TIVPB Chapter four

[samecgh]

After getting nothing from the little outpost, Casey led them down to another area, checking for patrol every corner. They kept scanning and entering rooms for possible computers and other objects that could tell them where anything was. Deeper into the building, they began finding more dust and rust. “I don't think anyone's been down here since this place was functioning,” Amy commented, kicking snack bags that must have been left behind by former workers.

“It would be the right place to store paper or hard copies,” Peter mentioned, “If they still do that.”

“Yeah, there are a few places,” the Doctor informed, “The Warehouse is infamous for it. And there was the Library.”

“Warehouse?” he asked.

“Library?” she inquired.

He paused, wondering if he should elaborate on the subjects and quickly deciding against it. “Not saying anything more on that,” he denied.

Casey came back from his exploration further ahead. “No computers, papers, boxes or anything that could contain anything. Cleaned out a while ago,” he reported.

“So, go back and pick a different path?” Orion suggested.

“We should see where the other group is,” Peter added, “Search a different area to cover more.”

Casey tapped his comm unit. “Bartowski, Walker.” Not getting anything, the others tried their units. “Damn it, communication's not working.”

“There's probably something in the walls cutting off foreign radio waves,” Orion brought up.

The Doctor perked up a tiny bit. “Amy, try your phone,” he said. She pulled out her decorated, TARDIS blue phone and sent a text over to Rory.

About two stories up and five rooms away, Rory was startled by the sounds of his phone, which he hurriedly shut off before reading the text. “It's Amy. Comms don't work. Where are you?” he translated. He sent a reply. “Office area.”

Amy jumped as her phone started ringing. “Office area,” she reported.

“There's probably closer to the security room,” the Doctor hypothesized.

“Personnel quarters then,” Orion suggested, “People take things back, no matter how hard they try to stop.”

“Let's figure out where those would be,” Casey led, walking back up.

Rory read the last message. “They're going to personnel quarters.”

“We get the security room,” River concluded.

It took about half an hour to find what would have been the living area. Peter first noticed the mess hall and found a surprising map of the complex on the wall. He traced the path that would take them to the rooms. Amy walked up behind him and motioned to the Doctor. “Good catch,” he said, grabbing everyone else's attention.

Amy took a photo and sent it to Rory. “I can't believe they still have this in the future,” she mentioned.

“Safety codes apparently exist,” Orion quipped.

“You think we would have grown out of the need for it,” Amy suggested.

“And risk lawsuit exposure?” Peter inquired.

The Doctor started walking away with Casey. “If you three are done blogging,” he insisted, pointing outside. They took it as a cue to leave.

The quarters were bland, large rooms have four beds in bunk formation for groups and a few have twin beds. It was easy for the group to just split and got through each separately. There were drawers opening and mattresses being flipped to check for hidden documents before moving on to the next one. Amy had a good laugh over a minute at a love letter that sounded worse than Rory's early attempts. Betting slips, gambling sheets, attempts at forging. It amazed Peter that the crimes were still poorly planned (and kinda surprised they were still going on on a somewhat large scale) in the somewhat future.

The Doctor was caught reading a diary, which Orion raised an eyebrow at when he walked by after investigating a mostly clean room. “Oh, don't at like you've never done this before,” he professed.

“I'm usually not as amused by the contents as you are,” he inferred. He moved ahead and came to the end of the hallway. Realizing there was no other rooms and he wasn't going to go upstairs without Casey along side to scour for left behinds, he walked back down. He almost bumped back into the Doctor, who was excited by something he found out. “What? Was there an affair between two people of different ranks?”

“What? No,” he frowned, sticking his tongue out at the idea, “I found someone who was transferred from her to another base. Apparently, it was to be the same type of setup, only with the addition of more Flesh, the biomatter that makes up Gangers.”

“Location?”

“None listed. This says even mentioning this was a violation and he really should destroy the pages. Somehow, I don't think he got to doing that,” he said.

“That's definitely a good thing for us,” he chipped in, “We can find out how much power this places uses, try to use it as a rough estimate. Possibly elevated to account for Ganger related items.”

“Oh, there might be a unique trace signature from here. And the TARDIS probably remembers the one from the last Ganger manufacturing. Look for places that have each,” he proposed.

“That would narrow it down to...”

“One. They would wait to restart, after the defeat, so they would calm down worries from their intended victim. They wouldn't have semi-started back plans.” He looked over to Casey, Amy and Peter, who had gathered around while they had been talking. “We should get going on that idea. Amy, tell Rory. Maybe they'll find a way to narrow down the search.”

River found the room first, checking for traps before waving Chuck in. “This was the security room last time,” she needlessly informed, going back outside the room. He brought out his laptop and started hacking his way into the network.

