Dead Bolt

“’I believe in Valkyrie. I believe in change. With Valkyrie change is…’no, no too derivative.”

Jonathan Valken, the 45-year-old CEO of Valkyrie Corp says to himself as he reviews a speech prepared for a public address regarding the attack on the West Facility, a Valkyrie compound. He stands in front of a large mirror located on the side of his large, elegant office with an open balcony overlooking the city of New Kyo, the morning sunlight beaming down as opposed to yesterday’s rain. As Valken reviews his notes on his tablet, he clears his throat and eyes himself in the mirror.

“’I believe in Valkyrie. I believe in change. What do the two have in common?’…

Valken sighs in annoyance.

“Naivety.”

A loud knock on the door occurs which catches Valken’s attention but he continues to review his notes.

“Enter.”

The double doors open as Zo, Valken’s twenty-something assistant walks in. Carrying a tablet of her own, she doesn’t even look at Valken upon entering as she reviews her own notes and agenda for the day.

“Sorry to disturb Mr. Valken, but the media is waiting.”

Valken sighs as he turns off his tablet and puts it in his jacket pocket.

“Very well, let’s go.”

Valken turns around, his mind still in deep though; and his attention still not on Zo though her attention remains off him as well. As Valken walks out the door, Zo eventually turns around to follow him and turns on her ear com piece.

The two enter the hallway as the doors behind them close.

“We’re heading down now, make sure everyone remains civil and all the Alphas are at their assigned posts.”

Zo turns off her ear com and goes back to reviewing her notes while Valken remains stoic and stone-faced. As the two walk past numerous Valkyrie employees they nod in respect to Valken who merely nods back.

“How is the annual stock report?”

Zo quickly pulls up the report on her tablet, almost as if she knew that was the first thing Valken would request.

“Daily reporting shows that Valkyrie is at a stable price. Though given the events of last night that could change at any moment.”

The two eventually reach the elevator.

“Hmp. Well that’s why we must do these drivel press releases to ensure the public all as well.”

The elevator doors open containing a small group of employees who imminently quiet themselves and fix their body postures upon seeing Valken and Zo. The two enter, essentially ignoring the other employees. Zo presses the button to the ground floor as the elevator doors close; tension fills the air as the employees behind Valken and Zo don’t wish to disturb them.

“Any word from Team 508?”

Valken asks which causes some of the employees to gulp in nervousness while Zo pulls up the tracking of the Valkyrian Combat Drone Force codenamed 508.

“According to their travel logs they were investigating the last known location of the perpetrator in the downtown district. Facial and retinal scans in the area recognized the perp as…Sykira Korpse, age 32, lives in East View, no living family, has a cat name Jugi.”

Valken chuckles after hearing the report.

“Amusing. Well if that’s the case the 508 will take care of him and retrieve the property he stole. Simple problem, simple solution.”

The elevator doors dings having reached the ground floor and the doors open; Valken and Zo walk out leaving the still quiet employees behind. Valken stops though, quickly turns around and stops the elevator doors from closing, startling the employees.

“Let me say this to you all right here and now: here at Valkyrie, we ensure that any disrespect or attack to our company and family is dealt with accordingly. That includes any attack to our employees, employees like you.”

The employees remain quiet not daring to interrupt.

“We’ve worked too long and hard to leave the dark ages behind, and I promise you this; we will not let a common criminal ruin the progress we’ve made for a new world. Till then rest assure that all will be fine and our plans remain on course. Also take the rest of the day off and enjoy lunch at Kamacho’s on the company’s credit. Have a nice day.”

Valken lets go of the elevator doors as they close leaving the surprised employees inside. Valken turns back around to Zo and the two resume walking.

“Inspiring words sir. Will you use them in your address to the media?”

The two reach the front entrance.

“Sadly no. Against my better judgement I will be reading an address approved by our PR team.”

They walk out the door and are imminently stopped in their tracks by Izu, an advanced Combat Drone and head of Valken’s private security team known as the Alphas.

“Mr. Valken, Ms. Zo, good morning. How are you today?”

Izu bows to the two.

“Good morning Izu. We are both fine, is everything ready?”

Valken respectfully says to Izu, who straightens up and proceeds to lead him and Zo.

“All security measures have been approved. Everyone is an approximate 6-feet away from the stage, have been checked and searched for any possible firearms or enhancements, and all air defenses are active.”

The three make it to backstage, but stop short of the stairs leading to the podium.

“Excellent, well done Izu.”

Valken says as he takes his tablet out from his jacket pocket not giving his full attention to Izu or Zo.

“Will there be anything else sir?”

“No, you may return to your post. Defensive response level two just in case though.”

Izu closes his eyes and takes a deep breath as its systems reconfigure into the first level of defensive response mode.

“Yes sir.”

Izu says in a much more monotone voice as it turns to return to its post. Valken continues to reviews his notes on his tablet while giving half his attention to Zo.

“Reporters from the Kyo Review are present, make sure to smile after every third sentence to ensure good will.”

Zo notices Valken’s tie slightly loose and proceeds to fix it; despite this though Valken still doesn't to fully acknowledge her.

“Of course.”

Zo lets go of Valken’s tie as he puts his tablet back in his jacket pocket.

“Thank you Zo. By the time I'm done I want an updated report on 508’s progress.”

“Yes sir.”

Valken turns around to walk onto the stage while Zo turns her attention back to her tablet as she pulls up the status signals for the 508 force only to see the six signals to be pending, confusing her.

As Valken walks onto the stage, he smiles and eyes the media while numerous photographers take photos. Valken makes it to the podium where he takes out his tablet to place down. He looks out into the vast audience, clears his throat and forms a golden smile.

