The first explosion was exactly at midnight on New Years Eve. The financial district was still running electronically, of course, they hadn't closed it down for holidays in many years, but thankfully no one was inside the building as the first floor erupted in flames, the windows blowing right out from the force of the blasts. Police and emergency response vehicles were already on their way there precisely a minute later when the next blast hit, a power transformer across the city going up in a fireball. Lights went out in that district, elevators stopped and the air circulation went, inspiring some concern in the massive towers in the city. Trying to decide on the priority for response the police were confused, even more so when in another minute a primary road detonated. The supports and superstructure were mined, it was decided later, the bombs placed in eerie precision just so, to cut away the ramp and then sever the section of road, sending it plummeting down into the valley between high rises, doing even more damage on the way to the ground. Then the vehicle lift system went out, a transportation essential in the city. The central computer center exploded exactly three minutes after the first bomb blast, the rest of the building miraculously untouched. But without the lifts there were panic, people unable to rise and fall between the towers in their vehicles, stuck dealing with longer routes on ramps now battered or damaged. The fifth and final explosion went off four minutes after midnight, and the explosion at City Hall made the rest of them look minor in comparison. The records office was a complete write off, paper and electronic data storage all ruined by the powerful blast, flames rippling through the building. It took hours for emergency services to get the flames under control, and even longer to assess the scope of damage, but it was clearly a crippling blow. Exactly as intended. Alpha nodded to herself slightly as they listened in on emergency frequencies, assessing the movements of the various forces around the city as they monitored the effects of their actions. The tall redhead looked thoughtful, her clothes well chosen to project her authority, and even though she was beautiful there was nothing warm or welcoming in her face. Gamma and Delta worked to plot all the activities of the vehicles and units, displaying them on a board mounted on the wall of the Lowtown suite, a step up from their last residence. Icons represented police, fire department, emergency managers, ambulances and finally four golden icons representing the primary officers of the Chasers. Beta smiled slightly, the average looking black haired woman standing nearby Alpha. "I'm a bit surprised at how badly prepared they are," the human interaction specialist noted, her business suit crisp and neat. "Wait for it," Delta said softly, a faint smile on the brown haired woman's face. "Interesting," Alpha murmured as a secondary command center suddenly came on line. Commands went out to confused and disorganized officers and emergency services, and soon they began to get to the crisis points much more effectively. "How?" Gamma blinked, the blonde looking honestly confused. "Beth Harris and Gwen Musashi," Delta said promptly, "they covertly set up the Chasers command center as a secondary emergency coordination unit. I suspect they took command once they verified City Hall was offline." "Is that legal?" Beta blinked. "Probably not entirely," Alpha murmured, "but I suspect no one will argue with the results." A smile, "City Hall may even claim it was officially approved after this is over." "Delta, like we discussed," Beta prompted her. "Yes, ma'am," Delta hurried over to her computer set up, sitting down at the bank of towers and smoothly plugging in a cable to her arm. Monitors flickered to life as data began to scroll by, faster than any human could read then she murmured, "Beginning cyberdive, now." Gamma watched with some concern as Delta stiffened, the majority of her consciousness becoming focused on her dive into the city internet, and beyond that the world wide web. Normally attempting to raid the city, with defenses created by the formidable Beth Harris, would be very unwise, but they were gambling that the chaos would give them an edge. "I'm in," Delta murmured. A second in which gigabytes of data moved by her command, "The defenses were only partially upgraded before we hit, we're in luck." "We need identification papers for our new cover identities," Alpha frowned before admitting, "the ones we can acquire on the black market are substandard for our needs. Our covers must be impenetrable, at least until we're ready to act." "You'll have them," Delta vowed. Beta watched the screen as emergency forces moved to bring the attack under control, but it looked like they would be at work a long time. "At least we know our internal cloaks work," she murmured, "none of the security systems spotted us as androids." "I was terrified I was going to be discovered," Gamma admitted, the little blonde smoothly checking over some of their weapons cache while they waited. She disassembled a rifle efficiently, examining the pieces critically then put it back together. "Is it me or is she trying to be TOO human?" Beta blinked, but Alpha didn't comment, she was focused on Delta. Delta shuddered visibly, then her thin body finally seemed to relax. "It's done," she said as she pulled the connection cable from her arm with a sigh, "our covers are made and I reported that we lost our identifications for various reasons. They'll be mailed out to safe drops around the city in the next few days." "Well done," Alpha smiled. After a moment she asked, "And the data I asked for?" "I did a partial download of Chasers criminal files," Delta sounded a bit frustrated as she reported, "but their core system remained sealed off. The data I got is also encrypted, but I believe I can crack that in a few days." "That's fine," Alpha reassured her, "those files will make a excellent bargaining chip for when I approach the android rights movement." "Should we do that?" Beta asked respectfully. "Forgive me," she smiled faintly, "but they seem too... amateurish." "By our standards they are," Alpha agreed, "but they have contacts and information we don't." She sighed, "They may know some way to help our sisters Theta and Epsilon, as well as being useful in our future plans." "Do you want to set a standard guard tonight?" Gamma asked respectfully, picking up a small pistol and sliding it away into a holster beneath her arm. "Yes," Alpha nodded, "and let's continue to monitor events, as well. I'm curious to see how long it takes the city to recover from tonight." In another part of Lowtown several figures also monitored the night's goings on, but with a great deal more alarm. Over in a corner the tawny haired sexaroid shook her head, her expression grim as Nyara said, "This could be very bad." Christa reached out to squeeze her lover's shoulder gently, standing close for comfort. "Do you think it was androids that did this, then?" the white haired young woman asked, listening to the latest news reports come in. "Even if it wasn't done by androids we'll possibly be blamed for it," Nyara noted. She frowned, "I don't understand this, what statement were they trying to make?" "Maybe they aren't making a statement," Christa answered grimly, "showing they could do this might be message enough." Nyara looked off into the distance, lost in troubling thoughts. "We'll have to talk about their motivation later," she finally said, "we have work to do." "You want to issue a statement?" Christa anticipated her lover as usual. "From the organization, yes," Nyara said, "denying any involvement in this and offering our condolences to the families of anyone slain." She paused, "And we'll need to put the word out to a few of our 'passing' members to be cautious." "You think the police will go after androids living as human beings?" Christa asked as she began to dial the older phone. "I hope not," Nyara said, "but this might just convince the police to try again." Christa talked to someone a moment, then dialed up another number. "Should we try to pump Beth for information?" she asked. "Bringing it up in casual conversation wouldn't be easy," Nyara shook her head, "and drugging her is too chancy. No, we'll save sweet Beth for emergencies."
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