Corpo Age-Chapter 252: Outbreak

Lance, who was supposedly from SocialCorp, didn’t bother elaborating after telling us to retrieve our items. We did just that, but it made me reevaluate our situation. It obviously wasn’t as urgent as he first proclaimed, considering we had the time for this little stop. However, it wasn’t too productive to press him for answers while we were still on the run.

All I knew was that he wasn’t after my life or it would’ve gone down already. With so much uncertainty in the air, we decided to follow him for now.

It didn’t take long for Thorne and me to get geared up. We didn’t bring much with us besides our power armor. Everything else was either in our residences or onboard our ship.

While we gathered everything, I didn’t squander the opportunity to check out everything else in the warehouse. The random collection of things made me believe every item here was seized over the years. There were a lot of crates and heavy machinery, but nothing useful at first glance.

After a second thought, I thought otherwise and took a few handheld terminals from the storage.

“You guys ready?” Lance asked. “We’re on a schedule. As much as I don’t want to rush you, we really need to get moving.”

“Maybe you should’ve allotted some time to answer our questions,” Claire retorted. “Maybe then we would understand your urgency and be more cooperative.”

“I don’t make the plans, just execute them.”

“Enough,” I interrupted. “We can talk more once we get away, right?”

I waited until Lance gave me a nod before I urged everything to proceed.

After exiting the storehouse, we returned to the stairwell and resumed our escape. However, we didn’t make a beeline for the ground floor, but instead went into an empty closet on the second floor. It could barely fit the four of us, so it was understandable all our gazes were glued to Lance, urging him for an explanation.

He only gestured for us to stay silent instead and waited.

I wasn’t sure if I should be thankful or not that we weren’t left waiting for long.

The entire building suddenly trembled violently, a sensation I had unwillingly become familiar with in recent times. It was what I felt every time an explosion went off nearby. Except this time, it didn’t stop after once.

“Are you serious? You people are crazy!” Thorne shouted. “You want us to stay in here while you bombarded the place? What the hell is your plan? Please don’t tell me it’s getting us all buried alive here.”

“Calm down. We’ve verified this closet is in the interior column of the superstructure where it’s safe. And this attack isn’t carried out by my people. It’s just that we knew it was coming.”

“Is that supposed to make us feel any better?”

“Well, if it helps, they’re not targeting this building?”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked.

“Hmm, this should last a few more minutes before they stop for a while, so I guess I can share what I know. Unfortunately, it isn’t any good news.”

“Spit it out,” Claire cried out.

The man audibly sighed from behind his visor. He shook his head and hesitantly broached the subject.

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“What you’re witnessing here is the start of a new war.”

“What?!”

“Shh, keep your voice down. You’ve heard of the recent war between Europa Station and Enceladus Station, right?”

The three of us nodded. I still remember how that battle had interrupted my plan when my company was just taking off. It revealed how vulnerable we were logistically, and made us venture into the business ourselves. However, it was just something we heard on the news back then. Never had we been in the middle of any fighting. Even with the explosions constantly ringing out around us, the entire situation felt surreal.

It was hard to disassociate from the thought that this was just another squabble between corporations or perhaps a terrorist attack.

I guess that’s what I want to believe. Squabbles are much preferable, as things will calm down very quickly. A war, on the other hand, can get a lot uglier.

I quickly forced myself to calm down, so I could ask more useful questions.

“So what is your plan, then? You knew this was happening, and you still chose to get us at this time. What’s the reasoning behind that?”

“Again, I don’t come up with the plans. You can ask my boss once we get away from the jammers in this building.”

Great, I was definitely looking forward to questioning a SocialCorp executive on the eve of an outbreak of war.

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“At least tell us the remaining part of this rescue plan,” Thorne added. “What are we doing once the bombing stops? Just run out the front door, and then where?”

“We have a getaway vehicle coming. Just follow me while we run. They’ll track us down to pick us up.”

“Great, and if they don’t come? Who knows how traffic is outside with all this commotion?”

“Things will work out. Trust us.”

“Listen to that, Rollo. Our so-called rescuers have it all planned out. Their plan is so perfect they don’t even need contingencies.”

“It’s how we operate,” Lance defended. “We stick as close to the plan as possible and adjust on the fly. It’s just that we need to get out of range from this jammer so I can re-establish a line of communication with my team outside.”

While Thorne continued to press for the details of the upcoming action plan, I thought about how this would affect our company if this news was accurate. Another war created a lot of uncertainty and strife. The entire market would change drastically because of it.

All the preparations we had been making to address an attack by a large corporation. We had to adjust in order to cope with something as disruptive as a war.

“Who are the parties that are fighting in this war?” I interrupted their conversation with my own question.

