User:RandomDSdevel/Sandbox/Works in Progress/Stories/Uprooted
{{#ifeq: User |User| Uprooted | Uprooted}}[[Title::{{#ifeq: User |User| Uprooted | Uprooted}}| ]]
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{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Bryce Glover | Bryce Glover}} | |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| RandomDSdevel | RandomDSdevel}} | ||
Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| RandomDSdevel | RandomDSdevel}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| RandomDSdevel | RandomDSdevel}}]] [[Author::{{#ifeq: User |User| RandomDSdevel | RandomDSdevel}}| ]]
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{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| RandomDSdevel | RandomDSdevel}} | |
Author: {{#ifeq: User |User| Bryce Glover | Bryce Glover}} |
Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| RandomDSdevel | RandomDSdevel}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Bryce Glover | Bryce Glover}}]] [[Author::{{#ifeq: User |User| Bryce Glover | Bryce Glover}}| ]]
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{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Bryce Glover | Bryce Glover}} | |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| RandomDSdevel | RandomDSdevel}} | | Authors: ' |
Authors: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| RandomDSdevel | RandomDSdevel}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| RandomDSdevel | RandomDSdevel}}]]
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{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| RandomDSdevel | RandomDSdevel}} | |
Authors: {{#ifeq: User |User| Bryce Glover | Bryce Glover}} |
Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| RandomDSdevel | RandomDSdevel}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Bryce Glover | Bryce Glover}}]]
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 | FreeRIDErs story universe |
 | This story is a work in progress. |
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Prologue
9:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time
October 17th, 2024
Discovery Campus, Thunderblaze Innovations, LLC
Chicago, Illinois, USA, Earth
"Well, I think it might as well be time to call it a night," yawned Cameron as he clocked out. "Sorry I've kept you here so late, Jenna."
"Oh, it's all right," said the company secretary. "I had some reading to catch up on, anyway. What do you do up in the lab all day, anyway, though? I mean…you've barely even started working here, but the boss is already working you to the bone," Jenna fussed.
"Yeah, Dad's got me busy, all right," complained the young intern. "With the big reveal coming up next week, he needs all hands on deck."
"Well," the Latina confided, "I hope he cuts you some slack soon. If he keeps this up, he'll have worked you to the bone!"
"Ha, ha; very funny, Jen," Cameron chuckled. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then."
"Yeah," she counseled, "you go on home and get some rest."
"And, man, do I need it!" he complained as he walked out the door.
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Outside…
Cameron was just outside of the Thunderblaze Innovations parking lot when he heard the sound of footsteps running towards him. Turning around to see who it was, he spotted Jenna jogging up to meet him.
"Hey," she hollered, "Wait up!"
Slowing his pace to let her catch up, the puzzled youth asked her what was on her mind: "What's up?"
The young woman explained what she was doing as she caught her breath. "Are you sure you'll be okay walking home all by yourself? It's going to get pretty dark soon, you know…"
"I'll be fine," Cameron reassured her. "My house is only a few blocks that way, really," he told her, pointing in the general direction of the nearby hospital.
"Is it OK if I walk with you part of the way?" she pressed. "My apartment's just on the other side of the highway."
"Okay, then," he relented, and resumed walking. "The more, the merrier, I suppose, right?"
"Right," agreed Jenna, who was hot on his heels. "Now, why don't you tell me more about this big mystery project that you're working on with your father?" she inquired.
"Oh, so that's why you wanted to tag along, eh? Well, if I told you, it wouldn't be such a mystery, now, would it?"
"Oh, come on!" she cried. "You can tell me! Please?" she begged.
"Nope! My lips are sealed," quipped Cameron. "You'll have to wait to find out, just like everybody else."
"Aw!" Jenna whined. "I was looking forward to getting you to spill the beans…"
The look on her face made Cameron yield just a little. Considering his word carefully, he gave in, "Fine, then; I guess I can tell you one thing."
"And what would that be?" she asked, expecting something big, as they stopped at a crosswalk opposite the Neurological and Orthopedic Hospital of Chicago.
"I think you might really like how surprising it'll be," he grinned.
"Hey!" she protested, "That was mean!"
"Sorry," he shrugged "I can't help it that I signed a non-disclosure agreement. Besides, Dad made me promise him that I wouldn't tell anyone, not even my brother, about this before Monday."
Jenna growled. "We have ways of making you talk!" she intoned in an ominous German accent.
"I'm sure you do…," muttered Cameron as they began to cross the street.
Raising an eyebrow, the young secretary asked, "Pardon me?"
"Nothing of consequence," he dismissed. "What was that?" he asked.
"What was what?" Jenna shot back.
"I thought I heard something…," he informed her. "It sounded like…"
"Like what?" his associate wondered.
An unfamiliar voice answered her question for her: "Like a gun being cocked, miss. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some business to take care of." At this, he fired the gun in question.
At such a close range, the assassin didn't fail to miss. Pain erupted in Cameron's chest as a bullet hit him right in the heart. The boy's eyes grew wide, then rolled back into his head as he fainted at the sight of blood welling up underneath his shirt.
"What have you done?" Jennifer screamed, furious that an attempt would be made on her employer's son in his place of birth.
The murderer smiled and took her aback with the cold, calm, and collected answer of someone who is clearly mad. "What needed to be done to get my revenge." Then the shadow-cloaked figure retreated to the shadows from whence he had come, leaving Cameron's would-be protector in a slight state of shock. A few moments passed before it finally occurred to her that she should probably take her wounded comrade into the nearby hospital.
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9:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time
October 17th, 2024
Cameron's House
Chicago, Illinois, USA, Earth
Dr. Gordon Fletcherly, president and CEO of Thunderblaze Innovations, LLC, was in his study preparing for next week's presentation when the phone rang. Sighing, he wondered why he couldn't get even a moment's peace before answering.
"Yes? Hello, you've reached the Fletcherly Residence. With whom would you like to speak?"
A stoic, female voice sounded on the other end of the line: "It's a good thing you're home, sir. I'm afraid I have some terrible news for you."
"What?" the old man gasped. "What kind of bad news, Miss Corrales?"
Taking a deep breath to hold back her tears, his secretary told him what she had just witnessed. "It's your son, sir. I was escorting him home, per your request from earlier today, when a crazed redneck in stealth armor popped out of nowhere and shot him right in the chest."
"Oh, no… — he must have been hired by Quithersveldt; that son of a heathen is probably still after me over losing that lawsuit I filed against him last year for swindling me out of most of our company's pension funding. Where are you, Jennifer? Did you make it to the hospital?" he demanded.
"Yes, sir." she replied. They took him to intensive care almost as soon as I dragged him through the door."
"I'll be right over," he vowed. "Meet me out front, but inform me of any changes to his condition."
"Of course, sir."
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9:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time
October 17th, 2024
The Neurological and Orthopedic Hospital of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, USA, Earth
Cameron's worried father only stopped pacing back and forth across the floor of the intensive care unit's waiting room when the nurse called his name.
"Dr. Fletcherly?"
"Yes, ma'am?" he replied, anxious to see his son.
"If you'd just come on back with me, I'll take you to see the doctor who's in charge of maintaining the care of your son. He'd like to speak with you about something."
"Of course," he responded. "You can come, too, Jenna," he prompted his morose employee.
"You mean you're not mad at me for not being able to protect him?" she exclaimed.
Gordon sighed; "Your still upset about that? Come on! Why would I blame you for something like that? He had a gun, and, besides, he popped up out of nowhere. There was nothing you could do, sweetheart."
"All right, then…," the girl conceded. "I just hope he'll be all right."
"Me, too, darling," he commiserated. "Me, too…"
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