The Archive
Vengeance - Chapter 85
In due course they reached the Admiralty Citadel at the edge of Horse Guards Parade. The concrete Boston Ivy-clad monstrosity rose dozens of feet, towering over the likes of young Stephanie and her siblings. They continued past, making for the much more impressive, towering edifice of Admiralty Arch. However, instead of passing through the left pedestrian arch, they leapt up five stone steps and then they vanished down a step set of stone steps which descended below street level and into the upper basement of the north wing of Admiralty Arch.
At the base of the stone steps, a musty-looking wooden door stood before them. The wooden door looked like it had not been opened in decades. Mindy pointed at an equally musty-looking white button set into a corroded brass fitting to the left of the wooden door.
“A doorbell?” Stephanie enquired. “Really?”
“Just press it, honey.”
Stephanie screwed her eyes shut as she tentatively pressed the button in, dreading what might happen as a result, however, she felt a warmth on her fingertip, and then pain as everything went black.
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The Archive
Stephanie could hear voices as she opened her eyes.
“She’s going to kill me, isn’t she?”
“Probably.”
“I could have sworn she was in the system.”
“Evidently not!” Stephanie growled as she sat up.
“Which fucking worthless individual set up that abomination of an access control system? When I find out which degenerate cunt electrocuted me, they will fucking regret ever having been fucking born! I will make the bastards suffer a fate worth than fucking death. I will make them wish their parents were never born. I will make them wish that their grandparents were never born. I will make them wish that their great grandparents were never born. I will...”
“Okay, Steph,” Jamie grinned. “Diatribe over – you’re pissed, we get it.”
“Where the fuck are we?” Stephanie asked as she looked around her.
She was seated on a not-very-comfortable sofa which felt like it was decades old. The room she was in was starkly lit by bare overhead fluorescent tubes and the bare walls were covered in a generic pale blue from floor to ceiling. The paint job was chipped in places and again, it appeared decades old. The floor was a generic pale green vinyl which was badly worn in places.
“Hi, Steph,” a familiar voice said. “I’m truly sorry; it was my fault – please don’t kill me.”
Stephanie groaned as she looked up into the fearful grey eyes of Princess Mary and then the amused brown eyes of Electra Haig.
..._...
Electra grinned at her mentor.
“What the hell is going on, Your Royal Highness?” Stephanie demanded to know. “Mind you, if ‘Lectra is involved then it can’t be anything good!”
“It was meant to be a surprise,” Electra admitted, but it looks like we forgot to enter you into the system correctly. “While it was funny – it should not have happened, and Mary is really unhappy about it.”
“Let me restate my question, Your Royal Highness: What the hell is going on?”
Mary scowled at the way Stephanie addressed her, but she figured it was because Stephanie was mad – which was kind of understandable under the circumstances. Mary bravely stepped towards the irate ten-year-old and she held out her right hand.
“Sorry, Steph – it was a programming error on my part...,” Mary tried before she screamed as her world turned upside down.
Her Royal Highness then looked up at the grinning face and gunmetal grey eyes of Stephanie Lizewski.
“You’re forgiven . . . for now.”
Mary laughed uneasily as she was hauled to her feet by Stephanie and Electra.
..._...
Mary grabbed Stephanie’s hand and she dragged the younger girl down a corridor before she stopped at a huge steel blast door.
Stephanie glared up at the Princess.
“Let me restate my question - again, Mary: What the hell is going on?”
“It’ll be worth the wait, I promise you,” Mary responded as she placed her palm against a flat panel to one side of the huge steel blast door.
As the huge steel blast door swung outward towards them, Mary pulled Stephanie back beyond a faded yellow semi-circle painted on the floor which marked the safe zone for the hydraulically actuated door.
“Now you’re worried about my safety!” Stephanie deadpanned.
