February 9, 2138 (Morning continued)
With Karl hurt and not willing to go on with us as he stayed to help the enemy trooper, we had to use the armored suits carefully. Figuring that the squad came from the power plant we also figured that they would at least know the genders of those that were in the squad. Getting the suits was enough luck to ask for, but the wounded female trooper was also blond headed. Like Kim. This fitted us well also as the enemy trooper seemed to be the leader of the squad. Her armored suit was marked on the arm with a biodread insignia on the left arm with two thin, red stripes rounding the arm. One underneath of the insignia and one above it. The other troopers only had the insignia and no stripes at all. So Kim took her armor and put it on while Dad, Tommy, and Tad wore the other three suits. Rachel insisted on not wearing one because we could approach the power plant as though we had found and rescued her and were simply bringing her back to the fold. We needed someone to be a distraction from the rest of the group in the armor, anyway. We had no idea how well known this group that we had defeated was within the power plant itself and we figured that the officer of the group would at least be known well and noticeable. If Rachel could do more of the talking instead of Kim or any of the guys we might get farther before the shooting might have to start.
As the others suited up I tried to get Karl to let me wrap him up as best as I could. Seeing his wound scared me and it made me afraid to leave him alone. Yet he acted like it didn't matter as he kept trying to do what he could for the trooper. After all was done, we went on towards the plant. Kim had found what looked to be a remote for some kind of a gate attached to the female troopers armored suit. We assumed that it was to the front gate at the power plant and that's the one that the group of us would approach. Sarah and I were given the task of waiting behind with the two long laser rifles. Neither of us were happy about this at all, but it had to be that way. There weren't any other suits to be had except for Tommy's makeshift biodread suits that he had cobbled together for us and we couldn't walk up as prisoners.
As we kept moving towards our objective, I started talking to Tad about what had happened with him and his father a few minutes before.
"Why are you so hard on your Dad," I asked.
"Because he's wasting his time and putting others at risk for nothing," Tad replied.
"Like you, you mean," I asked.
"What? What are you talking about," Tad replied.
"The first trip to the hospital. When Carrie fell behind us in the yard and you stopped, standing there like some statue and shooting back at the biodreads unloading off of the ship," I replied.
"I was trying to help Carrie," Tad said.
"And I think a part of you was trying to save Gina again. Deny it all that you want to, but I know you. And while you're mad at your father for trying to help someone, you did the same thing," I said.
"Carrie isn't the enemy, Amber," Tad replied.
"Whatever, Tad. Whatever," I said back in frustration.
"Keep it quiet. This is a debate that you can have later," Dad said.
I wasn't so sure of that. If there would be a later for any of us.
Rachel stayed to the front of our group now. Her left eye was glowing as we walked more out in the open than we ever did before. We had to look convincing if anyone were to be watching us, and it was much safer with Rachel looking for any enemies for us. Once we entered the last wooded area it was almost a necessity. She could obviously see through plant life and could see heat signatures in the darkness of the night. It was weird feeling so safe with Rachel now, instead of never knowing what was coming from her next. It was like the world lifted off of our shoulders without having to watch every move she made anymore. Relaxing enough that Tad took Sarah's hand as they walked through the trees rather than constantly eying what Rachel was doing. Seeing them do this made me take Tommy's hand as we walked, too. Kim looked back at us once, and I could see a very slight grin come across her face as she turned back to leading the group with Rachel and Dad.
With Rachel's watchful eye it didn't take long for us to get to the edge of the woods. As the edge came within our view, Kim stopped us all and started talking to us about the plan.
"All right, people. Whatever you have to say to each other, say it now. Then clear yourselves of any sign of emotion. I want to see the plainest faces I've ever seen since meeting Rachel. You have to walk into this without showing any fear or any emotions whatsoever. If you can't, you need to stay behind. One forgotten smile or look of being afraid will get us all killed. Don't forget it," Kim said.
It seemed so strange, having to show Tad and Tommy how Sarah and I felt about them right in front of Dad. If we were this age years ago and were doing this, we would have felt like we were disrespecting him. The boys would have at least. But Kim made it easier by talking to Dad while we had our moments. Up until mine and Tommy's moment took a little longer than I had expected for a reason that I never saw coming.
Sarah and Tad had already told each other that they loved one another, and were on to the hugging and kissing stage. Tommy stood in front of me, saying nothing at all. He just looked at me and it made me feel funny. I wasn't sure if something was wrong or not, so I reached out my hand to him and said, "I love you."
A tear fell down his face, and he reached up with his free hand to wipe it off quickly. Then he got down on his right knee and said, "Amber, marry me. Someday, after all of this is over. Please? I love you and being with you makes me as happy as I can ever be."
