City D Eastern Outer Rim – Tuesday 23:47pm
A heavy explosive shell smashed through the concrete wall and hit the ground in the centre of the room. Upon contact with the ground, the screen flashed on, and the countdown of 5 seconds began. In a panic, Kristal tried to get out of the shelter, pushing past the other resistance fighters huddled around. She pushed as hard as she could for the door, but there wasn't enough time.
The timer on the shell hit zero, and it exploded in a dome of white hot flames, scorching the area around it. Kristal hit the floor, as she felt the head searing behind her. She landed face first onto the concrete, the masses of refugees and fighters behind having shielded her from the blast. She scrambled to her feet, pushing the charred bodies off of her and made for the door. Bursting out into the street, she was met with blinding lights. It was the middle of the night, why was it so dark?
Headlights of Republic vehicles shone upon the few survivors, and Republic battle robots stood in an arc around them, guns facing the helpless captives. From behind the robots, out stepped Guy, his dark glasses resting on the brow of his nose. His heart, stored in the glass jar attached to his chest, spun gently in the blue fluid containing it. His black suit had small flecks of dust on it from the rubble around him, but he casually dusted it off, turning his attention to Kristal and the others. His cyber-enhanced eye scanned the few people before him, until his gaze fell onto Kristal.
"Ahh, Ms Kristal Connors, a please to meet you." He said calmly, removing a small notebook from his pocket. He didn't need to write notes in a pad, thanks to his memory banks storing all information he needed, but he did it anyway, as if to look more official.
Kristal didn't do him the pleasure of responding; she merely stepped forward into better view. He clenched her fist, frowning at the military general, wondering if there was a way she could get a hit on him before they were taken away. Her gun was in her back pocket, maybe if she was quick on the draw...
"I've been looking for you for quite some time, good to see you're still gathering resistance fighters into one, easy to bomb location." Guy smirked.
"Get on with it!" Cried an injured man nearest the door, glaring at the general. Guy's eye darted to the man, seeming to be momentarily distracted. Kristal, noticing this, slipped her hand behind her back and drew her gun, spinning it around herself to aim directly at Guy.
In the few seconds she wasn't focussed on him, Guy has analysed her movements and been faster on the draw. His mechanical revolver was already pointed at Kristal's arm, and he shot. A bright purple bolt of light shot out and hit her bicep, tearing it from its socket. She screeched in pain and fell to her knees, blood gushing from where her arm used to be.
"Not too bright." Guy commented, coldly. He adjusted his aim and fired again, directly at her head, putting her out of her misery. He paused for a while, then looked at the terrified faces of the other survivors. "Kill them."
He turned his back on them, as the robots surrounding his captives opened fire. Through the radio com chip in his brain, he called up Red, his boss. There was a small pause, until the call was answered.
"Mmm? What is it Guy, I'm awfully busy?" Red's voice cooed down the receiver.
"Ms Connors has been dealt with. Another Resistance member taken care of." Guy replied.
"Dont be needlessly vague Guy, is she dead, yes or no?"
"...Yes, she is dead."
"Splended! I'm sure she's glad to see her husband again... Oh Guy?"
"Still here Madam Red."
"Find that band of freedom fighters for me. They're proving to be a pain, and if your army and Cade's machinations cant deal with them, I'll have to get Hellen to come in and do your job for you." Red mentioned idly.
"Of course Madam, I'll get on it right away."
"Good dog." Red replied, hanging up the call.
Guy grumbled in frustration, and looked into his memory banks. He scanned through his files until he came across what he was looking for. The band of four freedom fighters that the Republic had been trying to eliminate for the past 3 months. As long as they lived, the Republic could not cement itself as the true power in the kingdom.
"Team Aftermath... what a stupid name." Guy muttered, stepping into the helicopter.
City D Western Outer Rim – Wednesday 9:21am
A large billboard screen high above the empty street showed the faces of the four members of Team Aftermath, along with their names. Raye, 'Suit', Sami and their leader: Lilith.
