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The Opposing Force: Frankie is a Tad' Annoyed

The Opposing Force: Frankie is a Tad' Annoyed
Originally Published by Jason Cochrane on Oct 26, 2016 at 04:07 AM


“Frankie!”

Dr Einstein visibly cringed. He was being addressed by what might as well be Dougie Houser MD… except of Asian complexion and wearing mirrored wraparound sunglasses and unlikely to ever graduate to being a respected individual. Dr Einstein ran his head through his slicked back dark widow’s peak.

“Tadashi," he clipped briskly, "please don’t do that. What are you doing here?” Dr Einstein hissed. His irritation clearly shined through and the younger man seemed a little taken aback. “Good,” thought Einstein.

“Anyhoo baby, remember that loser the Freebooter?”

“He’s semi-regular annoyance. The man just won’t take no for an answer. Get to the point.” Every moment Tadashi was here was another moment of risk.

Tadashi continued conversationally. Deliberately so. "Yeah. A no talent hack. Thinks he’s our equal. Tell me about it Frankie. You ain’t seen him have you?”

“No.” Einstein bristled. “Why would I? He's no use to me.”

“About that. We know that the Brain-Bots weren’t exactly a winner for us…”

“You said you could fix them Tadashi.” Dr Einstein could almost feel prying eyes observing them. "Hurry up."

“I’m sure I could." The more agitated Dr Einstein became the more Tadashi returned an increasingly relaxed disposition. Tadashi could sense the irriation he was generating and despite all the problems he currently faced, Tadashi was enjoying the turnabout. "In fact I almost had but I got other problems right now. Freebooter stole my girls and I want them back so that’s my priority at the moment.”

“Your priority is to get the Brain-Bots working," The double take in Dr Einstein's mind was sudden. "Your… girls?”

“You know the hot chicks I hang with. Built to perfection. But then you know all about building things to perfection don’t ya? How’s that going by the way?” Tadashi nonchalantly leaned against a wall and somehow managed to turn the effect into a vertical slouch.

“Just a few more days until the first one is ready, Tadashi." Einstein ran his hand nervously once more over his widow's peak. "But it will all be for nought without your Brain-Bots.”

“You shoulda gone with Androids Frankie. Quicker and more reliable.”

“Excepting right now you mean.” It was a tart retort and delivered with a heavy helping of acid.

Having once again turned the tables Dr Einstein took pleasure is the discomfort he inflicted on the younger man. Despite this, Dr Einstein was still unaware of the reason for this unwelcome visit.

“Cut to the chase Tadashi. I have work to do.”

“Right, right. When Freebooter took my girls he also took this morning’s batch of Brain-Bots so there won’t be a delivery today.”

“Wonderful.” The response was dripping with displeasure. “Why didn’t you just message me?”

“The girls were coming to deliver to you and I thought they might be here.”

“Wait! These robots know who I am? Who I work for? What I’m doing here? Tadashi…”

With a single phone ring Dr Einstein was talking to the hand.

“I gotta go Frankie. It’s been fun. Let’s not do this again. Next time I deal with your boss not a flunky.”

Before Einstein could retort Tadashi had broken into a run. Left alone he mulled over the situation. It was clearly time to leave. The Androids could be here any second. He needed a diversion. He had ample supply of DNAscent. While it wasn’t enough to permanently empower a person it certainly could bestow abilities for a few hours… and the test subjects of the Brain-Bots crowded the mental health ward. They would make a volatile combination with DNAscent. He could do it if he was fast and that would leave ample time to sanitise the lab.

...

He could hear the explosions even down in the hidden sub-basement The building shook to its foundation and rained dust on him. His work wasn’t done. The lab was nowhere near sanitised. All he had removed was the data on the process and the drive sweep. Time was not on his side. He had to flee now and hope that collateral damage brought down the lab and its contents.

All this effort, all of it, wasted. When he had more time he would find out who had disturbed his work and he would make them pay dearly for their interruption.

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