Suddenly everyone was looking at both of us. Including Dad and Kim. Kim looked a little worried about what Dad's reaction would be, and I couldn't help but look to him to see what he might be thinking. Dad stared back at me for a few seconds without saying anything. Then I could see him smiling as he turned back around to leave the decision to me.
"I know that I could have picked a better time than this, but I can't go into another one of these missions without knowing. I'll never know anyone or love anyone like I do you. Why do you think I annoyed you so much when we were younger. I wanted your attention. I've had this inside of me for years and it never goes away. And it never will," Tommy said as Sarah was trying to hold in her own reactions to what he was doing.
"If you say no, I'm still going to walk up there loving you anyway. I don't want to look back at everything that's gone wrong anymore. I want to look forward to what we can make right. I just want to make it right with you, together. Hand in hand, side by side with you. You make me whole. Please say yes," Tommy said as I pulled him back up from his knee.
"If you promise to marry me in the Rose Garden next to the Carillon tower, yes," I said back to him as his face exploded with a smile.
"This isn't the time or place for this. We need to be purging our minds of any emotional attachments and get to moving on with this," Rachel said.
It made me wonder if what Tommy had asked me was upsetting Rachel. I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't think about what effect it might be having on her. Even if she didn't show them often, I knew that Rachel had feelings and her life had been such a mess that maybe she was jealous or feeling left out.
"And I want Rachel to be a part of it all, too," I said to Tommy.
"Sure. Anything you want," Tommy said as he looked at Rachel for some kind of approval.
"Whatever. Let's get going," Rachel said sharply.
"One minute and we go," Kim said and then pointed at Sarah and me.
"You two take the long rifles and focus on the two clankers manning the interlocker turrets. Keep listening in on the communicator so you'll know what's going on. Watch the catwalk for the two troopers on it, too. Focus on the troopers, not on any more armored humans that might be working with them. Those rifles have more kick, but it's likely that you'll be wasting you shots on them where you won't be on the biodread troopers. And Tommy, lose the relic. You can't walk in there with that," Kim said.
Tommy took the strap of the shotgun off of his shoulder and handed the gun to me as Kim looked at me and said, "Consider it a wedding gift come early."
"I'll walk in the middle of all of you, and Kim should be leading us all in. You should form a diamond shaped formation around me. Tad should stay to the rear since he's slightly smaller. David and Tommy, one to each side and Kim in front of me. That way you can maximize your firepower if it comes to that, and the guards at the gate will be expecting that from you anyway. I'll step forward once we reach the gate and try to occupy them and get us in. After that we either have to take the control room or take out the grid," Rachel said.
"Fine. Form up and let's go," Dad said as he sat the weapons we had brought with us down in favor of the armored troopers guns.
They surrounded Rachel like she told them all to and they started off towards the front gate once they cleared the edge of the woods, while Sarah and I propped ourselves against a couple of trees and started taking aim at anything we could see. Sarah was already scoping out targets while listening to her communicator. Rachel and Kim had turned their communicators on so that we could receive them without either of them having to handle them. This way we could constantly hear them both and Rachel and Kim wouldn't have to risk getting caught messing around with their communicators to talk to us. All that we could hear was their footsteps as they walked up to meet the guards at the gate. Two biodread troopers were guarding it and a small tower was just inside with another trooper standing in it with a cart cannon. As I kept looking through the scope I could see the two troopers Kim referred to walking along the catwalk. The catwalk seemed to be there for the purpose of crossing over part of the lake underneath to get to what Rachel referred to as the power grid. The longer I looked through the scope the more the wind kept catching the end of the rifle and making me struggle more to keep it steady. Not enough to interfere with our rifles and our view of things through them like that, nature seemed to want to spill more rain on us as we tried to see what was going on. The scope was covered enough to not allow the rainwater to get on the lens, but it started running off of the cover in front of our view anyway. Shaking it off would mean that it would take more time to focus again. So both of us avoided that altogether and tried to find ways to see around the water running off of our weapons.
As we looked on the guards seemed to be alerted to the group walking up towards the gate and I could see the trooper in the small tower aiming the cart cannon in their direction. The other two troopers turned towards the group as they stood behind the gate. Energy of some kind pulsed across the entrance and they were standing directly behind the energy. Their armored shells seemed to be busy reflecting the light from the energy beams as they waited for the group to get closer. Once they managed to get half of the way up the walkway to the gate, Sarah started talking to me.
"I'm happy for you, Sis," Sarah said.
"I can't even say how much he means to me, Sarah. He's everything," I replied.