After a few minutes, he found plenty on Amy and that plan, but nothing on the plan related to Bryce. He tried finding hidden files, encrypted files. Nothing came up with the name or dates relating to his life. “I'm getting nothing,” he reported.

“Yeah, well, maybe Madame Kovarian didn't want to jinx herself,” Neal mentioned, “Either that or she didn't want the Doctor picking up on it when he first came her to get Amy out.”

“Paper records?”

“Or a computer that never linked to a network. Keeping it closed off would have allowed her to hide the second plan.”

“Great, so we have to figure out which office is hers,” he complained, almost taking off the computer before he backtracked, “What am I doing? I can go through the security footage here and find it.”

“Smart. Is there anyway to keep a connection to it so someone doesn't have to stay here and watch the cameras?” Neal asked.

“Maybe, I would have to see if there is anything blocking the ability.” He started going through the known cameras and found the other group. He brought them up on a monitor before going back to the search. He focused on three places they hadn't been. “Okay, based on size and niceness of the places, I would say these two are the best choices for her office.”

Hopefully she had an office. She might have not needed one or she didn't want anyone to find anything and wouldn't have put anything down. Maybe she wasn't that paranoid to do that. Really hope she wasn't that paranoid to do that. “Do you think they found where she was living?” he asked.

Rory, who had been in the back, said, “I could always text and see. If they haven't, we could ask them to go up and find it.” Neal nodded and he pulled out his phone. After a minute, he got a response. “No, but they're going to try and trace unique signals.”

“Well, while they're doing that, they could also check her quarters,” Chuck mentioned. Rory texted back the suggestion.

Amy read the last part, “Try and find the room she was living in. She may have left something behind.”

“Unlikely, given that she's a meticulous planner and would have triple checked her room for anything that may have clued someone in to the next location,” the Doctor doubted.

“The best have been taken down by something simple,” Peter argued, “Speeding tickets, tax fraud. I got Neal because he was deeply in love with a woman named Kate.”

“She might have left blank pieces of paper behind that have indentations,” Amy thought up.

Cornered, he agreed, “All right.”

“Casey, we're going to find the main woman's living quarters,” Orion shouted. Both Casey and Peter went first, the other three trailing behind.

Sarah and River went ahead to scout. It took them a few times before finding a couple of offices that had extra locks on the front. Use of the hacker revealed two of the top offices in the complex. Chuck started going through the computer while Neal and Rory searched around for hidden compartments. Sarah got into the other room and River was on the computer while she went through the room.

Neither found anything until Neal found a secret compartment in the wall just behind the desk. Once he raided it and found a single piece of paper, Chuck got through the firewalls and found a few things that looked promising. “I have information on other complexes with blueprints and structures,” he reported.

The paper was blank, but maneuvering it to see the imprint of the last thing wrote down allowed him to see the words. “I have a clue. Looks like it's coded,” he added.

“Not surprising. Some habits never die,” Rory quipped, “Do you recognize the code?”

“I can't see all of it at once. I need to copy it somewhere and then figure out.”

Chuck focused on the computer even more and finished getting though the last firewall. He searched through the files that he uncovered first before finding several possible clues. It was only when he started finding Ganger and Bryce mentioned repeatedly that he called attention. “I have her plan. She abducted Bryce just after Stanford and switched him during a few days of rest that the CIA had him take,” he mentioned, before reading off, “Took subject to new complex. One chemical in the blood that needs to be metabolized before Flesh can be used.”

“And this new complex?”

“No clue yet. I'm going to find files based just after the last time they did something like this. When approximately did that happen?” he asked Rory.

“I have no clue. The way of telling dates have completely changed.”

Neal put in, “We have the drive copiers. Maybe the Doctor or River could help decrypt them.” Chuck nodded and hooked up the device before activating and watching the progress. It took several minutes for the entire section he had selection to be copied.

Sarah had walked in with River after their fruitless search. “Do you have anything?”

“Possibly, but we need translations on dates to look for files that could possibly tell where she is.”

“We can handle that on the go,” Sarah said.

Rory's phone went off just as they were closing down. “Found nothing. Place was spotless,” he read.

“Let's get back to the TARDIS,” River directed, “The Doctor and Orion may have figured out the unique signatures that we can use. Everything that we have can be useful in narrowing down the search.”

0=0

Bryce didn't feel himself getting stronger, but he did stay more awake longer as whatever they used to keep him filtered out of his system. He started to note everything that he needed to know about the facility he was in and how to get out.

