1:3:8 Retrieval (Part 1)

Annoyance. She had only just arrived and she was already in cuffs.
“Honestly didn’t expect to actually meet Lore’s alien whore.” Reid scoffed. “What colour is your skin? It’s not yellow but it isn’t orange either… or are you just dirty?”
Char just sat silently. Her left hand bound to the cannon on her right; her golden skin rapidly reddening as she sat, embarrassed at her incarceration. She watched as Destiny and Curve got chummy with Reid. Destiny she understood, it was a computer dressed as a human so she could be reprogrammed rather easily but Curve… Curve was a clone, she was a living being so how she turned against Lore was anyone’s guess but embarrassing nonetheless. Char sat there, hoping Lore wasn’t on their way to reach the same ending as she did.

“So run me through how you got down here again?” Lore scratched their head.
“As Magpie said, we pretended to be inspectors and it just sort of worked. We told them that we were here to inspect the mines and they believed us.” Ace shrugged.
“Wait, that worked? I was joking but… What’s with the golden armour?” Lore flicked Ace’s golden pauldron.
“We freaked out when we saw troopers wearing this sort of gear so we changed it on the way. No one said anything so I think we got away with it.”
Lore thought for a moment before sighing. “Then you’ve got to keep up the act. Those troopers will be on their way down here to investigate that mess. Hang about.” Lore grabbed at Ace’s communicator. “Come in Mauve.”
Mauve’s gruff voice crackled over the speaker. “We’re here… Just. What the hel was that?”
“Just the clones. Listen, I need you and Sky to wait in The Syndicate mines. If you don’t hear from me after a couple of hours, sneak through the tunnel and… Hold on.” Lore looked around. “I’ll get back to you, hold on.” Lore returned to Ace, their mind racing. “There’s a chemical shower on the right hand wall as you leave the tunnel. Change into The Protectorate mining uniforms and walk out.” They handed back the communicator. “Ok then, now it’s my turn. Arrest me and take me to their leader… Who is their leader?”
“Some Inquisitor… Reid I think.” Magpie nodded. “Yeah, Reid.”
“That’s why it worked then.” Lore smirked. “From what the other Lore’s showed me about Reid, she’s a paranoid mess. After she walked in on them and Crait enjoying some private time in a cupboard, she never opened a door without using her scanner. Sounds like it’d make her harder to trick but only made her more naïve. Trust me, if what the other me knew about her is true, we’ll be alright.” Lore took the cuffs and arrested themselves. They tried to give their best look of defeat as they were marched up the hill by their own clone soldiers. The clones too resumed their act, Midpoint and Ace both marched with their rifles at the ready and their faces concealed their fears behind the same stony stoicism that got them in to this in the first place. They hadn’t gotten very far before Lore faceplanted into the floor.
“Sir?” Ace checked for any soldiers before helping. “What are you doing?”
“No matter what colour your armour is, they’re not going to believe that you cuffed me willingly. We need to make it look like I went down fighting.” Lore inched closer to Ace. “I shouldn’t have showered but I couldn’t resist.” Their hands being bound made it harder but not impossible but somehow, without Ace’s knowledge, Lore had managed to remove their sidearm, check it was loaded and fire a shot through the top of their left shoulder. “Bloody hel!” Midpoint swept Lore’s legs out from under them with a two footed attack to their knees, forcing them to the floor to prevent them from causing even more damage. Magpie kicked the pistol out of their hand before checking the wound. “You’re lucky you couldn’t aim lower with those cuffs. You nearly hit the joint.”
“I hit what I was aiming for.” Lore grunted through heavy breaths. They tapped at Magpie’s chest to bring him closer before whispering. “I want you to properly smack me. Don’t tell me when, just do it.” Magpie nodded.
“You going to help them up then?” Ace stared at Magpie.
“Sure.” Magpie lifted Lore up by the bar between their cuffs. The metal frames dug into their wrists. Before Lore could fully return to their balanced position, Magpie let go. His hands now free, as Lore flailed in the air, he struck. His armoured fist bit at their face and further fuelled their descent to the gravel. “They wanted this.” He was quick to wash himself of the act.
“It was unexpected.” Lore was barely conscious.
“Exactly what you wanted.” Magpie chuckled. That chuckle soon faded to scorn as three golden troopers approached. Behind them, two dozen reds, all with weapons trained on Lore.
“What is going on here?” The leader pulled his own weapon.
Ace stood there for a moment stunned and unsure. A whisper on the wind snapped them out of it, pulling them from their daze. “We’re completing our mission.” Ace took Lore from Magpie. Lore gave them a subtle nod and with that, Ace thrust them back into the floor at the feet of the soldier. “This piece of traitorous filth was responsible for the explosion. We’ve checked the mine but with all the debris… We didn’t see anyone.” Ace was hoping that they wouldn’t question the cleanliness of both their armour and their captive.
“We’ll sweep the mines then. Reid will want to see them.” The soldier smiled a jealous smile. “Just don’t have too much fun along the way.”
Ace nodded. “We’ll try not to.” They hauled Lore back to their feet. The soldiers passed them and they passed the soldiers. Ships in the night and no questions asked.

