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looked up at Joe and Lucy and cocked his head. "Something's not right here." He looked right at Lucy. "Why are you interested in the Kamikaze?" Lucy glared at Mark. "Fine, be that way." Lucy smiled to show she was joking. "Mark, we want to bring our friend Kento in on the nanites." She choked on the last word. "Who is Kento?" Mark asked in an unusually flat voice. "He's a buddy of mine from high school. He was a senior in my freshman year. We took shop together." "Okay, but why him?" Mark asked, "What is in it for us?" "He's a jobless chip builder." "Oh. I want to meet him before I agree first. I want to make sure I can talk to him." "Uhh, errr okay." That was easy, he thought. "You think Amman will be okay with it?" "Does it matter?" Mark asked, shrugging.
    Maybe Mark noticed Amman's anger more than I realized, Joe thought. He saw Lucy smile. He looked back at Mark and saw Amman glancing their way. He responded to Mark. "No. I guess it doesn't."
Chapter 8
    Joe was walking through the hall of a hospital wing. An assortment of patients were strewn about the floor moaning and wailing. Many of them looked pale, almost bloodless. He walked over crawling patients toward an open door. A flickering light blinked in the doorway. There was a pile of bodies. Doctors and nurses, clearly murdered, were still wearing their blood stained work uniforms. A single florescent light dangled from the ceiling. Joe heard a rhythmic pair of sounds both ticking and rumbling. He looked at the source of the sound. The far wall of the room had full size windows, but nothing was evident in the night. Nothing, just a perfect blackness. He wanted to get a closer look but was afraid of the growing noise. The window wall exploded inward. Glass flew into the room and then back out again as if sucked into a vacuum. Daylight streamed in through the giant window frame. The silhouette of a helicopter was visible through the blinding light. The dark green Apache attack helicopter hovered in place, missile launchers nearly full. Joe's heart stopped in fear. He turned and ran up the now empty hall. There was an open daylit window at its end. Joe wanted to jump out of it. He knew he would be safe if he jumped, yet Joe couldn't take the plunge. It was a twenty story window. How could that be safe that's crazy. A phone on the wall near Joe began to ring. He stared in confusion, not sure why the phone didn't belong there. He reached for it. In a start, Joe woke up. He was covered in sweat. The phone next to his bed was ringing. After it rang a few times, Joe picked up. "Hello?" Joe asked. His voice was hoarse. "Joeee, I got your message. How are you holding up?" A strange voice asked. "Uh, uh, okay. Considering everything." Joe slowly began to gather his thoughts. "What? You all right?" the voice asked, "I haven't seen you on N.Y.N. in a month. Cyborg Wars is nothing without their A team." The young man started to sound familiar. "Thanks," Joe replied. "Those bastards didn't kick you off because of the whole A team thing? Right? You'd think Hollywood would give up and not harass you guys anymore! All they've got is lawyers now. I read that their total connection rate was way down this month." He recognized the voice. I know who this is. "No not yet," Joe said, smiling. "So what's going on?" Kento asked. "Do you have an interview today?" Joe asked. He felt his stomach sink as he thought about how awkward the question sounded. He looked out of the window in his bedroom. He felt was embarrassed about living in his father's house. I'm to old to live in my dads house, he thought. "Nah, nothing lined up... so be it." He sounded no less chipper. "Can we meet for some coffee?" Joe asked. "Cool, man. Let's do it. I'd love to catch up." "How about today?" What if he says no, Joe thought. "Sure, but I've got to shower. I've been training and boy, do I stink." "What are you up to now?" Joe asked. "Fifth degree, and brown in karate too. But you're so quick you'd probably take me