"I know the feeling. He really loves you. You know? And Mom would be so happy and proud of you right now," Sarah said.
"I think she'd be proud of all of us," I said as I looked over at Sarah for a second.
"I'm really happy for you. Well, as long as I get to be your matron of honor or something," Sarah said.
"I wouldn't have it any other way," I replied.
Before we could go on any longer, the trooper in the tower started calling out to the group as one of the interlocker turrets on the top corner of one of the large buildings closest to the gate started turning towards them, too. Sarah raised her rifle up and aimed it at the trooper manning it while I focused on the trooper in the tower and what it was saying.
"Halt. What is your designation," the tower trooper asked.
Rachel spoke up saying, "Youth Leader Carter."
The trooper in the tower turned slightly and seemed to be typing some kind of information into something, but it's hands were hidden behind the wall of the tower. Nothing was said for a few seconds as I could see Tad looking down at his laser rifle and Tommy looking off to the side, until one of the troopers behind the energy gate spoke up saying, "Squad leader. What is your designation?"
My heart skipped a beat hearing it ask Kim for information and I almost opened fire on it right then, but I didn't know if my shots would go through the closed energy gate in front of it. Kim stood there not answering at first. As she stood in silence it raised its laser rifle and aimed it out towards them.
"Is Overunit Vargus here? I need to speak to him immediately," Rachel said.
Suddenly the trooper in the tower waved off the troopers behind the energy gate and said, "Authorized clearance for Youth Leader Carter and Omega Squad."
The trooper behind the gate lowered its rifle and walked to the side as the other one did the same to the opposite side of the gate. Kim raised the remote that she had taken from the squad leader earlier and pushed a button. All that I could think of was hoping that her remote was for the purpose we thought it was as the energy gate faded away and they started stepping forward. As they approached the open gate I could hear a noise coming from the sky above. A rumbling kept getting louder and I pulled away from the rifle scope to see what it was. A Phantom Striker was slowly descending onto one of the roofs of a larger building to the back of the facility. I looked through the scope again and looked to the roof it was landing on. Once it stopped for a few seconds I could see a woman wearing black armor and a long, red cape climb out of the ship. She was slender, but there was a tube coming from her armor like the armored troopers we encountered in the field. There was a large, solid red ring with a biodread insignia imprinted inside of it that wrapped around the armor on her left arm, which appeared to be more than just armor. Lights could be seen flashing off and on from the forearm and upper arm until it reached the red ring. The other arm was the same except for the lack of an insignia and the lights stopped at the elbow. My looking at her ended quickly as she disappeared from view, seeming to have descended into a stairway leading down inside of the building.
"They're through the gate," Sarah said, breaking my concentration on the rooftop the enhanced woman just landed on.
I didn't respond and tried to listen to the noises coming from the communicators. Footsteps could be heard for a short time as Kim and the group kept walking forward towards a large building with Rachel in the center, but someone came walking out from the door of the building, as if to greet them. It was the blond headed Overunit from the hospital and he was being escorted by two more enhanced and armored humans. Kim stopped walking forward as Rachel stepped in front of her, which must have been to hide Kim from the Overunit's immediate view because he could have seen her at the hospital the last time we were there and recognized her.
"Youth Leader? Is it really you? Where have you been," the Overunit asked.
"Yes, it's me. I was taken to the old park next to the lake and held there all of this time by the resistance group that took me from the mall."
"And they rescued you? They were supposed to be doing reconnaissance in a field and trying to entrap the group we were looking for," the Overunit continued.
"Has the subject been taken," Rachel asked referring to Mom to change the subject away from the Overunit's unending questions.
"She was killed while we tried to capture her," the Overunit answered.
Cadet Reed and Cadet Bricker. Where are they," Rachel asked.
Cadet Bricker is here. Cadet Reed was killed in action," the Overunit responded.
"Killed? Who killed her," Rachel asked as Sarah stopped and looked at me. All of us knew the answer to that already, and so did Rachel. We wondered where she was going with this conversation.
"The enemy," the Overunit answered.
Neither Sarah or I could make out the expressions on our group's faces because they were facing away from us from where we were. However, it became obvious that Tad wasn't hiding his emotions like he was supposed to be at listening to the conversation that Rachel was having with the Overunit and hearing him lie to Rachel about what happened to her friend Tara after Tara shot Mom. The Overunit must have seen Tad showing some sign of emotion and stopped talking to Rachel as he walked over in front of Tad.
"You. Why are you looking at me like that," the Overunit asked.
"I'm in pain. I was injured before and the injury is hurting my head now. I meant no disrespect, Overunit," Tad said trying to convince him that he wasn't showing emotions.
