A bright light shone on the area where Officer Stone laid facedown on the ground. This must be the afterlife. The cop thought, as he saw the light creep and lighted all of his surroundings. The bright ray passed through the explosion smoke giving off a beautiful smoky imageonthe scene. Officer Stone was about to believe this was the afterlife fetching him, until he heard the sound of Hellion blades piercing the air. The thought of being dead already sounded good to him. Unfortunately, reality snatched him back and now he had to deal with the shame he had created for himself.
TALON had already offered their hand in the escort mission but being the proud team leader of the mission, he refused it. He told them that a single TALON member would be enough and he and the Vent police will take care of the rest. But here he was now: in the ground half-dead and choking on his own proud words. He couldn’t believe that he failed.
He failed Vent City. Failed Eulalie. And most of all, he failed the late Roland Hearth, his very good friend.
He rolled himself so that he is facing the sky upwards as to get a better look at the Hellions. There were four of them. One remained on their position, flaring its bright lights on the area, while the other three flew ahead. He waved his hand to signal at the Hellion above him that there are still injured survivors in the area. The Hellion responded by opening its hatcher, revealing robot-like creatures inside.
Zions. Officer Vent thought. What looked like robotic creatures were actually Zion-clad TALON operatives. Zion suits were robotic armors designed by the federation’s military for warfare purposes. Aside from giving its operator full physical protection from blasts and bullets, it also enhances the operator’s mobility and strike potential. Zions come in a variety of designs depending on its purpose and developer. The Ryske for example, is a zion used for rescue missions.
Different countries too have their own zion designs. But still, the Trogdor Federation remains the leading manufacturer of the suit in the world, mostly used for the federation’s military and the police. Due to its very complex operating system, only a few skilled operators are authorized to control a zion.Majority of these operators comes from the TALON unit.
Officer Stone watched as the three zions descended from the Hellion’s hatcher using a cable. He tried standing up to meet them but failed in vain. His body is still too weak. As the three zions landed on the ground, one zion went directly to Officer Stone.
“Are you okay?” asked a muffled robotic voice inside the suit.
“I think so,” Officer Stone replied.
“Are there any survivors?” the voice asked again.
“I don’t know,” Officer Stone answered weakly.
The two zions searched the scene. They found many injured policemen and soldiers. Some were unconscious but most are fully awake and screaming in pain. Soon, ambulances joined the scene and the medics scratched their heads why they were not informed by this earlier. The gassed driver of the decoy limousine was the first man to stand in the group. He explained the whole incident to their rescuers.
“We can’t seem to contact anyone from outside this vicinity,” he told them. “Must be signal disruptors.”
“We noticed it too,” the zion-clad voice said. “We can’t contact our operative here and HQ thinks something’s taking all of you too long.”
“You’ve got to hurry,” the injured Officer Stone butted in from afar. “They’re still running after the future governess.”
“Don’t worry,” replied another voice. “Blair doesn’t like failing missions.”
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True enough. Blair never liked losing or failing. He was very competitive and always wanted to win. Another victory. Blair thought, looking at his fallen giant enemy. He was about to turn back and search for Eulalie and the others when he sensed something moved. Impossible. He thought. No human being, nor even a malum, could recover that fast after absorbing that much damage. The shock on the head would have been enough to send him to coma now. And plus the crash, Blair could not imagine someone still surviving after the acquiring two successive major injuries. But before his eyes, he witnessed what he thought was impossible:
The fallen Caesar slowly rising from the ground.
