Cyber Wars Chapter 17: "Mission Impossible 2: This time It's Personal"
 

After getting Monk's sleeping body onto the Phantom, and parking all the snowmobiles, Wolf had Beowulf head back towards Chicago. The plane's climate control systems had the heaters going almost full blast, mostly in order to keep Monk warm and melt off most of the ice that had encrusted onto him during his week out in Siberia.

"Wow, he's out like a light," Kaitlin said

"Well, he did seem like he hadn't had sleep in a while." Wolf responded.

"You think he's going to be ok?"

"Yeah, in some form or another he'll be fine. I don't know how long it will take him to fully forgive himself...but I think he'll pull through."

And he'd better, because we can't afford to fail at what we're about to do... he thought.

Angel's eyes cracked open. He yawned, and sat up. All in all, he felt remarkably good. He didn't bother to question why he'd been out 15 hours (I'm assuming that the phantom travels 2x-3x as fast as airliners, in which case you guys would just be getting around to arriving) and why his neck was a bit sore.

He yawned again, got up, and walked over to the dresser to grab a fresh change of clothes. That's when he saw the picture. Not moving an inch when his brain recgonized it, he desperately replayed those last scenes over in his mind.

He'd happily have exchanged places. But fate didn't want that. Fate, it would seem, wanted his misery. Slowly, he clenched his fist. Tears flowed down his cheeks, and something inside of him felt remarkably hollow.

Momentarily, he glanced at the ring on his hand. Exhaling shakily, he inwardly told himself one simple thing: "She was a casualty of war. Which means Mastermind has another death to pay for."

(( Ahkay. I was going by US Army ranks which would put her one below Wraith at Captain, but this must be a different system. :) ))

Wraith stared at Monk during the whole ride up to that point, playing back over all the memories he had of the guy; few of them pleasant. He spent the greater part of his time trying to figure him out, but in the end found it impossible. Shaking his head and frowning, he thought to himself, Poor kid... he's got so much to learn.

He finally broke his gaze and pulled a blanket over himself as he settled back in his seat, turning on a headset and flipping the dial around a bit. The first song that came on was Rage Against the Machine's Wake Up.

The Phantom landed in Base Chicago's hangar at about 5:00 PM. Still asleep, Monk was taken to his quarters that Knight had designated for him when Wolf had told him that they were returning to base with Monk.

Meanwhile, Wolf talked to Knight about the next phase of the operation.

"It's really a shame that Coyote is dead, because I was hoping that I could use his skills in subversion so that we could deactivate the security systems at Rikers. Still, I bet one of his clones could do it." Wolf said.

"There's just one problem...apparently his clones have been destroyed too, along with his mansion." Knight responded somberly.

"What?"

Knight pulled up some information on one of the base's monitors. "We had some monitoring divices placed at the boundaries of the mansion after Beowulf visited it yesterday. Apparently not more than 12 hours ago two of Mastermind's agents went into the mansion, killed all the clones, and burned it to the ground."

Something was definetely not sounding right to Wolf. "Give me that information about the attack...I need to look it over."

"Allright, I've sent it to your PDAP." Knight said.

"Thanks."

Wolf headed up to his quarters and contacted Beowulf. "This doesn't make any sense."

"What do you mean?"

"I find it hard to believe that two Agents would just waltz in and obliterate a mansion full of clones, especially when an entire army couldn't do anything. And there's something else that confuses me."

"What?"

"Coyote had this...improbability drive that activated whenever weaponry was used against the mansion. Of course he turned it off once we started fighting Mastermind's troops on his front lawn, but he still would've had it online afterwards..."

"So you're trying to say that you don't think he and his clones are dead?"

"Exactly, I just think he wants someone to think that he and his family have died."

"But if he's not dead...then where is he?"

"Hmm...bring up all information regarding Agent activity after Base Los Angeles was attacked."

Beowulf did so, and Wolf immediately spotted what he was looking for.

"Here we go. Two agents spotted in Fiji. Numerous shots fired, casualties uncertain."

"What's so important about this incident?"

"Coyote's outgoing answering machine message said he'd be on vacation somewhere in the South Pacific. This is the only South Pacific location in the last 48 hours that had any agent activity. It doesn't take much more than that to figure out what happened."

