Chapter 20

Axel addresses the handful of soldiers and police officers left at the base.

"Dr Zan has managed to make contact from Central District where all communication links are currently being controlled by the syndicate. As far as we know, the whole city is on lockdown and under curfew. All acting police officers have been ordered by Chief Clark to fight any imposters and any of the robots and traitors wearing police uniform. No current news yet of the location of the bomb. Dr Zan is with Tim Murphy at his private residence at the moment. He is being hunted down along with other city officials still on our side. Zan also sent me this".

Luca plays a video that was broadcasted in the middle of Wood Oak Central square to the general public. Dr Dham is in the centre of it wearing his white coat with Electra and Yasha by his side.

Dr Dham: "Citizens of Wood Oak City, today I stand alongside the acting Syndicate leader and leader of Neo Chaos whom are both responsible for the bombings earlier today. This has been long overdue however necessary in order to restructure the foundations of our city. For years our police force, military and government have weakened but I have deployed over 500 officers to patrol our streets. Over the next few months we plan to reshape this city and it's power. Currently there is a Rakushin bomb sitting underneath the streets of Wood Oak that will detonate and wipe out it's population if you do not cooperate. So far, all political power has been handed over to our organisation and clearly any remaining officers from WOCPD are outnumbered. We order all civilians to undergo curfew until further notice. Anyone who defies our orders will be killed and any groups who try to upraise against us will be responsible for wiping out the population of this city. If the public does not comply, we will detonate an 8 Tonne Rakushin bomb."

The video clip then cuts out into a plain grey background.

Axel: "Son of a bitch!"

Blaze: "we have to find that bomb"

Adam: "Where are we supposed to start? And what's their next move?"

Blaze: "This morning back at the airport, the officers were ready to round up doctors, teachers, scientists you name it. They were ready to take all other citizens away to their labs".

Axel: "That must be how they duplicated many of Wood Oak's police officers".

Blaze: "Yes but their robots can only do so much. They need certain members of society to maintain order under their control".

Axel: "We find Zan first and call Max to come back. Adam is there a way you can get us into the city?"

Adam: "No but I know someone who can".

"5 miles to go then we go underground" Sammy rollerblades across an old broken rail track as the sun sets in the distance.

Axel: "How did you know this route into the city?"

Sammy: "I use to follow Kadeem and the others everywhere. This is just one possibility and probably the easiest from Red District. Once we're underground we'll pass financial district then it's out to Wood Oak Central."

Adam: "I guess those friends of yours taught you something useful after all".

Sammy: "Kadeem knew every corner of this city".

An hour later and they reach the end of the rail track and a barbed wired perimeter. It's clear that they are close now to Wood Oak Central with it's skyscrapers bigger than earlier but they do not have much time and darkness is surrounding them.

Blaze: "What now then?"

Sammy kneels down on the ground above an entry to the cities' sewage system. He tries to pull the metallic cover open but it is no use. "Shit, this is jammed. They must have replaced this in the last year. I could use a little help here!" His eyes turn to Max.

Max: "Stand back kid".

He uses all of his strength to pull it open. The first thing they see is a ladder leading down.

Sammy: "follow me, and watch out for the rats".

Adam is next to follow his little brother.

Axel: "after you" he signals to Max and Blaze.

Blaze gives him an unamused look: "He said there's rats!"

Axel laughs "you manage to fight with ease some of the craziest criminal masterminds of this city and you're scared of rats?"

Blaze: "I'm not scared" her reply is unconvincing as she rolls her eyes. She stands next to the entrance with her arms folded.

Max: "See you down there!" He is next to step on the ladder.

Axel: "Well I'm not waiting around for someone to come and find us. Good luck finding another way sweetheart".

Blaze: "Don't call me that!"

He smiles and ignores her as he climbs down the narrow 40ft ladder built into the wall.

Blaze: "Shit!"

She has no choice but to follow and is the last one to enter the dark space below.

It takes a couple of minutes to climb down to the bottom but Blaze is regretting it all the way. She hears Max's voice echoing below them and they can just about see their surroundings from the flashlights Adam, Max and Axel are holding.

Max: "The smell just get's worse and worse the lower we get".

Sammy jokes: "Yeah well I'm not surprised with Adam living here, he spends at least 30 minutes on the toilet each day".

Adam: "Shut up kid before I throw one of those rats up there down on your head!"

Blaze looks at the wall next to the ladder feeling slightly nauseous and panicky when she sees two rats feasting on some bones "Oh my God that is disgusting!"

Axel looks up from underneath her and jokingly responds "the views not so bad from where I'm standing".

Blaze: "Can someone please tell him to stop staring at my ass!"

The others all simultaneously look up "hmm!" is their response.

Blaze: "I don't know what's worse, you guys or the rats".

As soon as they reach the bottom Axel tries to help her off the ladder but Blaze is quick to push him out the way feeling annoyed with his antics and immaturity a couple of minutes ago. She walks past him through the tunnel to follow the others.

Blaze: "I don't need your help!"

