As the gate rattled open to let them pass, Marcus felt his attention drawn to the drones hovering ominously above them. If they opened fire, the team would be shredded by the bullets. He shared a brief glance with Aaron. We can't afford to fuck up.
They soon drew close to the main entrance, and pushing open the heavy double doors found themselves standing in the main lobby of the station. An anxious looking man sat behind the reception desk spotted them walking in and stood up, waving them over with a pained expression. "You here for the water system?"
Marcus nodded, indicating their uniforms and holding up the large duffle bag he was carrying. "That's us."
"Oh, thank christ." The receptionist sighed, relieved. Marcus noticed that his uniform seemed damp. "It's been acting up for the last... couple of hours now. It's all over the place too. Tried to go for a piss half an hour ago and the sprinklers..." The man shook his head. "Anyway. If you could all step step through the scanner please, one at at time. You'll be led through after. And I'll need that bag." He held his hand out.
""Sure." Handing it over, Marcus approached the tall structure to the right of the desk, shaped vaguely like a doorway, and stepped slowly through, allowing the scan to pass over him and feed to image back to the receptionist's monitor. He couldn't help feel a sense of relief that he'd left his gun back at the motel. The receptionist fed the duffle bag through a similar device, and nodded as the image returned showed only wrenches and other tools. HE motioned to Aaron and Marie. "Alright, come on."
----------------------------------------------------
The black sedan slowed as it approached the guard post, the tinted window sliding down as the vehicle stopped beside the heavyset officer. "Identification," he grunted.
A slender hand reached out, flipping open a detective's badge imprinted with the initials H.P.D. "Detective Hengsha, Holmia P.D."
The guard peered at the badge, then leaned over slightly to get a look at who the quiet voice belonged to. He was met with the impassive gaze of a small, thin-faced woman, asian. Her dark eyes stared at him for a second longer, then a warm smile creased her face. "Looks like it's going to be a nice day."
Straightening, the guard waved her through, already counting down the hours until his lunch break.
"Thank you." Rolling up her window, her friendly expression vanished. She pulled the car forward then swung to the left towards the parking on the side of the police station. Pulling into a place, she turned the engine off then slipped a cell phone from her pocket. "I'm through. Felix did good work with the badge."
"Good," came the reply. "You're clear on your task?"
"Yes. Find out what she knows, what she's told others, then deal with her. Echo won't be a problem for us."
"Excellent. Good luck then." The voice paused briefly. "And Junko... be careful."
Junko smiled for a moment, a genuine smile. "I will. Contact you soon." Hanging up, she exhaled briefly, then opened the car door, the tiny vial of ricin sewn into her belt weighing nothing.
---------------------------------------------------
Axel groaned, peeling his eyes away from the TV screen where Dr. Roberts was helping a grieving family deal with the loss of a father, or a child, or something. Axel didn't particularly care, he was just looking for a distraction from his current shitty situation. "Why do we even need to open the door. What's the fucking point."
"Maybe it's more free pizza," one of the Purifiers grunted, accompanied by enthusiastic nods by his teammates. He pointed a beefy finger at Axel. "Open it."
"Goddammit." Painstakingly, Axel slowly raised himself up off the couch and approached the door, pulling it open with a sigh. The sigh died in his throat when he saw who was on the other side. The rat blinked, shaking his head. "I thought I told you - I'm done. I don't care about your problems."