"Have we met before? You look familiar," the Overunit asked.
"No, Overunit. We have not," Tad replied.
"I think that we have. I know you from somewhere," the Overunit said in a convinced tone of voice.
Before Tad could respond, Kim spoke up saying, "Make your way to the infirmary, trooper. Now."
"I'm not finished with him, Ops Leader," the Overunit said as Tad started to walk away.
"She outranks you, Overunit Vargus," Rachel interrupted in her attempt to let Kim know that she could get Tad away from the Overunit if she wanted to.
"I'm aware of that, Youth Leader. And I'm sure that she is, too," the Overunit responded sharply.
"You're not showing an emotional response to the Youth Leader, are you Overunit," Kim asked as she looked over at him.
"Not at all. The Overseer has arrived here to give us direction on the next push against the resistance. She's probably wanting a report from you on any progress you might have had. I'm sure that she'll want to know how you managed to bring Youth Leader Carter back, and she'll want a report from you about where you've been and what happened to you during all of this time," the Overunit said as he looked at Rachel.
"Very well. I'll take the trooper to the infirmary and then report back to her. By the way, it's good to be back, Overunit Vargus," Rachel said.
Without getting any response from the Overunit, Rachel walked off towards the rear of the facility with Tad. Before they cleared our view I could see Tad glance up at the catwalk crossing over the lake to where the grid was. The rain was heavy by then, and the wind was whipping through the trees around us.
The Overunit turned away and walked back inside of the large building he had came from, and the two armored humans went back in with him. I could see Kim looking around to see where to go next and she said, "Stay frosty out there. We can't go before this Overseer that he referred to or we'll be toast. We have to find the control room and take it out now. There are too many machines here to try to take this place over. We'll have to take it out instead. And does anyone know why that Overunit thinks that he knows Tad? What the hell's that about?"
Sarah shrugged at me like she had no idea, and I responded to Kim that we didn't know.
Tommy spoke up saying, "I don't know anything about the guy. I don't know what he was up to by saying that to Tad. Maybe he was just trying to get a reaction out of him."
"There has to be more to it than that. Let's hurry up and get this done before anything else goes wrong," Kim said.
"Yes Sir," Dad said as he seemed to be playing to Kim's new biodread rank.
"The large building over there. Let's look there first," Kim said.
"But that Phantom Striker landed on the roof. Do you think that's wise," Tommy asked.
"Your Overseer went in that building a few minutes ago from the rooftop," Sarah said over the communicator.
"We'll just have to avoid her," Kim said as they ran off towards the entrance of the building.
Once Dad, Tommy, and Kim had disappeared within the building things remained quiet for a minute. Sarah and I got a short moment to wipe the rain off of our faces and go back to our observation. The energy gate was on again. If the group did any damage, they would have to bring the gate down again to get out. I looked for a way to try to bring it down myself with the rifle, but I couldn't see any way of making it open again.
After the minute of quiet time had passed, the Overunit, the dark haired guy that Rachel called Brett, and the two armored humans came from the front building again at a fast pace. Something was wrong as they started running to the back of the facility in the direction that Tad and Rachel had went in. Sarah quickly grabbed the communicator and said, "Rachel, get Tad and get out of there now. They're headed your way."
"We're not in the infirmary. We're circling back around the sheds. What's wrong," Rachel asked.
"The Overunit and his group are running in your direction like something is wrong. Maybe they know that you're not legitimate," Sarah said as her voice sounded more concerned.
"That's not possible. I convinced him. Unless...," Rachel said.
"What, Rachel," Sarah said frantically.
"Tad? Are they after you? Does he know you somehow," Rachel asked.
Before Tad could answer the shooting started. Sarah was yelling to Rachel to get her to speak again, but she didn't and we could see things lighting up around the rows of sheds by the water.
"What the hell is going on out there, Rachel," Kim asked on the communicator.
"The Overunit is pursuing us. He must have figured out that something was wrong," Rachel replied as we could hear the lasers being fired and hitting things around them.
"Get in front of her, Tad. And cover her with your armor. We're on the way," Kim said.
By now the troopers at the gate were looking back towards the sheds and I knew that Sarah and I had to act or Rachel and Tad weren't getting out.
"Open the gate, Kim," Sarah shouted on the communicator. A second or two later the gate energy disappeared again and the troopers behind it were exposed. Sarah fired on the one in the tower and sparks flew as it fell backwards over the tower wall and hit the ground with a loud thud. I shot the trooper at the right of the gate in the back as they looked back towards the sheds. The left one turned back in our direction and aimed it's rifle in our direction, but only in time to be shot by Sarah like the one in the tower had been.