Adam whispers to Max in amusement next to him as they walk "here we go".

Axel responds to her "Ok, sorry I annoyed you I was just trying to make light of a difficult situation".

Blaze: "And you think staring at my ass while we are surrounded by shit (literally!) Betters the situation?"

Axel: "You're hot when you're angry you know that?"

Blaze: "Shut up you're so overrated".

Axel: "Overrated?"

Blaze: "Yeah, you think you can have any woman you want don't you?"

Axel: "You weren't saying that four months ago when you showed up at my door".

Adam comments to Sammy and Max next to him "ouch that hurt but good comeback Ax".

Blaze: "What the hell was I thinking? Must have knocked my head in the…. Wait.. what's that noise?"

Max: "What noise? That's nothing Blaze".

Axel: "She means the ten or so rats huddled up to the side of us that you guys just passed. Keep walking it's nothing".

Blaze: "I aint walking past there I can hear them but I can't see them what if they're next to our feet".

Axel: "True, then be careful they bite".

Blaze: "What?" She grabs his arm and stands next to him looking concerned.

Axel: "So now you want to walk next to me?"

Blaze gives him a worried look: "rats are scared of fire aren't they? We can't go past them until you do something".

Axel: "Overrated huh? Take it back".

Blaze: "erm".

Axel: "Ok I'm leaving you here and walking past them".

Blaze: "No, please don't. Ok I take it back!"

Axel: "really?"

Blaze: "Yes! You are so wonderful… there you go, how is the ego now?"

He blasts the several rats standing next to them away using his chi.

Axel: "not the wording I would have gone for but good enough".

Blaze: "such an asshole" she mutters under her breath.

Axel: "Sorry what did you say? Your welcome babe".

They continue for another hour to walk through the sewage system until they reach Falcon Street.

Zan: "It's good to finally see you here"

Axel: "Sorry for the delay, we had some issues getting back into the city".

Tim: "The main thing is you're here and we were able to wait for you to return". He says cautiously whilst peaking outside behind the curtain. The streets at the moment are empty but filled with the odd thugs loitering around and police cars patrolling the block that have been taken over by Dr Dham's deployed robots. They can also hear the helicopter patrolling the dark sky every fifteen minutes over Falcon Street and the neighbouring blocks.

Tim: "They look so real" he remarks about the robots.

Adam: "Yeah you should have seen how many duplicates we blew up back at the airport".

Max: "So where do we go from here?"

Tim: "Most of our officers are working on a rota each hour to cover all parts of the city to track down the bomb. So far no luck yet."

Zan: "Eventually when we do find it, I will need to figure out a way to disarm it given the scale of the weapon they have supposedly created". His gaze meets Blaze's.

Tim: "But first we must make it to City Hall".

Adam: "What's going on in City Hall?"

Tim: "Apparently the Chief will be addressing all city officials and politicians of Wood Oak's City's new order tomorrow night. I've already seen his duplicate, he even bares the stab wounds" he smirks.

Axel: "You'd think that by now the rest of the country would do something and would prevent this place from becoming like Metro City".

Tim: "That's when money talks. Besides the whole country would go into civil war, the Lima nations would then get involved and then…."

Adam: "wait why would Dr Dham, Neo Chaos and the Syndicate want a second city wiped out like Metro? And why the huge robot army they have created?"

Axel: "They're planning on war. The bomb is not under this city! I know where it is"

Tim: "What are you saying?"

Axel: "They've planted the bomb somewhere inside Lima and are building an army to break the piece we have here with their nations".

Zan: "Peace that has lasted between our nations for a hundred years".

Adam: "What's so special about a sparse empty country with barely a fraction of the wealth Wood Oak City has?"

Blaze: "It's not the country, it's the people. Inside their blood they possess power like mine and Axel's but they are forbidden to use it. They haven't for generations especially since experiments were made on their blood after the war."

Zan: "Their ancestors were the people who originally rose against the Yamato warriors"

Axel: "My guess is Mr X promised our old masters revenge for years of conflict. Is there any way we can contact General Petrov, Lima's acting leader?"

Tim: "Shit! You're right. This weekend marks the centenary of the peace treaty between us and the Lima nations. General Petrov is here in Wood Oak City and would have been scheduled to attend the Founders dinner at City Hall tomorrow night."

Adam: "Then we know what we must do. First though we need ammo, how much is left in the armoury at this office?"

Tim: "Only enough for the officers we have sent out for searches. We're going to need much more".

Axel: "Wood Oak Central police station always stored more underground in case of an emergency or war. How is it looking?"

Tim: "Dham's units have it, there's no way we can get past them".

Adam: "I know a way in without passing the main entrance. I need Axel to come with me plus one more person. If we get caught we'll need back up plus we need to carry all of the armoury we can get out of there.

Max: "Count me in bro".

Adam: "Sammy I need you too".

Tim: "It's half a mile away from here, stay out of sight especially from above. The time is 10pm now, if you're not back by 11 we'll send back up for you".

Axel: "Great now let's get the fuck out of here".