Tis evil you want? Chapter 2

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crackle...

The airplane captain got on the speaker system, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Our take-off will be slightly delayed due to technical reasons. We expect to have it resolved quickly."

Officer Dragos elbowed Princess Jenna, "Check this out..." He began reading the in-flight magazine aloud, "Visit Olde Arconia City, a window to the past... blah, blah, blah... Ministry of Arconia City Tourism and Commerce. Hmm... that's a joke."

"Tell me about it." spurted Jenna.

Olde Arconia City was a ten acre area in the middle of Arconia City. Arconia had gone through many wars since the kingdom existed. One of the main targets was downtown Arconia. Many times, it was destroyed and then later rebuilt.

Two-hundred and twenty years before the Four-Countries War, there was the Yuleetano War. Yuleetano was a country south of Arconia and there was a bitter struggle for ownership of the southern area of Arconia. The dictator of Yuleetano was a distant relative of the kings of Muu. In that war, the entire Arconian capital was blown up. With the help of allies, Yuleetano and its military dictatorship was overtaken and the nation does not exist anymore. Ten years after the war, the Arconian monarch decided to rebuild the ancient buildings with replicas made of concrete in what is now known as Olde Arconia City.

Arconia City itself is no longer the ancient medieval fortress of long ago. Not a single piece of the outer wall is standing. The main castle was destroyed muliple times over. Arconia City does not resemble what it once used to be.

"So, I take it you've been to Arconia City?" asked Dragos.

"Been there? I was born there, raised there and went to academy there." answered Jenna. "I know it like the back of my hand."

"Oh grand!" as Dragos' eyes lit up. "You must take me to Captain Grey's Crab Shack! I've heard so much about it."

"Capt'n Grey's Crab Shack? No way. Never. That's... a dive," replied Jenna with disgust.

"Seriously, Princess Jenna. They are the only place with authentic Mestiprovate-oxide in Arconia!" spoke Dragos with enthusiasm.

Crabs and most other shell-fish became extinct only seventy years ago. It was at that time, scientist were experimenting with shell-fish DNA regeneration when they, by accident, created Mestiprovate-oxide, a liquid which tastes exactly like crab meat.

The flight to Arconia City was quiet. Jenna had a lot on her mind.

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"Jenna? You were quiet." said Dragos as they got off the plane.

"Dragos, there's a lot of bad memories here. I don't want to talk about it." said Jenna as she began walking faster.

"Okay. You know, if you need someone to talk to, I'm here," said Dragos.

Two uniformed men approached Princess Jenna and Officer Dragos.

"Hello, Princess Jenna, Officer Dragos. I'm Officer Tippgat. We have a vet-mobile assigned to you. Please follow us." Officer Tippgat executed a sharp about face and began walking toward the airport parking lot.

"Princess Jenna, I'll let you drive seeing as how you know the roads around here," spoke Dragos.

"Fine. Since, we're going straight to headquarters. I'll give you the scenic ride." answered Jenna.

Within minutes, they were in the vet-mobile and speeding through the city streets.

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Vvvreeewwwwww

The vet-mobile was coming to a stop sign. Officer Dragos was looking everywhere like a kid in a candy shop. "Princess Jenna, this is unbelievable. It's just like in the movies. The city street lights, neon advertisement signs, tall office buildings... the city is alive at night," spoke Dragos with excitement. "The largest city I've been in was Palteri. That's less than half the population of Arconia City. I've... never seen so many buildings, and mobiles and streets and..."

Princess Jenna interjected, "...and crime, traffic, pollution, poverty... there's some police ahead right now."

Two police mobiles were parked on side with four officers standing around a young man. Officer Dragos starred at the scene, "Hmmm, I wonder what's going on?"

"Forget about it. You'll see that every day." answered Jenna.

"Oh... do you mind if I turn on the airwave transponder?" asked Dragos.

"Go ahead," said Jenna, "...we're almost at the headquarters station.

Dragos turned on the airwave transponder and listened. An airwave transponder is much like a radio but uses microwave broadcasted signals.

...and so we recommend you get up early tomorrow and take it slow to work. That's the weather forecast. In other news, Capt'n Grey's Crab Shack has been closed for business...

Officer Dragos' jaw dropped.

