The robots at the entrance let them pass without issue. Well, they did make Will and Horatio, and the other Wardenites accompanying them, submit to scans.
“All newcomers are scanned for chips upon arrival,” Renaldo explained while one of the robots ran a hand over his head. “This is the new policy, according to Miles. He says he’s continuing to scan everyone each morning and night as well.”
“Good,” Rhea said. “But that policy should probably extend to me. We don’t want me to fall under the control of someone else, after all.” She nodded at the robot. “Scan me.”
When it was done, Will and Horatio led her inside, where a sprawling series of cargo containers stretched across the compound. Some were stacked high, others descended deep underground—she knew, because the open trenches the latter resided in were being filled as she watched.
“I’ve been talking to the architects,” Renaldo said, following behind. “They’ve prepared a Faraday cage around your quarters. This one is equipped with a deactivation switch, remotely accessible from within your bedroom only, so you don’t have to go in and out of your room to access the Net anymore.”
“Perfect,” Rhea said as she entered the closest cargo container.
“It’s located three floors underground, by the way,” Renaldo said. “More of a bunker. So you’re less exposed to, say, an unexpected plasma attack from the city walls.”
“I don’t think an attack like that is entirely unexpected at this point,” Rhea said. “Aradne city council doesn’t exactly like me.”
“You think they know you were part of the water heist?” Renaldo pressed.
“No,” Rhea said. “Well, I mean I’m sure they suspect. But they don’t know for sure.”
They approached the hole in the floor that led to her quarters. She could see the rungs in the wall leading down to the next level.
“Hm,” she said. “Let’s set up shop here for now. Those rungs don’t look like something I’d want to attempt until my legs are fully up and running. Besides, I can access the Net here. And catch up on the latest.”
Will and Horatio helped her sit down, then Horatio stood guard while Renaldo went to supervise the Wardenites as they completed construction on the new HQ.
She learned from the live stream summaries that the city wasn’t very happy about her water run. The Aradne city council was threatening to launch a class action suit against the residents of the slums, but the threat was empty, because they knew the people of Rust Town had no real money. It would affect the crime lords of the slums, of course, but that was about it.
Also, Aradne was no closer to bowing to the demands that it share its supply with the settlement. If anything, the fresh supply of water had only further hampered negotiations: Aradne city council was pissed off, and meanwhile their Rust Town counterparts were less inclined to compromise, given the lack of desperation. Then again, even if the mission had failed and people had been dying of dehydration in the streets, Rhea highly doubted that both sides would have come to an agreement already. The Aradne council would want to let them suffer a bit, so that when Rust Town finally returned to the bargaining table, its representatives would agree to anything.
While he worked, Will showed Rhea where to find the digital postings for bounties on the Aradne Sheriff’s Office website. There were no listings matching her description.
“If someone wanted to post a bounty for the ‘Warden,’ they’d want to be circumspect about it,” Rhea said. “I doubt they’d post it to a public site. Let alone the Sheriff’s Office. Doing so would only cause outrage among my fans.”
“Well, at least we know it’s an illegal bounty,” Will said. “That means if we can ever track down this Veil, we can press charges and prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law.”
“There will be no charges.” Rhea glanced at her X2-59 and raised her wrist so Will could see the retracted weapon. “This is the only law Veil will ever know.”
Rhea spent the next half hour in that spartan room, and when Will completed the repairs to her legs, she climbed down the rungs to the basement level to investigate her new quarters. Will and Horatio joined her.
There was an empty cargo container at the bottom, next to her bedroom, just like the previous design.
“So, this is the bunker they prepared for you,” Will said. “Cozy, if somewhat lacking in the essentials.”
“She is a cyborg,” Horatio told him. “What she considers ‘essential’ is likely vastly different from what you had in mind.”
“Keep reminding me…” Rhea commented, unable to hide the annoyance from her voice.
She entered the bedroom and closed the door behind her; the network icon faded from her HUD, a sign that the Faraday cage was installed and working.
She surveyed her surroundings. Most of the space was taken up by the bed, a sprawling, luxurious thing with a quilted coverlet and silk blankets. Like before, she also had a nightstand, and clothes closet available.
She immediately added some virtual decorations to make it more homey. The first was an augmented reality painting, which a fan had uploaded to one of the image sharing sites shortly after the defeat of the Hydras. She placed it on the wall next to her bed. It depicted her standing victorious atop a pile of dead bioweapons in the ruins of Rust Town. Electricity ran up and down the X2-59 strapped to her wrist, and the blade was pointed at the golden walls of Aradne as if implying that city was next on the ‘to conquer’ list.
Some might think it vain to display such a portrait in one’s bedroom, but it reminded her of the bravery she was capable of when she reached deep inside herself. If ever she should experience some self-doubt, all she need do was look at that painting and belief in herself would be restored. She almost considered programming her HUD to overlay it
