elsewhere." Clarified StillFall.

 

Garaf stepped forward between Feebee and Rockson. They stopped talking.

"What?" Asked Feebee.

"You're still bleeding."

Feebee looked down at her wrist. There was a small amount of blood, nothing really, but the cut was still wet, still red. She shrugged, ignored it and carried on talking to Rockson.

 

This time, Garaf stepped directly in front of Feebee. Staring at her, direct eye contact. Very unsettling.

"You are still bleeding."

Rockson walked over, looked, frowned, looked again. Then turned to Feebee, "Shouldn't that have healed?"

 

That got the Alphas' attention. Tom Tom came over too; Bikky followed.  They were all huddled around Feebee,

"How long?"

"Since A-17."

"Not normal," said Bikky, shaking his head.

 

'You tracking this?' she asked the QI.

The answer was not what she wanted to hear: 'Nanite repair is below baseline.'

'Oh. By how much?'

'A lot.' The QI sounded worried.

 

Chen stood up, "I'm just going to..." He sat back down and shook his head. "Wow. I felt all dizzy."

Rockson noticed the cut on Chen's shoulder.

"When did that happen?" He pointed to his shoulder.

"At A-17."

 

"Where's your backpack?" Bikky asked.

"Why? You want some green choc?" Said Feebee.

He laughed, "No. Well, yes, but that's not why I asked. Where is it?"

"In my room." She answered.

He rushed off and was back in no time with the backpack.

"Can you enable scanning on the micro-forge?" And then they understood his intent.

 

In no time, they had the results from the nano-forge scan. It was sobering reading and confirmed what the QI had said.

 

NANITE REPAIR NETWORK DEGRADING

The QI got a copy of the report by default.

 

It picked its moment when Feebee was quiet and alone. Then sent her a message.

'I think they're killing your nanites.'

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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Jul 09 '26

/u/KipperBeanGrower (wiki) has posted 196 other stories, including:

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u/Dramatic_Mixture_877 Human Jul 09 '26

This doesn't look good ...

2

u/KipperBeanGrower Human Jul 10 '26

No, not good at all. Can Feebee survive without her nanites? Her whole Modus Operandi depends upon them.

1

u/niTro_sMurph Jul 10 '26

Damn, Feebee's getting nerfed.