...The Arconian Ministry of Food and Food Substitute has banned the sale of Mestiprovate-oxide, the delicious chemical substance which tastes like crab. It was recently discovered to be linked with chronic fatigue syndrome and kidney failure. You know, I'm gonna miss the crab chowder...

Officer Dragos turned off the airwave transponder and sat back dejected, "So, is there any other must-visit restaurants in Arconia City?"

Princess Jenna responded sarcastically, "Capt'n Grey's Crab Shack isn't what I would call 'a must-visit restaurant'." She continued, "There's Tellurine's... a popular steak-flavored food-compound steakhouse. And then, there's the Bitter End. It's an artificial replica of the original Bitter End of ancient Arconia. The waitstaff, host, and barkeeps dress like in medieval times. They also talk using words like 'thee, thou, and me thinks...' You know, pretending to be from that era. That's in Olde Arconia City."

"Steak-flavored food-compound sounds good. I've only had that once." answered Dragos. Three-hundred years ago, a disease spread throughout the entire globe killing all cows. It was called mouth-and-hoof disease. Unable to clone the cows, scientists were able to create a chemical substance, poly-bremite oxide, which tastes like grilled steak.

"There it is," said Jenna. She continued with a fake regal tone of voice, "Behold, the Arconian Military Police Headquarters of Arconia City... one block away from the armpit of Arconia City, the Tremnar district."

Officer Dragos looked a bit puzzled. The Tremnar district was the most poverty stricken district of Arconia City. Many buildings had boarded up windows. There were burned out apartment towers, garbage all over the streets and sidewalks, graffiti sprayed over almost every wall, and homeless people living in the streets. The police headquarters almost looked like a prison. The entire facility was surrounded by a tall iron fence with barbed wire along the tops. There were watch towers at every corner of the facility. Inside was even more stark. There were five, gray, concrete buildings. The first one was had meeting rooms and offices; the second one had a cafeteria and a gymnasium and medical facility; the third one had barracks; the fourth one was a vehicle garage and power plant; and, the fifth one was contained jail cells.

She approached the guard shack, "Dragos, open your window and give them your identification wallet."

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23:30
Hufffff... hufff.... huffff

Maroz Bortak had just ran through one mile of sewer tunnels to meet up with another underground army contact. "Pash beet?" asked Maroz.

"Term tol, baza," replied the other man.

"Gorta, it's good to see you." said Maroz.

Gorta replied, "No, it's good to see you. I was worried when I heard about the police raid on the Geet Avenue hideout."

"Yes, I was lucky. I am guessing an insider blew our cover. Biol is dead." said Maroz.

"Maroz, I feel your pain. He was like a brother," spoke Gorta solemnly.

It was silent for a couple seconds. "Gorta, we lost too much in that raid. I am leaving Belonia tonight. I suggest the underground army leave the eastern quadrant immediately. The heat is on. Police are everywhere."

"Maroz, where are you going? Where do you want us to go?" asked Gorta.

"This a command, send the red team to Gorma. There the army can regroup and rebuild. I will be heading to Arconia. I need you and the rest of the black team to follow me to the southern quadrant. From there, we can enter Arconia on foot in the wooded border region." said Maroz as he pulled out a piece of paper.

Gorta stood up, "I will carry out your orders."

"Gorta, have the black team meet me at Yenpar below the Yenpar bridge. We will use the river to go to southern quadrant. I must go now," Maroz handed Gorta the piece of paper and ran off into the night.

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Click clickety click... tap tap... click

"Hmmm, this is interesting..." Officer Dragos was reading the morning news on the digital news board, a cross between live television and the Internet, "...a string of fires have broken out in various parts in the eastern quadrant in Belonia. We were just there two days ago," Dragos peeked up from his digital news board to see Jenna.

Jenna looked over, "Do you mind if I take a look?"

Dragos handed her the D-board, as it was nick-named. Jenna read the article and scanned the pictures, "This is odd. Look at this photo." She pointed at the D-board.

Dragos looked at it, "Yeah, I saw that. A building is burned to the ground. So?"

"Doesn't it look like it was blown up like that building on Geet Avenue?" asked Jenna.

"Wow, I didn't even think of that," replied Dragos. "We have our first briefing in ten minutes. We better get going. Don't want to be late, now do we?"

Princess Jenna and Officer Dragos headed towards building one. Security was heightened and even Jenna and Dragos were given a retinal scan before getting past the entrance. From there, they were escorted to the meeting room.

