January 2nd

2:53 am

Cargo Ship: Forger

Transmission received - Connecting to Headquarters

…

…

Connected…

Codename: Lunatic Fringe: "Taking heavy fire, unable to reach asset. Request permission to regroup with Big Dog and Architect."

HQ: Permission denied, secure Asset.

LF: "Negative. Unable to reach asset. Repeat request to regroup with Big Dog and Architect."

HQ: Permission denied, secure Asset. Asset is of utmost importance. Secure Asset.

LF: "Cannot reach asset. I repeat, cannot reach asset."

…

…

…

Connection to Headquarters lost.

"Fuck!" he spat and threw the phone into the water, protocol when connecting to headquarters, and cocked his gun. "Looks like I have to do this the fun way."

"Lunatic Fringe, what's your ETA" a voice crackled to life in his earpiece and asked.

He peeked over a large piece of cargo he had been using for cover and cursed again. "Looks like they called in reinforcements, Architect. ETA unknown."

He could hear typing on the other end of the earpiece, "Big Dog is en route to assist. Keep pressing forward."

A fired bullet ricocheted off of the storage container, forcing him to duck back down. "No can do, Architect. Can you find me another way?"

"Hold on."

Again he could hear typing coming through his earpiece, even over the hail of bullets pinging loudly off his hiding place. In a lull in fire, he stood and shot three in the chest quickly before crouching back down. They were scrambling for cover, providing him with a slim window to change his position to a crate further down the starboard side. "Any time today, Architect."

"Well, stay still, Fringe!"

He managed to dodge another round of gunfire by running and diving into the first open door he could find and slamming the heavy steel closed with his booted foot. He knew it wasn't going to hold, so immediately he was on his feet and sprinting down the unknown hallway until he reached a turn. He stopped and pressed his back against the wall, breathing heavily, and listened for the inevitable sound of the door swinging open. He could hear the gunfire continue, but they weren't coming through the door.

"Architect, where is Big Dog?" he said. There was no answer. "Architect, do you copy?"

He had a feeling the steel of the ship was interfering with their communications, though he was assured this wouldn't happen. "Stupid technology." he whispered to himself and checked the number of rounds in his clip, but was distracted by the sound of the door squeaking open slowly, causing the practiced response of bringing his gun up, ready for whatever it was. He couldn't hear the gunfire anymore, so that could either be a really good sign, or a really bad one.

He could hear slow footsteps coming toward him and decided then he wasn't going to allow his assailant the chance to sneak up on him. He silently counted to three, took a deep breath, and emerged from his spot with his gun facing front. He almost fired. It was Big Dog, looking startled and a little pissed off. "Jesus, Big Dog. I almost shot you!"

The large Samoan man grinned at him, brushing stray pieces of his black hair out of his face. "I noticed."

He dropped his gun and shook the man's gloved hand. "I'm glad to see you. HQ is insisting the asset be recovered. I thought I was screwed when they spotted me."

"Fr...Big...og...Read me?" The crackling voice of Architect was trying to reestablish communication. "Come in, Fringe and Big Dog!"

"Lunatic Fringe here." he said with a slight tap to the piece in his ear. "I've got Big Dog. We need a route to the asset."

"Glad to hear your voice. I thought the worst." Architect responded with a sigh of relief. "Asset is in cargo hold J. If you follow this corridor you should hit a staircase. Go down two levels and make a right. Hold J should be right in front of you."

"Copy." said Big Dog before nodding with his head in the direction they were to follow. "After you."

He sighed and readied his gun with a slight shake of his head, "Always after me. One of these days i'm making you go first."

The two men quickly and quietly made their way down the hall with Big Dog watching their 6. The Lunatic Fringe would poke his gun through every open door they passed, fearful they were going to be ambushed. There were definitely a lot of places for bad guys to hide on a ship like this. Speaking of bad guys…

"It's awful quiet all of a sudden." he said and nudged the staircase door open with his foot so he could peek through to make sure the coast was clear. Once he was satisfied it was, he pushed it the rest of the way open and lead the way through, gun at the ready. "Whatcha think, Big Dog?"

Big Dog slipped through the door after him and quietly closed it behind him. "Dunno."

The Lunatic Fringe rolled his eyes, "You are a man of many words, my friend. Has anyone ever told you that?"

"Yes." was the simple reply.

"Oh, ok. Glad i'm not the only one."

The pair made their way down a narrow set of stairs and to the floor Architect had instructed. Again, he pushed open the door and peeked through, repeating the gesture from before. The Architect's voice again came through their earpieces "You should see the cargo door right in front of you."

"Copy that, Architect." he said. "I have visual on the door."

It wasn't what he expected from a cargo door. Then again, what defined such a door? Large steel slats? A mechanical lock? Big blocky lettering? This had none of those things. It was another unassuming door in an otherwise unassuming hallway with the letter J painted haphazardly on the faded grey surface. He looked back at Big Dog for some kind of input, but was met only with a shrug.

The only thing keeping the door secure was a small keypad lock to the left of the frame. It was a simple four number input with magnetized locking; easy enough to deal with. "Architect, do you have the code?"

"7842"

He pressed each number in sequence and the tell-tale click of the lock slipping out of place filled the empty space. "Gotcha."

He gently pulled on the handle and opened the door. The room was dark and smelled awful, like something had died. It forced both me to cover their nose and mouth in response. He fumbled in the dark for a lightswitch.

"It reeks in here." Big Dog stated with a cough behind him.

Finally, his fingers brushed against the small switch and flipped it on. Both men froze. "Jesus…"

"What is it?" Architect asked.

Neither men could seem to answer, the shock of what they were seeing was enough to render them speechless.

Architect tried again, "Can you guys hear me? Fringe? Big Dog? What do you see?"

"It's a girl."