Raye was the youngest of the group. He was kind of short, with stark white head with a red dip-dye. 'Suit' had a deep purple colour to his hair, wearing smart looking glasses, and dressed in (you guessed it) a suit. Sami was a young woman with black hair. She looked pretty tough, with strong arms and a scar across his cheek. And then there with Lilith, the tall blonde woman who kept them all together. She looked very serious in the photo they used, and had on a leather jacket, which she always wore.
The words below the pictures read: 'Threat to the Republic, take extreme care if spotted and contact the authorities' in big red letters in a thick font. This was no doubt being shown all around City D, as Red had decided to focus all her efforts on wiping them out.
A small projectile to bigger than an orange collided with the centre of the screen and stuck to it. A few seconds later, it exploded in a mixture of EMP and explosives. The billboard exploded into shards of glass and metal, collapsing from the building it was attached to and smashing onto the street below.
"Raye, do you HAVE to do that to every wanted sign we see?"
Raye was laughing to himself, whizzing around on his Hoverboard. His brown jacket rippled as he banked around lampposts and mailboxes, eventually coming to a stop near Lilith, who had just chastised him. He stepped down off the board, which remained floating a foot above the ground, and he rubbed the back of his head.
"Well sorry boss, they didn't get my good side, and I get a kick outta destroying Republic stuff. And it stops people knowing who we are. Win-Win." Raye said, grinning up at Lilith.
"We're freedom fighters, not bloody vandals." Lilith replied, rolling her eyes. "And don't call me boss, its wierd."
"You got it boss." Raye replied, laughing to himself, then turning to look down the road, where Suit and Sami were talking. "Slowpokes! Come on, lets go!"
Suit looked up momentarily, waving his arm at the boy. He was going to reply, but Sami decided to do it for him.
"Alright hot-shot, we're coming. We cant all be riding indestructible flying boards can we?"
"Ya can if you'd made one like me!" Raye called at them, shooting off down the street to follow Lilith.
"He's such a pain." Suit muttered, wiping his forehead.
"Yeah, but he's very good at what he does." Replied Sami, smiling.
"/Being/ a pain?"
"Blowing things up."
"Which often at times ends up being a pain for us."
"Dont get mad at the kid, he did save your life last week."
"Well," Replied Suit, turning his head to Sami. "I don't think that counts. I had the guy pinned, and the stab from his knife wouldn't have /killed/ me."
"Might've." Sami quipped back, kicking a stone down the street.
A few blocks down, the group turned a corner and were met by a squadron of Republic robot soldiers, who spotted the group almost immediately. The largest of the robots stepped forwards, raising its gun.
"Stay where you are, you are under arrest."
Suit had already begun typing in commands on his PDA, and Raye had his hand on his belt full of explosives. Lilith stepped forwards and shrugged to the squad chief.
"Oh, you plan on capturing us? That's a first. Last I heard Red wanted us dead on sight." Lilith scoffed.
"You are to be brought in for questioning and to be made an example of." Replied the chief.
"Well, that sounds great and all. Really, it does. But we're going to have to go with plan B."
"Drop your weapons and come with us." Repeated the chief. At this, Lilith drew her gun, a large Assault Rifle, and pointed it at the chief.
"You drop your weapons and we wont bust your circuits." Lilith responded.
"Then we will have to eliminate you." Said the chief, who instantly fired his weapon. As the shot sped towards Lilith, she didn't even bother to move, as a large flying droid flew down infront of her, taking the impact of the blast without barely a scratch. Lilith then turned to Suit and grinned.
"Thanks for the save, I bet that's going to look hella cool on the wanted videos."
"Gives me an excuse to test the sturdiness of my new droids." Replied Suit, nodding.
"You mean you didn't /know/ it'd stop the shot?" Lilith asked, incredulously.
"I... calculated... estimated."
"If you weren't so smart I'd think you were stupid." Lilith replied.
As the rest of the republic robots opened fire, more of Suit's droids descended, forming a defensive wall between them and the squadron. This gave the group time to talk over the plan.
"So, we all know how to deal with this yeah?" Lilith asked the other three.
"Fly in and do a bombing run?" Raye asked, unhinging a large, colourful bomb from his belt.
"Punch the crap outta them?" Sami asked, clicking into place her 'Boom Gauntlets', which appeared to be large metallic gloves loaded with explosive charges and electric energy.