"Officer Dragos... and Princess Jenna. I'm glad to see you, again." Officer Gan Tokel greeted the two as pleasantly as possible. Two years ago, Jenna and Gan had dated. They broke up six months later when Jenna found out Gan was cheating on her.

"I guess you two know each other?" asked Dragos.

"Oh yes, we know each other..." said Jenna sharply.

Another officer entered the room. "Good morning everyone, please have a seat and we'll get started. I'm First Lieutenant Fador Oltar. I'll be in charge of the new special task force focusing on the Maroz Bortak case. Officer Gan?"

"Oh, we've introduced each other sir..." spoke Officer Gan.

First Lieutenant Fador Oltar continued, "Very well. Princess Jenna, Officer Dragos. Welcome to the Arconia City base. This is quite an exciting case. As you may or may not know, this military police base mainly handles court martialed personnel so we don't see any real action."

Fador takes a sip of coffee before going on, "This base has thirty personnel, now thirty-two including you two. Officer Gan and I will be giving both of you a full tour of the base later on and introduce you to everyone here. Well, let me begin by saying, this meeting is confidential and everything I say from now is top secret level information. You understand what I mean?"

"Yes sir," answered Dragos and Jenna simultaneously.

"Good. If you heard on this morning's news, there were multiple fires last night in the eastern quadrant of Belonia. Since the raid that you two were involved revealed pertinent information, intelligence gathering was stepped up. Covert op teams were sent out to take out the underground army and to find or kill Maroz Bortak. Locations of the underground army were bombed all last night. The military forces of Arconia, Marmar, Geltarra and Jiror had coordinated a one-night blitz, hitting eleven targets with success. That news was handed to me less than one hour ago. The investigation is still underway and no further news has been given to me."

"So, they are not sure if they got Maroz Bortak?" asked Jenna.

"Correct..." answered Fador.

"Uh, wouldn't that end this case... if they found Maroz dead?" asked Dragos.

Fador paused for a while, "Yes, the investigation would be over. Officer Gan, you will be giving the presentation on base rules and protocol."

Officer Gan stood up and handed Dragos and Jenna a folder each. "This will just take an hour..."

[ 04-09-2002: Message edited by: three_hundred_fifty_five ]</p>

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Princess Jenna left the dining table to retire to her quarters. Officer Dragos was still in the dining hall talking with First Lieutenant Fador.

"...well, I think I'll head back to my quarters. It was good talking to you Lieutenant," said Officer Dragos as he got up from the table.

"Yes, it was a pleasure talking with you Officer Dragos," replied Fador, "...oh, is this your folder?"

"No, I've got mine right here. I believe that's Princess Jenna's folder. I'll just bring it to her on my way." said Dragos. He took the folder and headed towards Jenna's quarters.

Knock knock...
"Hello? Princess Jenna?" Dragos opened the door and stepped into Jenna's quarters. "Hello? Jenna?"

Jenna was just coming out of the shower but did not hear Dragos come in.

"Jenna? It's me Dragos." said Dragos as he looked around her quarters.

"I'll be right out," Jenna put on a robe and stepped out of the bathroom. "Dragos, what's up?"

"I came by to drop off your folder. You left it at the dining hall... uh, your door was unlocked," said Dragos. Jenna looked seductive with her hair down and damp.

"Oh thanks," she took the folder and looked up at Dragos. She saw the look in his eyes...

Boom... boom chick... boom boom... boom... chick...

Dragos put his hat and folder on a table and slowly walked towards Jenna.

Boom... boom chick... bah boom boom chick...

Jenna slowly began to caress Dragos' manly shoulders. You could cut through the steamy heat with a knife.

"Jenna..." said Dragos as he was interrupted.

"Shhhhhh, I've been waiting for this moment for a long time Dragos..." said Jenna as she slowly pressed her lips against Dragos'.

Tap tap... tap tap...
"Hey Dragos, wake up. Hey!" said Officer Gan as he was tapping on a table with his ring.

"Huh?" grumbled Dragos. He had fallen asleep during the slide show. The dark room and monotonous voice of Officer Gan made it difficult for Dragos to stay awake.

[ 04-10-2002: Message edited by: three_hundred_fifty_five ]</p>

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Viiiiiiwwwww

"Hmm, it looks like another sunny day." Officer Dragos was reading the weather on his digital news board.

