A fate set in gears 2
It was almost night when the British noble arrived in his mansion. The butler greeted him politely right away and put the coat into the wardrobe before he spoke.
"Sir, I am sorry to bother you, but you have a guest."
"I think I know who it is. I can hear him."
Without any hesitation the noble went towards the annoying voice in the lobby to meet his well-known guest. The American was walking up and down impatiently .
"Can you never sit still Alfred?"
"Arthur! Took you long enough!" He pouted.
The other one sat down untouched and poured himself some tea. He didn't even bother to ask his guest to sit down, since he knew that wouldn't happen.
"So, what's you bringing here? You rarely visit me."
"Oh, I just wanted to say, that me and Matthew are going to be gone for a while. We've got a huge order this time and it'll be a long way there. Even with a plane."
"Where to?" The Brit was visibly tense now.
"Where? Across the eastern border."
"THERE'S NO WAY YOU'RE GOING THERE!"
Without thinking twice, the noble had jumped up and even spilled the tea. Both were shocked about the sudden reaction and remained silent for some time. Slowly, the young American continued.
"What's up with you? You never had any complains about my job. I'm a pilot and it's normal that I'll have to fly long trips."
"T-that's not what I mean…" The noble himself was still stunned about his own reaction. And that made the other one worry.
"Arthur…Ever since you came back from your vacation, you've changed. You don't talk that much anymore and you just reacted totally strange. And above all, you came back with that arm. Actually, I doubt that that was a vacation. What has happened to you?"
Hesitant and nervous, the Brit looked away, trying to find the right words to explain. His hands trembled and nothing came to his mind.
"Alfred, please…That's…Just don't go there. Believe me for once."
"How should I believe you, if you don't tell me what's wrong?"
The Brit just shook his head in responds.
"Just trust me."
"Sorry, I can't. Not until you tell me."
Again, he shook his head. The American grew tired of waiting for his answer and was about to leave.
"Arthur, I'm not going to cancel this, just because you tell me to. I'll be back in a few days." With that, he opened the front gate, closed it behind him and left his foster father in silence.
A few days after that evening, the American met up with his brother Matthew, who was his co-pilot. The boy was a striking image of him, only had he slightly longer and curvier hair. He was already waiting at the small cargo airplane.
"Hey bro! Ready to go?"
"Yes, everything is packed and ready," he said almost in a whisper.
Both made themselves comfortable in the small cockpit, since this would be a long flight.
"Alfred, I'm a bit worried…"
"Why? That's just routine, nothing to worry about."
"But…Arthur wouldn't have yelled at you if there wouldn't be something wrong. You told me about that after all. Aren't you at least a bit uneasy?"
A short silence. The American really thought about that matter, but couldn't find any explanation to Arthur's strange behaviour. And thus, didn't have a reason, not to take this job.
He breathed in and just forgot about it.
"Anyway, let's go! The stuff doesn't fly itself!"
So he finally turned on the engine and the little plane went off with a roaring sound. After a few minutes they were in the air and floated east.
"Hey, Alfred."
"What is it?"
"What kind of fright do we have anyway?"
"Don't know, " the American laughed.
"You didn't ask? You know that this is important! What if it's something explosive?" His brother tried his best to yell, but it was still nothing more than a whisper. The other one just continued to laugh.
But his laugh was interrupted by a exploding sound. It was still far enough not to be hit by it, but close enough to feel it. Both brothers immediately looked out of the windows beside them.
What they saw was just forest. The eastern wilderness. But looking closer, they saw people. About a few hundred were still moving and fighting. There were even a few robots. But not the small kind that was seen around the city, they weren't even taller than dogs. These were at least three sizes of a human and were the origin of the sound.
"W-what is this?"
"I don't know, but it looks like a freaking war!"
"A war? But that's-!" They were violently interrupted again by the same sound. Only this time, it was headed to the sky instead the ground. The robots were aiming at them. With much effort and flying skills, the American was able to avoid that one bomb, but that wasn't the end. The robots seemed to target them even more, now that one of them noticed them. It needed his full concentration to avoid the missiles.
"Alfred, we have to go back! If we go any further, it will just get worse!" Even with his small voice, his brother understood him among the bombs. And he was right. The farther the two flied, the worse it got. They had no other choice than to turn around, even if it meant to abandon his order.
Alfred was a skilled pilot, one of the best, but he had never experienced a rain of missiles like that. It took his all to avoid them, but the robots accuracy seemed to increase with every missile they shot. Not long and a turbine was hit, controlling the plane now got a lot more difficult.
But somehow they were able to manage not to crash down until they reached a safer ground.
The plane was completely unusable after crashing through the trees for several hundred meter and stuck in the branches right above the ground.
The two pilots were both able to climb out of the wreck in one piece, but with a few minor injuries.
"What was that?" whispered the Canadian while being supported by his brother.
"I don't know, but we definitely have to report that. And we have to get home as soon as possible."
