Fracking Apocalypse - a ZNation 10K/Tommy Fanfiction

S8E06

S8E06

George POV

When Doc moved away from the door and ran back through the line of guards Rita and George bombarded him with questions.

"Did you see the hostages?"

"How many gunmen are in there?"

"I couldn't see, the glass was blacked out."

"What did the ringleader say?"

"Did you pick anything up on him?"

"Did he say anything about Addy?"

"Is she still alive?"

"Hold on, just hold on!" Doc said holding up his hands palms up at them. "The dude didn't sound panicked or worried about anything."

"How did he sound?" George asked.

Doc sighed in exasperation and shrugged, "Amused. Like he was enjoying every second of our conversation."

"Did you hear anyone else in the background?" Rita asked grasping at straws.

"None." Doc replied with a sad look on his face, "They could all have guns at their heads for all we know. Or they could all be dead."

"They won't be dead." George reasoned, "Eventually this guy will need to leave and he'll need them to distract us or use as human shields when that time comes."

"Which means he doesn't have a lot of incentive to negotiate." Rita pointed out. "We can't offer him anything in exchange for a life or two if he's just running out the clock."

George sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She had been doing that a lot tonight. She had to be careful, otherwise she'd look like Doc by morning. "We need to rattle this guy's cage. If he gets nervous enough that we might bust in there he may let some people go if he think's it'll buy him time."

"Isn't that risky?" Doc asked.

"Everything's risky, even not doing anything." Rita said, "What about tear gas?"

"Hey! I have the layout." CZ said in success and they all turned to him.

"How many points of entry?" Rita questioned coming over taking a break from their conversation.

"Several, but they're all blocked off."

"There's no way they barricaded that many doors in that time –"

"Not barricaded." CZ clarified Rita's information, "Locked. Whoever this is they knew how to hack through the security system and shut down the electronic locks on the doors and windows. But the vaulted doors are a system Kaya and I created, with some help from Hackerville, not that those are much help. But it's one thing this guy didn't know how to hack."

"Well can't you hack them back and open the doors?" Rita asked, "I mean, you designed this didn't you?"

"Actually, I did not. The prior, er, 'leader' did."

"And who is that?"

Citizen Z, Doc and George shared a look before George answered, "Roman Estes. Maybe I'd be able to strike a deal with him, unfortunately he's the prisoner who escaped four years ago. The one Addy and 10K were tracking when they stumbled into you."

"Okay look." CZ piped up, "Just give me some time to try and override the security monitor. If that doesn't work then we can go to your tear gas plan."

Rita turned to George and nodded. George looked from CZ to the building before looking back at him, "There are a lot of lives at stake. Let's not screw this up."