“Good morning everyone, thank you for joining me here today. Just wish for once it was under better circumstances.”

The entire audience pays close attention to Valken while Izu and the rest of the Alphas stand in front of the stage, all of them carefully examine the entire crowd and area around to ensure Valken is protected.

“I know you are all aware of the incident that occurred last night at the West Facility. A thief by the name of Sykira Korpse raided the lab quadrant and caused multiple injuries to the research team in order to gain access to the data drives on the lower levels. Fortunately, the Security Drone team of the facility were able to drive out Mr. Korpse at the cost of one drive. The hunt of Mr. Korpse has been assigned to one of our finest Advanced Combat teams who I have no doubt will succeed in his capture.”

As Valken looks out into the crowd he sees are the wondering and judgmental eyes of the media; he’ll need to change course in order to win them over. He looks at his tablet with the approved speech open and quickly closes it. He looks back up to the crowd and clears his throat.

“I won’t lie in saying that I am not ashamed of this. A common nobody breaking into one of our prestige facilities in an effort to steal information meant to improve our society…”

Behind the stage, Zo continues to try to recalibrate the signals of the 508 Drones.

“Come on, come on damnit.”

After enough tries, Zo finally manages to get a connecting signal which gives her relief, but that resulting smile and relief slowly fades to confusion and worry. Zo watches each signal become connected but a second later that signal turns red and it disconnects. This pattern happens to five of the six status signals which worries Zo more and more to the point where she doesn’t know what to do.

“…If there’s one thing I know is that I believe in Valkyrie. From the first day I started my life here to now, I have always believed that Valkyrie has held the highest regard for humanity since the day they single handedly brought an end to the age of the psychotic Bolts. And to see that this is how we are repaid truly breaks my heart…”

Valken looks out into the audience and sees most of the reporters’ judgmental looks have been replaced with remorse; Valken makes a small smug smile seeing this, he has them in the palm of his hand now.

Meanwhile backstage, Zo continues to try to at least re-establish connection to the last signal. She knows the last thing she wants is to disappoint Valken in any way. The signal is eventually reconnected giving Zo great relief.

“Thank God.”

Zo exhales and activates the tracking system on the Drone and tablet’s screen changes to show a map of the Upper Echelon area; this confuses Zo for the Drone Force were last seen moving into the downtown area. The signal begins to move East at a quick pace which Zo starts to follow and she slowly begins to recognize to the street patterns on the map; they lead to Valkyrie Plaza. Her attention turns to the podium and Valken.

“I can only promise you this and it’s that the integrity of Valkyrie shall never be threatened again. Mr. Korpse’s eventual capture will serve as the perfect reminder that none shall threaten Valkyrie’s mission to ensure that the perfect society we all…”

Before Valken can finish, tires screeches and yells are heard down the street which catches everyone’s attention. Most of the media turn around with their cameras and recorders. In the next second, a worn-out delivery truck speeds out of a side street with a hooded figure holding a brown cloth bag hanging on the back side rail.

Most of the crowd backs away as the truck barrels down to the street near the stage area, Izu and the fellow Drones don’t move though and attempt to scan the moving truck. Once the stage is in sight, the hooded figure throws the bag into the air with enough speed and momentum to head right towards Valken. The air drones around the stage lock onto the bag with the intention to fire while the crowd attempt to take cover and Zo runs up the stage.

“HOLD FIRE!”

Izu yells as it jumps into the air as the ariel drones stop before they fire. With great speed and reflexes, Izu catches the bag and lands onto the stage as Zo makes it to Valken. As this happens the truck speeds down the street but Izu doesn’t break eye-contact and finishes scanning the truck’s plate and model.

“UNIT 32Y, PURSUE AND CAPTURE!”

Izu orders as the information is forwarded to the air drones who recalibrate and proceed to speed after the truck.

Even with the truck and drones gone the tension remains as the media looks back to the stage mainly Izu and the bag in its hand. Valken and Zo walk towards Izu as it flips the bag to empty it of its contents. The contents fall to the ground and the media gasp in surprise and semi-horror; Valken and Zo slowly walk up to Izu to get a better look at what fell out of the bag. Once close enough, Zo covers her mouth in surprise while Valken’s demeanor becomes more enraged as they see the decapitated head of the one of the 508 combat Drones bleeding green organic-energy liquid and short-circuiting.

“SYKIRA KORPSE. SYKIRA KORPSE. SYYYYYYYYY….”

The head eventually malfunctions and dies out, startling Zo but Valken and Izu remain stoic. As Valken takes in the situation, he looks out into the crowd and sees the media waiting for any type of response, but he knows he cannot spin this in any positive way; he simply turns around to leave the stage. Zo is caught off-guard by Valken’s sudden departure but decides to save face for the media, she clears her throat and approaches the front of the stage.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are incredibly sorry for this. We maybe able to resume in a few minutes, so please be patient."

Zo imminently turns around to run off the stage to catch up to Valken while the media is led away by the Alphas leaving Izu alone onstage. Izu bends down to the head and activates an info-key in its finger to place into the head. Izu’s vision recalibrates to access some of the last memories of the 508 Drone, which causes some distress. The calibration completes and Izu views some of the final moments of the Drone; he watches Eessk effortlessly and brutally outmaneuver most of the 508 Drones either through combat or gun skill. He nears the final Drone and in one fell swoop, Eessk kicks the Drone in head cutting the transmission. The sudden cut causes Izu to break the connection and for once in existence, it is unsure how to comprehend the situation.