The capsule looked roughly the same as the pod Fulcrum used to transport him to Burbank. He became better at figuring out where the wires were, feeling them along his head and chest, and knew that removing them would activate an alarm. He would have to be fast and smart on escaping. There were also tubes going into places that would be 'fun' to remove.

Getting off the bindings was his first obstacle, and he worked several angles. He couldn't bend enough to reach the clasps. There was nothing spare or coming off that he could use to lever into them either. Sheer strength, not that he had much, couldn't break them. He thought about dislocating his thumb, but he wasn't sure even that would work, and if it didn't, the thumb wouldn't be reset and it would heal wrong.

“He's coming?” a scared, high-pitched voice inquired. They had to be close in order for him to hear that clearly. It was strange, since everyone knew he woke up and they avoided him when talking about sensitive information. Maybe they thought he was asleep.

“The old complex was still running on partial power, and it sent out an intruder warning,” another serious and slightly scared voice answered, “She linked to the security footage and saw him walking around. River Song and the Ponds were there as well, along with a few others no one knew about.”

A few others that they don't know about. Chuck and Sarah. Neal. “Why? Are they trying to find the subject?”

“What other reason would there be?”

“Why do they want him?”

“I think it has to do with the look-a-like that was also in the footage. I've heard they're twins. Possibly his and hers,” the second voice hissed.

“Oh no. We were told it was just someone that could get to the Doctor unnoticed. I thought a member of UNIT or military. We've possibly kidnapped....”

“I would suggest,” another voice interrupted, “That you two stop speculating and get back to work.” The boss had decided to visit. The window slid open, revealing her face. The scarring hadn't gotten better.

“Your subordinates are afraid of this guy,” he tried taunting, “And it's sounds like you're fucked because he's close to finding you again.”

“I'm not worried; you're almost chemically clean. Then, we will make more Gangers and they won't be able to tell until it's too late.”

“You don't think they wouldn't be suspicious,” he mocked, “What is this? The fourth time you've tried killing him with a 'Ganger' related plan.” With no witty comeback, the window was shut. Okay, guys, whenever you feel like pulling off that epic rescue.

0=0

The Doctor and their group had gotten back first. Orion and him were already working on a program to narrow down the search via unique traces. River was passed the copied hard drive after Chuck worked on a decryption program so she could search for any mention of the new complex. Neal worked on getting the code onto something readable, with Peter looking over his shoulder so he could watch.

The program seemed to ping at the exact same time River found something useful in the logs. “There are four traces of areas that match this complex,” the Doctor reported.

“And those four all match up to energy levels that this place would have had at full operation,” Orion added.

“Nothing that would indicate they're using more energy.”

“Which they should be if they're working with more biomatter.”

“So, they're hiding better or we're not calculating something in.”

“Hiding better,” River chimed in. “I have an entry log from the computer they copied. They've employed techniques and other ways of covering up their energy usage better.”

“Anything specific?” the Doctor inquired.

“Give me a minute, I'm not through everything yet.”

Neal was switching letters when Peter pointed out something in one of the words. “Deja vu,” he muttered, trying what Peter suggested.

“Why?” Sarah asked, listening in.

“Shift code hidden in an anagram. We had someone use it before,” Peter informed. The phrase became understandable, and they passed it on to Chuck and River, who ran a search through the files.

The four destinations were galaxies apart. The Doctor wanted to hit each one until they got to the right one. Orion disagreed and Casey sided with him. If they were to just randomly hit places, one might set off a trigger and Kovarian would just pack up and leave, with Bryce. It had to be the right one.

River chimed in at the perfect time. “I have it,” she announced, “Project name is Second Generation Beta. They are in the closest galaxy next to the Medusa Cascade.”

The Doctor started at the revelation of where they were. “What?!”

Orion immediately searched it out and found the complex that matched. “It actually reads just below what we were expecting them to read at; it was discounted in the search,” he explained.

“Let's get all the information we can,” Sarah led, “Is there any way we can find blueprints and anything else without having to be on site?”

The Doctor had to be lightly hit before he could answer. “Right, there are a few places that blueprints have to be registered and usually, getting into those systems are easy,” he commented, pulling up the sections. Orion started working fast.

“Could this library possibly have the information?” Peter asked.

“No! No, not going to the Library,” he insisted, everyone staring at his outburst. “It wouldn't be there anyway.”

“All right,” he backtracked.

“Is there sort of an underground, black market type of thing that we could get information from?” Chuck brought up.

“I know someone, but they're kinda angry with me at the moment,” he mentioned.

“Angry with you,” River pointed out, “But they're not angry with me.”

“So you can get the information,” Sarah pointed out, “With the information, we should come up with a plan.”

“Then let's move before they're prepare for us,” Casey finalized.

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