Ultima Ratio

Chapter 45: Second Stages

Plymouth, England

Akira dropped a knee into the thick, cold mud, her sweat joining the pouring rain seeping into her clothes. She knew she couldn't take a break just yet, not when the bots were still wreaking havoc across the outskirts, and not when Concordia's storm drones were buzzing freely throughout the air as they attempted to break the city's shielding. But even as her mind willed her body upright, her muscles refused to cooperate, not until they received the oxygen her lungs seemed to be holding hostage.

Ever since they arrived in the city, Akira's team was fighting a losing battle. They should've known something was wrong when the forces that met them at Derry, Ireland, were strangely underwhelming, and her team managed to dispatch all of the bots within half an hour. Only when they were cleaning up did they receive the orders explaining why: Concordia reallocated most of their troops to England at the last second, and the team stationed there was suffering.

"I'll be honest, this wasn't the homecoming I was hoping for," Jivan said as they pulled their hoverbike alongside Akira, panting heavily between their words. "The rain I expected. The explosions—and I can't believe I'm saying this—are uncalled for."

Akira sighed in agreement and heaved herself to her feet. "Any luck with the tanks?"

"Not one bit." Jivan nodded their chin ahead of them. "Want to give it a go?"

The area in their immediate vicinity appeared to have been a quaint suburbia until a few hours ago, and was now littered with dismantled bots and laser scorches. In the distance, they were surrounded by gently sloping plains; cresting the hills were five approaching tanks, each hulking vehicle accompanied by a new wave of bots at their sides.

"Maybe next time," Akira muttered before activating her comms. "Aegis Three, Aegis Zero: tanks are five minutes out."

"Copy," Quyen gruffly replied. "Evac should be done in—sh—!"

A beat after Quyen's comms cut off, Danya chimed in.

"Sorry, these drones got an upgrade in their nuisance stats since Patna," she grumbled. "Now, they have little zappers on them. Make sure to grab one for the gira—Izzy."

"We should be done in ten," Quyen said, her voice clipped.

"So we just have to hold these things back until then?" Jivan asked after Akira relayed her confirmation. "Wonderful. I reckon this means we won't have time to stop by Leicester anymore?"

Akira grimaced as she checked her munition's charge. She knew the Guptas had been excited about a chance to stop by their hometown, even if it was just for a couple hours, but recent events were likely to cancel their leave requests if they hadn't been already.

"It's possible," she eventually said. "Sorry."

Jivan shrugged. "Not your fault. These arseholes, on the other hand, need to get blasted."

Before either of them could get back to blowing things up, Elodie's urgent voice stopped them in their tracks.

"Aegis One, there's a civilian down on the field," she said. "Three hundred meters southeast."

Akira was instantly alert, and she focused her earpiece in the relayed direction. An adult figure was splayed across the grass, struggling to move as the tanks steadily approached. However, their efforts were futile, thanks to the long rod that appeared to protrude from one of their legs.

Akira cursed as she scrambled to her hoverbike. "Aegis Four, meet me out there. Aegis Five, cover us. Aegis Two, slow those tanks down by any means necessary."

The damage was worse up close. A thin metal fence post was stuck in the man's thick left thigh and also deeply rooted in the ground. According to the distressed middle-aged man, he had been trying to get his cows to flee when a bot seized him and flew him into the air. When he struggled, the machine dropped him conveniently on the sturdy post.