"Big deal. This tour is completely boring. It's been four weeks and we've seen nothing. We do almost nothing every day." complained Princess Jenna as she paced around the room.

A majority of Maroz Bortak's underground army was killed during the raid four weeks ago. However, Maroz escaped with a small group of five. They were able to escape Belonia and had traveled on foot towards Arconia City.

"Yeah, it's been quiet in Belonia since the raid. No bombings, threats, nothing. But Maroz is out there somewhere," said Dragos with some optimism.

"I'm going on my jet cycle today." Princess Jenna had been driving around with Officer Dragos in a vet-mobile around the immigrant ghettos of Arconia City, also known as sector five. They suspected Maroz to make his way to where other Belonian refugees lived.

"If you're taking your jet-cycle, I'm getting a jet-cycle from the garage." said Dragos. There were three jet-cycles used mainly for escorting high-profile dignitaries and visitors.

VVVvvvvvvezzzzzzz...
VVVVvvveezzz...
Officer Dragos and Princess Jenna took off on their jet cycles towards sector five.

"Dragos, do you see what I see?" said Jenna on her helmet communicator.

"Roger, I'll call this one in. A-C-20 to base, do you copy?"

The police operator replied, "Base to A-C-20, go ahead."

"This is A-C-20 with A-C-21. We're in sector five... heading east on Trevi Avenue, we just passed the 400 block... we've got a ton of smoke coming from a building. Second floor. I don't see any fire. Copy that."

"Base to A-C-20, we copy. Sending fire, rescue and police units, over."

KRRRRRR!!! KROOOOOOMMM!!!

Princess Jenna and Oficer Dragos slammed on their brakes. The building with billowing smoke had just collapsed about forty feet ahead of them. The dust and debris rolled towards them.

"Princess Jenna! Are you alright?" yelled Dragos. He lost sight of Jenna through the dust.

"I'm okay Dragos. How are you?" asked Jenna.

"I'm fine. Let's turn around!" Officer Dragos turned his jet cycle and rode it a block away and stopped. "A-C-20 to base. Code red! I repeat! Code red! The building just collapsed. Send in STAW backup! Copy that!"

...crackle...
"Base to A-C-20. We copy..." The operator broadcasted the distress message.

Officer Jenna revved her jet-cycle, "Dragos, I'm going to circle around the block."

VVViizzzzVVVeeeezzzz...ki chooch
Officer Dragos got off his bike and took his helmet off. The streets were quiet and not a single person was around. All he could hear Jenna's jet cycle buzzing a block away. It was like a ghost town.

Krr chich
Dragos chambered a round into his FA-3 and walked towards the collapsed building. He could hear some police sirens faintly blaring in the distance. "Jenna, this is Dragos. Do you see anything?"

"Dragos, nothing. I'm heading around. I'll meet you at your bike." responded Jenna.

"Jenna, do you notice that there are no people around?" asked Dragos.

Jenna looked around and noticed that no one was out on the streets. "Dragos, get on your bike! I'm coming around the corner now..."

Just as Jenna turned the corner, explosions burst from six nearby buildings.

"AWWWW!!!!" Dragos jumped on the ground as he was running towards his jet cycle.

Jenna accelerated her jet cycle to top speed. She zipped by Dragos as the dust and smoke began to overtake the surrounding streets.

"A-C-21 to base, Code Red! Code Red! Halt vehicles from the 400 block. Do you copy!" yelled Jenna.

Officer Dragos got up and jumped on his jet cycle. Visibility was terrible. He started up the engine and sped off. "Jenna, I'm safe. Where are you?" Just then, the six building collapsed in a loud rumble and roar.

Ki chooch...
Jenna parked her jet cycle. "Dragos, I'm at the 200 block. Actually, I can see you now." A large cloud begin rising in the streets behins Dragos.

"Yep, I see you. Did you contact dispatch?" asked Dragos.

"Roger that. Emergency units are aware." Jenna got off her bike and pulled out her MZ-20.
clisp...
Jenna flipped off the safety lever on the weapon as Officer Dragos pulled up along side her.

Ki chooch...
Dragos parked his jet cycle, "Looks like Maroz is in town."

[ 04-12-2002: Message edited by: three_hundred_fifty_five ]</p>