Apart from the occasional, subtle, welfare check, the clones and Lore travelled in silence. Although not to their legs, Lore’s wound did significantly affect their endurance, slowing them and causing their movements to be considerably more considered and careful. Midpoint and Magpie’s joint disarmament tactic hadn’t helped either but they couldn’t undo the past and their minds were far too focussed on maintaining the ridiculous façade to entertain the notion. Rather than waste even more time with the ramp or the stairs, Ace elected to make use of the lift towards the rear of the complex. It trundled slowly to its destination, stopping every so often as the cables snagged and slipped; even though the smog had been effectively removed from the area, some of its effects still lingered, prematurely aging the bones and tendons of the facility. It came to a stop one last time and allowed the group to exit.

Destiny awaited them. She stood with Curve outside of the administrator’s office door. She watched as a battered and bound Lore hobbled towards her, the clones marching emotionlessly behind them, weapons drawn and ready. Destiny touched her hand to the panel behind her, opening the door.
“Well, there you are…” Reid Breached around the table to greet them. “Oh… I’ve dreamt about this more than a few times…” A sadistic smile crept across her face. She walked past them and gestured for the clones to follow her. Ace and Magpie took one of Lore’s arms each and span them around as gently as they could get away with before thrusting them ahead once more. Reid had ordered the canteen emptied and prepared for Lore’s visit. In the place of a room full of benches and tables, two chairs sat around a solitary metal desk. The only light in the room highlighted their arena. Reid took her seat and motioned Lore to take theirs. Destiny and the clones formed a semicircle around Lore’s side of the table.
“How long has it been?” Reid looked over every feature of her adversaries slightly dirty face. “You look so young. Nearly impossibly so…” She sounded almost jealous.
Lore waited for her to continue but she didn’t. They considered their response carefully. “Old enough to remember.” They let their eyes finish the sentiment. While the statement was, on its own, rather innocuous, it was bathed in painfully embarrassing context. Reid flashed a worried glance back. She composed herself but her expression flitted between concern and her usual resting neutrality.
“Early to mid-twenties then… Oh, the days you have ahead of you. Shame you’ve been diverted.” Reid looked at their wrists. “Another type seventeen. I guess they really are ten a penny. I honestly don’t know how you ever used those things. How you managed before the type thirty introduced PrecogBreach, I do not know. Seriously, Blind Breaching…” She shook her head. “Crazy.” She consulted her own Breacher. Unlike Lore’s, Reid’s Breacher was comprised of two separate pieces; the solid rubber band had been replaced with one of woven metal and the Breacher’s face, once a part of the body, now stood out as its own, detachable, unique, unit. “It’s not even active. Thirteen hours left on an update that’s been paused for the best part of a day.” She scoffed. “And it’s tiny. Bloody hel, I don’t think it’s even worth taking off of you.” She scoffed again. “Plus if I tried, I’d be giving you a chance and I suppose that’s why you, assumedly, hid it further up your arm. Have them slap the cuffs on above it so the poor design forces me to take the cuff off to get at it.” Reid sat back in her chair. “We’ll have you back when you belong in no time, you’ve got a planet to destroy.”
“Quatarr.” After the word left Lore’s lips, Reid’s eyebrows rocketed up her face. “I know where I’m going. I know how it’s going to turn out. It’s not going to be pretty but something is coming and the way Crait’s going about it, whatever it is, it’s going to win; even you have to realise that killing your allies is a terrible way to win a war.” Lore shook their head.
Reid stood and began pacing. She mumbled something, muttered something else before settling on the true start of her speech. “You know, you’re career is required reading on three different courses? Your insights into temporal manipulation are still unrivalled, your work on Quatarr will be revolutionary. I mean, without you, I’d be eighty but look at me, I’m a brand new twenty five.” She span on her heels. “Seriously, look at me, look at yourself. You were an artist with a Breacher and now you’ve been arrested by a couple of officers from the Thirty Second Order.” She looked over at Destiny and the Clones. “No offence, you guys do great work but… Historically, not the most effective order and I mean that with all of the respect you five are due.” Reid blushed slightly before tapping at her Breacher.
Two golden troopers entered, a limp figure between them. She had a bag over her head but regardless, Lore immediately knew in their gut that it was Char. She wasn’t moving much but there was still air in her lungs; just. She was thrown at Reid’s feet.
“Now this is special.” She was buzzing, almost literally bouncing around Char’s limp body. “A real, actual, Quatarrian. What to do, what to do?” She licked her lips. “I could save her for later… or…” A devilish smile sprang from the depths of her being as she whipped out a pistol and unloaded it into Char’s skull. “I could kill her now.” Reid erupted into a fit of chaotic laughter.