"So if he's not dead...what did happen?"

"Well...we both know that Coyote is capable of subverting programs...and I know that Mastermind and Coyote have some striking similarites, like their subversion and cloning abilites. So what I'm suggesting as a course of action is...what if, and this is just a theory, Coyote somehow dumped his program into the body of an Agent...and only made it seem like he was killed?"

"And you're saying that one of the agents at the mansion was him...and that he was simply transporting his somewhere else while making it seem like they were killed?"

"Yes, after all, he's subverted WinRAR hasn't he? Unfortunately, even if he is still alive like I think he is, we'll have no way of contacting him without blowing his cover."

"Actually...there may yet be a way..."

***
Mere seconds later Beowulf was at the smoldering remains of the mansion. Using some minor programming tricks, and an old copy of Paint Shop Pro, he had altered his appearance and code signal enough so that he would seem like a badly wounded Coyote clone that the agents had failed to kill.

He limped around the grounds, ersatz burn marks and bloodstains on his now brown fur, broadcasting a distress signal that was similar to the one the clone that Jade had captured three months ago had used.

***

Mastermind was not happy that a clone had been missed.

"I am quite aware that my brother has an extensive army of clones...but missing one is unacceptable!" he said to Brown and Johnson. "Go back there and make sure they're all dead!"

"Why send them? They couldn't do the job right the first time." Smith said.

"Well I'd send you, but unfortunately you still can't walk right...probably because YOUR GROIN IS IN A SPLINT!"

"...thanks for the reminder..."

***

While Beowulf was attempting to contact Coyote, Wolf was busy planning the next phase with Wraith and Kaitlin. Angel, who Dr. Al said was in a better condition now, was also present at the meeting.

"All right, I gave Devin a minimum of 24 hours to get what I asked for. So we have about three hours before we move out to New York. It might be more of Monk decides to sleep longer. Anyway, once we're there I should be able to get a better idea of what we need to do in order to get in there quietly. So basically you all have the next three hours to get prepared, get weaponry, food, a nap, whatever. Dismissed."

"Well, well... aren't we lucky. It's not a clone but the runner's little playmate." Johnson said.

Brown appeared next to him "Fog of war I guess." he said.

They both pulled they're desert eagles and fired. A warm stream of water hit beowulf from each gun.

Thanks to the effects of the Fog of War program initiated by Coyote, Mastermind saw the "clone" crumple from two shots to the chest. Of course...this was not the real case.

From beneath the shroud of the Fog of War program, Beowulf grinned slightly.
"Well, it seems like Wolf was correct in his assumption after all. But how surprising it is to find that not one, but two agents have been subverted. And all without Mastermind's knowledge. Then again, considering who the subverter is, that's not surprising."

He switched back into his normal wolfen form before continuing. "Good to see that you're here, and that you're not really dead, because Wolf needs your help with getting Jade out of prison."

Monk's eyes opened slowly as he looked around his newest home. It was dark and cold, either that, or he still didn't get over the trip, but he could feel his muscles again. He could also feel a new strength within him. He was guessing Dr. Oedupe knew enough to give him some IV to renourish his body. After all, he had fasted for a week, at least by his count. He didn't know how long he had been gone, but it had been a while.

That's when his mind focused on what had to be done. Shotting up in bed, finding himself in his old White Karate Gi, he moved towards the bathroom to fix himself up. He took a needed shower and trimmed his own hair so that it was even again. The back he pulled together and tired with a hair tie, letting it fall loosely on the back of his neck. He looked himself in the mirror, his hair still all over the place. Bowing his head down and placing on the last of the gear, he lifted his head again to look at himself. Around his forehead was the red bandana, the trademark symbol of Monk.

He... was back.

Moving into his room, he threw open his closet, which he had hoped contained what he needed for the trip. Grinning as he pulled out a black suit bag, he tossed it on the bed and cracked his neck. "Never thought this would have to be worn, but it is now time. I'm coming Jade... I'm coming to save you."

He then just realized that he was still clutching on to the gemstone in his hand.

"That might not work out, we are trying to keep a low profile."