Neo-Nate Pt.1

“We’re getting closer.” Piper said, stating the obvious. Of course, Romeo knew that - he had the actual address from OSEC, but to Piper, each step closer felt like a swarm of insects inside of her head.

Romeo nodded. While it was true they had been given the address there was no they would be there when they arrived! On top of that, this was an official complaint they were investigating so if the person was an actual Neo or if the citizen had just been paranoid was something that was up in the air … till now.

Romeo radio in their location and gave a quick sitrep. “You sure it’s not one of ours?” He asked Piper. Bringing in Neo’s was never an easy task, it was often an devastating emotionally for the family and the Neo they took in. Sadly it had to be done they city could not afford an rouge unchecked Neo rampaging through the city.

“It’s definitely not one of ours.” Piper replied. “It’s--” She shook her head as if to clear it. “Chaotic. I’m trying to calm it? -- I can’t even tell if it’s a him or her, but whoever it is--” she put her hand to the temple of her head. “They aren’t happy.” It was hard to decipher what emotion they were feeling, frustrated? Maybe that was it. The last neo they’d found was almost 8, he was much easier to push mentally, he’d even come out of the domicile willingly on his own. His family meant well, trying to protect their son, they just didn’t realize that Oracle could protect him better. He’d never leave the Spire, 8 was too old, he was too far gone and would be safer tucked away from any sort of technology inside the Spire walls. “There.” Piper said, pointing towards one of the higher floors of the complex. She looked into Romeo’s copper colored eyes for reassurance and headed into the building.

Romeo’s eyes drifted up the luxury tower and whistled. “Oak Tree towers … that's going to be a lot of paperwork …” He said with a heavy sigh. Yea guts and glory his genetically engineered ass no one ever tells you about the mountains of paperwork involved in this! “... let try to get closer.” The Alpha looked down at himself and his tactical gear almost regretting it. Well, it was too late to change now.

“Let’s see if we can get pin down an exact location, I hate dealing with the entitled rich dicks up there who think they are the exception.” The whole thing came out as one long grumble.

Piper chuckled and patted his arm to soothe him. “Maybe they’re weapons enthusiasts and they’re outfitted with guns,” she suggested playfully. Seeing as he wasn’t in an overly playful mood, she dialed it down. “It’s okay -- I’ll talk to the entitled rich dicks. Besides, you know what will happen if the neo’s left unchecked.” She stared upwards at the complex again. “I’m not getting anything from them as far as domicile number or floor, but I know it’s pretty high. Let’s take the elevator to around forty, it might be easier after that to take the stairs, I’ll know the closer we get.” Piper easily bypassed the security system at the door, closing her eyes to interact with the locking and scanning mechanisms, then did the same in the elevator. Finding the codes was the easy part, almost like a slot machine, numbers, images would just stop, clicking in place in her mind There was definitely interference though from another Neo, it started as intermittent buzzing, almost like static crackling. Luckily, the interference was easily overrun- the chaos she’d experienced earlier was calming down, almost as if it was drifting off.

“I’m just saying …” Romeo said as they all but breezed through security. “ … it’s not like they don’t know what happens when you have a young Neo throwing a temper tantrum. You would think by now we wouldn’t have to still hunt them down like this. You wonder why they still don’t allow parental contact after the acquisition.” He looked up and around at the electronic interference. “Case and point.” He waved to the offending electronics.

He was right, of course, parents at the Spire tended to be problematic. They disrupted training. They caused a false sense of homesickness.

“You know I have a key pass or are you enjoying bossing around the keypad.” Romeo jibbed dryly. He really couldn’t blame her though for a Neo the only time they really got to stretch their minds was during mission and training. From what he understood being outside the shielded walls not the same as training in the confines of the Spire. Admittedly he understood being a Neo as well and Piper understood what it was like being an Alpha. Even after all this time is hard not to be impressed with how easily the tech around her bowed to her whim.

Six years and she was impressive every time.

“I’m enjoying bossing around the keypad,” Piper kidded back with a small sigh. “But use your keycard. I’ll try and focus in on the Neo.”

“And take the joy of bossing a keypad around?” Romeo said with fake horror. “No, really I’m sure everyone hates keypads go on and show it who’s boss.”

“Oh, you’re going down, keypad.” Piper joked back, nodding her head as she slipped quickly back into the machine. Too soon, in her opinion, they hit the fortieth floor, and while there was still static, it was muted, meaning they’d be heading up the stairwell.

While Romeo had absolutely zero trouble with the 17-floor climb, he was thoughtful enough to not make it look as effortless as it really was to him, while Piper struggled with the last few landings. She’d blame it on the deafening interference filling her head, and Romeo was kind enough to pretend he believed it. “This is it.”

“Alright … I’ll just stand here and look intimidating.” The soldier really had no tolerance for this. Maybe it was the living an entire life in the military but Romeo did have the same kind of empathy when dealing with normal citizens. He was at times blunt and to the point, it wasn’t so much a personality trait but something a soldier does. Commanding officers had zero tolerance for beating around the bush. Thankfully he had no problem being the scary big guy behind his Piper.

She was nice enough for the both of them.

Piper drew another deep breath, this one not from running, but readying herself for the situation to come. She balled her hands into fists at her sides, and raised one of them to knock on the door. A moment passed, and she raised a fist to knock again.

“You’ll wake the baby!” Someone hissed from inside the apartment, but it was a man who opened the door.

“A baby. That explains the chaos.” Piper said under her breath, before turning back to the man at the door. “Hi, I’m Sandpiper, and this is Romeo 457, we’re from OSEC and we need to--” The man quickly tried to shut the door, but Romeo leaned one hand against it, without expending any energy, preventing that from happening. Piper looked back to Romeo. “I believe they may know something’s up.”