17-02-2020, 02:14 AM
They walked toward the men looting bodies and helped search the pockets of dead Nazis. When she found nothing but cyanide and some random personal items to examine in more detail later, they went into the theater to check the other three. A few inches away from the hand of the one she'd killed was the remote trigger. She picked it up and studied it in the light.
"Homemade... guessing Scott's work." She took a puff of her cigarette while she thought some more, then carefully set it down. "Dual-stage trigger and only one's been pressed." She dropped to her knees on the hard stone and began trying to remove the corpse's backpack. Mander came and helped, waiting for more answers. "They brought two bombs. Probably planned to blow both ends of the main hall. One of them has the switch, so he's probably got the other bomb, too."
She pulled it out of his pack. Three one-kilogram sticks of C-4 were bundled together. A detonator stuck in the middle like a leaning birthday candle waiting to be ignited." Helen carefully set it on the ground.
"You know how to defuse that?" Mander asked?
"I've got a pretty good idea..." Helen said, setting down her cigarette and wiping her forehead. Her lip trembled a little.
Suddenly, without warning, she grabbed the detonator and pulled it out of the charge. Mander jumped back as she made sure none was stuck to it before putting it next to the switch and picking her cigarette back up. She turned to him with a smile.
"What? It's a remote detonator and I have the remote. It wasn't armed."
Mander didn't usually get exasperated at Helen but almost did so.
"You knew that thing was safe the whole time?"
"Remember when I said how the people who know how to find and deal with bombs were out looking for them? I might've left someone off that list."
Helen rose to her feet and removed the packaging from the explosive that they hadn't even bothered removing while she continued.
"Or do you not recall that Propappou spent most of the 20th century safely handling grenades, dynamite, and other explosives? First in The Great War, then for a living. He told me stories of jobs he'd done across America and Alaska and I listened. A man who'd dealt with cave-ins much bigger than this one. He never lost a man on his crews who did what he told them to; never so much as a finger himself. The cops never busted Papa Emay for his home fireworks on the 4th of July because they were too busy enjoying the better show he'd put on than the City's. The videos he shot of his work were badass! Troy burned them to disc for me, we can watch when we're outta here."
"So, in addition to everything else, Her Countessness knows all about bombs, too?"
"Not ALL about them." Helen replied, starting to squeeze the plastique in her hands. "He retired before we met, so he never took me along on a job or let me and Troy play with his old gear. But I paid attention to enough stories to learn a couple things."
She continued to work the C-4 as she searched for some light to work by.
"I learned at least enough to figure out that a shaped charge in the right spot is our best chance of blasting ourselves free again. Then it's a matter of getting a message to the outside so we don't blow up Ramirez and Ortega trying to sledgehammer their way through to us."
At that moment, a woman who hadn't been there before stepped out from behind Mander. She wore a white cleanroom bodysuit that clung to her curves with a blue stripe down the middle. Her head was also covered by the suit and her face obscured by giant blue goggles. The object she held in her hands looked like some strange fusion of a shovel and a bicycle pump. She lifted up the goggles and smiled. Helen laughed. Mander looked confused.
"What?" He asked. "You figure out how we're gonna get word to them?"
"Yeah," Helen said, still laughing. "And she just showed up. Hey, Dig Dug."
"Hey, Helen." Suzy-Q replied from inside the Dig Dug costume. "Did we tell you that there's now a TV at the Equals house that's always kept on and tuned to San Finzione news? It was Julie's idea. She says hi and 'that Fucking Cunt's gonna need you.'"
Since Mander learned about Helen's strange connection to Susan through Suzy-Q before, he didn't hear the response, but was unsurprised and knew who Helen was speaking to.
"Oi, Suzy-Q." Mander said, knowing he wouldn't hear her reply. Because it was within Helen's perception, though, Suzy-Q heard him.
"Homemade... guessing Scott's work." She took a puff of her cigarette while she thought some more, then carefully set it down. "Dual-stage trigger and only one's been pressed." She dropped to her knees on the hard stone and began trying to remove the corpse's backpack. Mander came and helped, waiting for more answers. "They brought two bombs. Probably planned to blow both ends of the main hall. One of them has the switch, so he's probably got the other bomb, too."
She pulled it out of his pack. Three one-kilogram sticks of C-4 were bundled together. A detonator stuck in the middle like a leaning birthday candle waiting to be ignited." Helen carefully set it on the ground.
"You know how to defuse that?" Mander asked?
"I've got a pretty good idea..." Helen said, setting down her cigarette and wiping her forehead. Her lip trembled a little.
Suddenly, without warning, she grabbed the detonator and pulled it out of the charge. Mander jumped back as she made sure none was stuck to it before putting it next to the switch and picking her cigarette back up. She turned to him with a smile.
"What? It's a remote detonator and I have the remote. It wasn't armed."
Mander didn't usually get exasperated at Helen but almost did so.
"You knew that thing was safe the whole time?"
"Remember when I said how the people who know how to find and deal with bombs were out looking for them? I might've left someone off that list."
Helen rose to her feet and removed the packaging from the explosive that they hadn't even bothered removing while she continued.
"Or do you not recall that Propappou spent most of the 20th century safely handling grenades, dynamite, and other explosives? First in The Great War, then for a living. He told me stories of jobs he'd done across America and Alaska and I listened. A man who'd dealt with cave-ins much bigger than this one. He never lost a man on his crews who did what he told them to; never so much as a finger himself. The cops never busted Papa Emay for his home fireworks on the 4th of July because they were too busy enjoying the better show he'd put on than the City's. The videos he shot of his work were badass! Troy burned them to disc for me, we can watch when we're outta here."
"So, in addition to everything else, Her Countessness knows all about bombs, too?"
"Not ALL about them." Helen replied, starting to squeeze the plastique in her hands. "He retired before we met, so he never took me along on a job or let me and Troy play with his old gear. But I paid attention to enough stories to learn a couple things."
She continued to work the C-4 as she searched for some light to work by.
"I learned at least enough to figure out that a shaped charge in the right spot is our best chance of blasting ourselves free again. Then it's a matter of getting a message to the outside so we don't blow up Ramirez and Ortega trying to sledgehammer their way through to us."
At that moment, a woman who hadn't been there before stepped out from behind Mander. She wore a white cleanroom bodysuit that clung to her curves with a blue stripe down the middle. Her head was also covered by the suit and her face obscured by giant blue goggles. The object she held in her hands looked like some strange fusion of a shovel and a bicycle pump. She lifted up the goggles and smiled. Helen laughed. Mander looked confused.
"What?" He asked. "You figure out how we're gonna get word to them?"
"Yeah," Helen said, still laughing. "And she just showed up. Hey, Dig Dug."
"Hey, Helen." Suzy-Q replied from inside the Dig Dug costume. "Did we tell you that there's now a TV at the Equals house that's always kept on and tuned to San Finzione news? It was Julie's idea. She says hi and 'that Fucking Cunt's gonna need you.'"
Since Mander learned about Helen's strange connection to Susan through Suzy-Q before, he didn't hear the response, but was unsurprised and knew who Helen was speaking to.
"Oi, Suzy-Q." Mander said, knowing he wouldn't hear her reply. Because it was within Helen's perception, though, Suzy-Q heard him.
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