The opening door revealed a pair of large mesh-sided elevators surrounded by a square staircase which descended downwards for more than six levels. Stephanie looked over at Mindy who simply grinned and then at Dave who simply shrugged. Stephanie sighed as Mary waved them all into one of the open elevators which was easily big enough to hold all eight of them. Stephanie watched as Mary placed her hand on another palm pad and then pressed the button labelled ‘A6’. The elevator descended speedily on well-oiled mechanicals and as they descended, Stephanie could see a huge steel blast door on each level they passed set into a concrete wall. As the elevator slowed and stopped at the sixth level, Mary stepped out the moment the doors had opened. Stephanie spied another palm panel beside the huge steel blast door before them. Mary applied her right hand and the huge steel blast door swung open as had the previous one. They passed through into an anteroom where another huge steel blast door was located, but at right angles to the first. Stephanie recognised a blast trap specifically intended to defeat a nuclear blast wave. That had the girl frowning; where were they and what were they doing deep below central London within a stone’s throw of every Government department including 10 Downing Street which was around half a mile distant. Stephanie had a shrewd idea that Dave and Mindy – including that total nutcase, Electra – knew everything.
While the starkly decorated passageways they had passed through had been dated, by contrast the space beyond the final huge steel blast door was utterly amazing.
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The Archive
Mary grinned enormously as she waved her hand around the large open space.
“Welcome to Belle’s safehouse, otherwise known as The Archive,” she said excitedly.
“Bloody hell!” Jamie exclaimed as he took in the sumptuously decorated safehouse.
Anne-Marie was uncharacteristically speechless as she ran her eyes over everything in sight. Directly ahead of them was a section of double armoured glass which was set ten feet into the enormous space and formed a security barrier stretching the full twelve-foot height of the space. The young girl recognised the same design as that used for the command centre at Safehouse F in Chicago where a security shutter could shoot up in between the two panes of armoured glass to seal off the space beyond from attack. The youngster passed through an open section of glass which a grinning Electra held open for the group. Once they were through, the glass door closed pneumatically and locked electronically. They all stood in a large open space which resembled an open plan apartment. To the left was a comfortably carpeted seating area attuned more to teenagers than adults with a large L-shaped sofa and plenty of beanbags arranged before an electric fireplace atop which sat a wall-mounted sixty-five-inch flat-screen television. An Xbox One S was readily visible on a cupboard to the right of the wall-mounted television. To the right and behind the sofa, was a large rectangular oak table which could easily seat twelve, and probably sixteen at a push on oak benches. That area had a real wood floor and against the walls were six computer stations, all with twin twenty-seven-inch screens. Beyond those two areas there was a large kitchen area fitted out with four large microwaves, an electric hob, and a fan oven. There were also sandwich toasters as well as a single coffee machine and various fizzy drinks on tap. The left side of the kitchen was dedicated to two giant fridges and a freezer as well as a giant pantry stocked with food and drink. It was immediately obvious that whoever had stocked the kitchen enjoyed baked beans, Marmite, cheese and ham toasties, and porridge, not to mention the stash of sugary breakfast cereals and gallons of fresh milk.
However, it was only when they passed through the kitchen that Stephanie’s jaw dropped.
..._...
It was a compact dojo, fully equipped with weapons and a massive central exercise mat which filled the remainder of the space.
“This is amazing, Mary,” Dave admitted as he took it all in.
He and Mindy were fully aware of the facility, but they had had no idea how expansive and amazing it was. Arrayed to the left side of the mat were display cases holding various melee weapons – some for training while others were obviously battle ready. To the right side of the mat were benches and rest areas as well as a pair of water fountains. There was also a doorway which led into a refurbished unisex bathroom with six separate shower cubicles. Another doorway led down a short passageway which passed by a large unisex changing area, an amazingly well-equipped armoury, and then six bedrooms, each of which could sleep four in two bunkbeds apiece. Each pair of bedrooms shared a bathroom equipped with a bath as well as showers.
“It sure beats Mindy’s efforts,” Stephanie commented, ignoring Mindy’s warning growl. “I suppose it kind of makes getting electrocuted worth it. But my question from earlier still stands in part.”
“We are in the former British Government archives,” Electra explained. “Above us are five levels of bunkers which are sealed against nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. The first level is forty-six feet beneath Admiralty Arch, and we are currently standing one-hundred-and-twenty-six-feet beneath the surface. Currently, the archives are abandoned, and everything got shifted to some secret location. Some interesting shit left behind, though.”
Stephanie nodded approvingly.
“It is amazing, Mary; I am very impressed,” Mindy admitted.
“Would you guys like to spend the night?” Mary asked, tentatively.
“We really want to try the place out,” Electra said, her eyes pleading.
Mindy laughed – she had a soft spot for Electra, just as Stephanie did – which was the only reason that the cheeky little ten-year-old was allowed to cause so much shit when Mindy was around and get away with it!