“SocialCorp—”

Before he could finish, Thorne jolted beside me as he moved to grab Lance. As having expected his reaction, Lance didn’t move and let him have his way. It wasn’t like they had much room to maneuver in this little closet, anyway.

“What? So it is you guys, after all!”

“Calm down, Thorne. Let him finish.”

I nodded at the man’s way, urging him to continue.

“It’s between separate factions within SocialCorp and their allies. Practically every corporation of note is involved or will be involved. That’s all I know. I don’t know any of the precise details.”

“Anything else, and we’ll have to ask your boss, right?”

He nodded at my words and fell silent.

A civil war within the largest corporation was not on my bingo card. Society would differently be reshaped by the time this conflict settled. I couldn’t wait to get out of here, so I could give instructions to my employees. We were going to have to approach this carefully if we wanted to survive.

My chain of thought was broken when my intermittent scans showed people running around on the other side of the door. I didn’t pay too much attention to it until one of them seemed to have stopped in front of the closet!

The chaotic scene outside should’ve prevented anyone from hearing any noise we’d made, but for some reason, the person on the other side decided to approach us. Thorne and I reflexively activated our active camouflage, prompting Claire to do the same. However, our rescuer didn’t react, so I prodded him.

He simply held out a hand in response, to signal that he knew what he was doing. I shrugged and let him handle it.

Everything happened without any delay, and the door was soon opened from the other side. I watched as our intruder’s expression changed to that of alarm. He was stunned upon coming face to face with Lance, who was decked out in slender, all-black power armor.

Just as his mouth started to open, Lance took out a pen-shaped object that released a strange green vapor. The gas flew at lightning speed, straight toward the orifices of the man, as if it had a mind of its own. It caused the man to blink rapidly.

He then turned around without a word, casually strolling away.

Lance then slowly panned around before following after the man.

“Let’s go. Don’t turn off your stealth tech until we’re out.”

I absent-mindedly followed his instructions as I thought about what he did. The smoke resembled the Cloudpuff SocialCorp sold, but I kept that to myself. If it had the effect of brainwashing as I suspected, Lance would naturally not reveal any details to me. The premier corporation would naturally have its trump cards, so it shouldn’t be surprising, but the way it worked still sent a shiver down my spine.

We followed the dazed employee down the stairway, all the way to the basement floor. There was a beehive of activity, as I saw numerous security personnel scrambling around. They headed for the same destination, a parking garage where they border their armored vehicles. Our guide ignored all the commotion and went straight for his vehicle.

No one had time to question him, so we tagged along until he surfaced on the streets of Aegis.

Immediately, my connection to the web was reestablished. I didn’t hesitate to check out what I had been missing out on. First thing first, I checked the news portal.

Everywhere I looked, articles that confirmed Lance’s word flooded the web. Numerous battles had sprouted throughout the world. The world was in a panic.

I shared a glance with my companions as we all came to the same conclusion. Without a second thought, we started a conference call with our intelligence director.

“Lucy!” Claire cried. “How is the company doing?”

“Quite the timing for you guys to be released. A welcome one, though. Everything had happened so suddenly that we hadn’t taken any action besides going on lockdown. All of Elevate City is in chaos, and no one knows what’s happening for sure.”

“A huge war is taking place,” I informed. “You did a good job reacting so fast. Continue as you have been. We’ll come up with a more concrete plan after we finish up here.”

“Finish up? Don’t tell me you guys ran away from the consortium?”

“Yes and no. It’s complicated, but we should be learning what’s happening from the mouth of someone from SocialCorp soon. We’ll keep you updated.”

Claire then asserted herself in the conversation and gave detailed commands to the departments under her. Thorne didn’t say a thing the entire time, but I was sure he was relaying his own orders to the security department.

We didn’t get that much time to settle our matters before we had to change vehicles. Our getaway car had come. Thankfully, the streets of Aegis were never that crowded. There weren’t that many vehicles in the first place, so the chaos was limited.

We rode through the streets, witnessing numerous pedestrians racing to safety or out looting. No one spoke for the remainder of the ride until we arrived at one of the many docks throughout the city.

The gates were tightly closed until Lance showed them the proper documentation. However, what awaited us wasn’t any ship. Instead, we were led to an escape pod, meant for emergencies.

“What is the meaning of this?” I asked.

“Just hop in. Did you think we’d be flying out of here when there’s an active battle just outside the station? We’d get shot down in an instant.”

“And where will we be going in this escape pod, then? Don’t tell me this is how we’re getting to Earth?”

“No, no. My boss is ready to receive us outside. They’re on one of the ships fighting outside.”

“You—want us to enter a ship in the middle of active combat?”

As I feared, Lance nodded without any hesitation.