"Let my droids stomp all over them?" Suit asked, raising up his PDA and arcing his eyebrow.
"Sure, all of those work." Answered Lilith, sarcastically "Or, how about..."
Once the robots stopped firing at the seemingly indestructible wall of droids, there was a pause. It lasted quite some time, and so the robots got into positions to attack. The commander stepped to the from and raised his hand, ready to give the order. He looked around, then to the wall of droids.
"On my mark... Set... Aaaaaaand-"
But he was cut off suddenly, as two of the droids shifted to the sides, and Raye appeared in the gap. He threw a grenade to the chief, while shouting 'Catch!', which the chief did out of surprize. He then looked at the grenade, which suddenly went off in his hand, expelling a cloud of smoke that filled the area.
The robots scrambled in confusion and began to fire in the direction of the droids, unable to see their targets. Through the smoke, The droids rushed forwards at breakneck speed, smashing through the barricades and walls the robots had assembled. The Republic robots were now out in the open, which was the perfect time to begin the counter attack.
Sami hopped on the back of Raye's board and the two rode forwards, shooting in the direction of the chief, who has finally regained himself, even with part of his right hand blown off. Raye swerved to the side, and Sami leapt off, hurtling towards the chief. In mid-air, Sami pushed back her arm, then shot it forward with all her strength, punching the chief square in the chest and obliterating him.
As the other robots moved to react, Raye circled around them, bashing them with the butt of his board, knocking them to the floor. Sami then ran towards the next small huddle of robots and began unloading on them, her metal gauntlets more than enough to shatter their basic hardware. She slid under one of the robots legs, grabbing it by the shins and toppling it to its feet. Getting to her feet in one swift motion, she began to swing it around her, using it like a large club to hit the other robots around her.
Lilith was now busy dealing with the robots who'd been knocked to the ground. She stamped on the head of one of them with her metal heels, crushing their heads in a shower of sparks and gears. She reloaded her rifle and shot down all the robots in her near vicinity, barely even looking at them, instead she was calling orders over to Raye.
"Skater boy, stop joy riding and actually blow up some of 'em will you? I'm sick of using all my good ammo on 'em!" She called out to Raye, who was whizzing around using one of the robots arms as a baseball bat, was hitting any robot he could get near to with it, laughing as they fell over and dropped their weapons.
"This is way more fun though!" He replied, swinging the arm and smashing one of the robot's heads. "See, this works!" Lilith looked a little impressed.
Suit then called in his second wave of droids, who appeared from behind the squadron, carrying pulse rifles. They opened fire on the robots, taking out all the ones not too near the other team members. As his robots efficiently wiped out their targets, Suit adjusted his glasses a little, and thought about what book he should next take up reading.
Sami reached out her hand and grabbed onto Raye's board as it went flying past. Raye looked down at the her and rolled his eyes.
"Sami, let go, you'll throw me off!"
"Just fly around and I'll smash them all! It'll be fun!"
"You're too... top heavy!" Raye replied. Sami thought for a second about what this meant, then looked down at her chest, then up at Raye again.
"Hey! Im going to hit you so hard for that later!" She shouted, flustered.
"Heads up!" Called Raye, as he spun Sami directly into the path of three robots, who raised their weapons in the pair's direction. Sami glared at Raye, only half seriously, then rushed the three droids, smashing the first one apart in a single blow, and doing the same to the second. The third, realising what was about to happen, dived out of the way. Sami, stopping in her tracks, looked to see where he had gone.
The robot had stepped into a large, armoured mech suit, and was now emerging from under a tarp it has been concealed by. It's armour was thick, and it has large cannons attached to its shoulders and arms.
Raye had just finished shoving a bomb into the torso of a robot when he was Sami running back in his direction from around a corner.
"What's the matter Sami, cant handle a couple little robots?" He teased.
"This one aint little!" She yelled, as the mech turned the corner and started unloading the clip of its rocket salvo in the direction of Sami, who took great care in dodging them. Suit noticed the large mech, and ordered the defensive droids to stall it, grabbing at its legs and arms. The four met in a small huddle as the mech fought off the droids, and seemed to be winning.
