Prodigy Eternal (book 2)

Chapter Forty-Two

Alex and the others heard the commotion from inside the building and knew something was seriously wrong. The initial explosions had rattled the building and the subsequent pulse blasts were definitely a sign of some kind of battle ensuing.

Still on the eighth floor, Curik commanded his small squadron toward the windows where they could get a better vantage point.

“Come on, they may need our help.”

“What about Mara?” Milo asked.

“Unless she’s being attacked, she’ll just have to wait.”

The group entered the hallway of the abandoned apartment building. Curik selected the first door facing north and kicked it as hard as he could. Instead of the old door coming off its hinges, it broke into several large pieces and piled up in the entrance. A puff of century-old dust wafted into the hallway. The dense cloud of particles whirled in the beam of light coming from Curik’s gun. Everyone covered their noses and mouths.

Once the door was dislodged, the sounds of gun fire grew louder. The six spread out, taking different sides of the room.

“Yuri, come in?” Glitch said.

“Glitch, it’s so nice of you to check in,” Yuri responded.

“What the hell is happening down there?”

“RTs.”

“How many?”

“There were two, but now there’s only one. Our weapons are useless against them, but we’ve been throwing objects from the rooftops. Kaio got one, it’s lying face down in a large puddle.”

“Did you say large puddle?” Glitch confirmed.

“Yeah, why?”

“See if you can lure the remaining bot into the puddle, I’m going to sneak up on it.”

“How do you want me to do that?” Yuri asked.

“I don’t care, use your imagination.”

Glitch said a few words to his crew and kissed his girlfriend before climbing out the window. Now on the fire escape, Glitch hustled down the stairs, trying to make as little noise as possible. He circled down three levels of stairs until the fog thinned out enough for him to see the destruction on the street below. Panting heavily, Glitch pushed himself to continue. He felt as though he had yet to contribute anything to the mission and was feeling useless, especially after the debacle on the stairs that nearly took out one of his team members. He was eager to make up for lost ground.

“How’s it going, Yuri?”

“Not well. I’ve asked the RT politely and it’s still not listening to me. If I become any more assertive, I run the risk of being rude.”

“You want a bot in a puddle?” Link asked, joining in the open conversation.

“Yeah, why? You know a way?” Glitch asked, still descending the stairs.

“My way doesn’t involve asking, it involves telling.”

“Great, do your thing, Link.”

Link hacked into the RT and overrode the controls. With its mechanical movements, the robot stomped through the street and into the large puddle. Glitch had gotten into position on the fourth floor and was waiting for the right opportunity. As soon as the water completely submerged the robot’s feet, Glitch blasted the puddle with his gun. A charge of energy shot out of the barrel of his rifle and struck the puddle, amplifying the electricity. The sudden voltage spike was too much for the RT’s surge protector to handle. Once the circuitry was fried, the bot was dead weight, teetering on the brink of collapse. It wavered for a moment as the electricity still coursed through its lifeless metallic frame. Then, almost as if it were in slow motion, the RT toppled over face first, and an avalanche of armour came crashing down in the puddle with a splash.

“Nice one, Glitch!” Yuri said.

“It was a team effort. Let’s just be thankful that’s over with.”

“Uh… guys…” Yuri said with trepidation. “I think we may have celebrated too soon.”

Pushing through the fog on both sides of the street were a dozen more RTs. Approaching the battle zone with their glowing eyes and sharp angled armour, the RTs looked menacing. The rain was still coming down strong, not making it any easier for the humans to be fighting against machines.

“Please tell me you can hack these bots, Link.”

“I’m working on it,” Link replied. “First, I need to pair with the machine’s software individually, then I need to—”

“We don’t need a play-by-play, just get it done!” Yuri shouted. “Glitch, can you disable the bots with that little thing you just did?”

“I would need to get closer, but there are too many of them,” Glitch responded. “I’d be a sitting target.”

“Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to destroy the RTs, considering Link can hack them. We probably should have saved them to use as allies,” Kaio said.

“Well then, this is a fight we cannot win,” Yuri said. “I think our best strategy is to retreat.”