"Suit, you still got the armour droid?" Lilith asked, a plan coming to mind.
"I do... why?" Suit asked, raising an eyebrow. Lilith turned and looked at Raye and Sami, grinning.
"I've got another bright idea." She replied.
The mech burst free from the defensive droids trying to stop it, sending out a direct EMP which disabled most of them temporarily. It them turns towards the four fighters, who began their plan of attack. Sami was once again on the back of Raye's board, but was dressed in what looked like one of Suit's droids that had snugly fitted to her body to form an incredibly strong armour.
Lilith stepped forwards and fired a shot at the mech's glass window, behind which the final robot was piloting it. The shot did nothing to the thick glass, and the robot inside laughed, preparing to fire all its rockets at the freedom fighters. A quad kill like this would be sure to promote him to the highest status imaginable. As he fired, the four strung into action.
Suit assembled his remaining droids around the mech in a circle, blocking its lines of sight. Raye and Sami then sped off past the mech, preparing their assault. Lilith took centre stage, aiming up at the robot, as the rockets launched. As they shot towards her in a barrage which blocked out the light of the sun, she opened fire, shooting each one out of the sky, showers of debris and flames flying around her, but she moved to fast to be hit.
Seeing the mech distracted, Suit piloted her droids to form a small ramp behind the mech, leading into a large, upwards launching platform. As Lilith kept the pilot busy, Raye and Sami turned around and sped back towards them.
"Don't miss, these things are deadly!" Raye said, taking out the multi-coloured bomb from his belt and handing it to Sami, who nodded through the thick armour. They hurtled towards the ramp, then mounted it, eventually reaching a 180 degree angle, flying up high above the mech. At this height, Raye nudged Sami off his board, calling back to her "Good luuuuck!"
Sami fell down towards the mech, aiming herself at the glass window. She took the rainbow bomb and attached it to the front of her knuckles, grinning to herself.
"This is gonna be awesome!" She screamed, as her plummeted towards the window. Seeing her college drawing close. Lilith grinned at the mech's pilot and pointed upwards. The mech paused, turning upwards to look in the direction Lilith was pointing. At that moment, Sami hit the glass with her fist, the rainbow bomb hitting the glass, exploding in a shower of fire, wind, electrical energy, and all manner of things Raye could stuff into the bomb.
The explosion shattered the glass in the surrounding buildings, and Sami flew backwards, falling towards Lilith, who darted forwards and caught her. However, she didn't quite estimate how heavy the armour she was wearing would be, and so the two collapsed in a heap on the floor.
Suit looked up, and saw that the mech pilot had been blown apart, along with a lot of the mech, but now the mechanical remains were falling down ontop of Lilith and Sami. Before he could even speak, Raye landed and threw a barrage of small grenades towards the mech, which exploding with a strong gust of wind, propelling the mech backwards, falling away from the group instead.
As Suit and Raye approached the two on the ground, Lilith pressed a small button on the front of the armour droid, which removed the visor from infront of Sami's face. She coughed a little, looking up at the three people standing over her.
"That... that was cool... Lets not do that again." Sami said, chuckling.
"Agreed" replied Suit and Lilith.
"Awww." Raye said, pouting.
Once they had all got to their feet, and Sami had removed the armour droid, they all looked down the road to the giant wall. The Inner City. It was guarded by traps set by Red's trickster Cade, enforced by Guy's toughest legions, and under the watch of Red, who was always eager to let loose her secret weapon: Hellen the Assassin.
"So... We ready to take on the Inner City?" Lilith asked, dusting herself off.
"That's when the real fun begins." Answered Raye, nodding.
"And the danger... but sure, fun." Suit chimed in. Sami then punched Raye lightly in the arm, causing him to sway slightly on his board.
"That's for the top heavy comment earlier, kid."
"Well they're hardly useful in battle." Raye replied, smirking. " Not my fault you're awful at balancing." Sami, flustered again, went to hit Raye, who moved quickly ahead, grinning. "You wanna hit me? You gotta catch me!"
Lilith and Suit looked to each other, sighed, and then followed, ready to begin the hard part.