At this point the two troopers on the catwalk had started firing down at Tad and Rachel. I knew that Tad couldn't cover Rachel from everyone, but I didn't know if they were even targeting Rachel either. They might just be firing at Tad and, if so, hopefully the armor he was wearing was working. Either way, six against two wasn't going to work for long. Sarah must have figured that out herself as she started firing at the troopers on the catwalk. Her first shot flew by the trooper in front and disappeared into the night sky. The trooper turned towards us and fired. The trooper's shot hit the ground about two meters from where Sarah was standing behind a tree. I fired on it and it sparked and fell off of the catwalk. After several seconds of watching it falling, it hit the lake water with a large splash. I could see the current washing over it until it sank under the water. Sarah picked off the second one right after as it fell onto the catwalk floor.
During this time the shooting around the sheds continued, but something was happening within the building where Kim and the others were. Nothing could be seen, but Kim was being confronted by someone.
"Who are you? You're not the Ops Leader that I sent out," a female voice said.
"The Catholic church sent us. The sisters said to welcome you to the neighborhood," Kim said in a sarcastic tone.
I could hear the sound of metal scraping against metal and Kim yelled, "Tommy, no."
I couldn't sit there any longer after hearing Kim yell out at Tommy, and I picked up the shotgun and started for the open gate.
"Amber! Amber, wait," Sarah yelled in vain.
All that I could think of was reaching Tommy. I didn't stop to think about the interlocker turrets on the rooftops. I got half of the way to the front gate and the closest one started firing on me. The ground exploded and shook behind me and I couldn't stop from falling to the wet ground. I got up as fast as I could and could see another light coming at me from the same place. This one hit to my left and blew me off of my feet. I landed hard on the wet grass and wasn't sure where I had landed. As I got back up I could see that I had been thrown back off of the walkway, and the turret had stopped firing. I could hear Sarah yell, "Amber, run!"
I got up again and ran for the gate, but by the time I had reached it an explosion went off within the area where the sheds were. I had to choose who I was going to try to help, Kim's group or Tad and Rachel. Tad and Rachel seemed to need more help than Kim's group did, so I ran to the sheds. Chambering a shell, I reached the wall of one of the outer sheds and I could still hear the lasers firing back and forth from within the group of little buildings. I looked across the yard of the power plant to the larger building Kim's group went into earlier and could see Kim helping Tommy out of the front door. His chest plate was completely gone, several other parts of his armor were damaged or showing cut marks on them, and he looked dazed. Kim saw me, but her and Tommy ran off towards the entry to the catwalk. They ran out of my view just in time for me to see Dad and the caped woman from the Phantom Striker come crashing out the front door in a heap. They both rolled down the steps of the building and landed on the ground hard.
Both of them got up quickly and the woman started swinging a blade at Dad that extended out of her forearm. Dad jumped clear of it and shot the woman with his laser pistol, but the energy arced across her armor like the armored humans from the field. He holstered it quickly after seeing how ineffective it was. Another blade sprung out from the other forearm of the Overseer and Dad raised his arms up just in time to catch the woman's arms as she charged at him with both blades extended now. She tried to drive them both at Dad as he held her arms in place. They seemed to be testing strength with each other and I assumed that Dad would win against her, but they seemed evenly matched somehow. At first I didn't know why, but I soon figured it out after Dad pulled her towards him and rolled backwards. She flipped over and landed on the ground hard. As she raised up from the ground, her cape blew to the side for a moment and I could see a small box at her waste with a tube running from it into the side of her abdomen. Figuring it was the source of some of her enhancement, I decided to test my theory and I fired the shotgun at her and her box. Unlike the effect that the lasers were having, the slug blew the box off of her armor and she fell forward to her knees. I could see a liquid falling from the loose tube now, but the cape covered any other damage I had done.
I chambered another shell as Dad spun around and kicked the woman in the head and she fell to the ground again. Dad pulled his machete out and raised it up as the woman turned over and looked up at him. As he brought it down to finish her, she crossed the two blades that extended out of her forearms and caught Dad's blade between the two. By now I knew that I wasn't skilled enough to jump in with Dad and help him against her, so I aimed the shotgun at her again thinking that I'd end it if she didn't have a head left to think with. Before I could fire and finish her for Dad, an armored trooper stumbled out from the side of one of the sheds next to me. Before he could react to anything, I used the shotgun on him instead. I didn't know who all was left within the sheds, so I decided to leave Dad to deal with the woman since he was doing so well against her now and go after Tad and Rachel.
As I started to move into the sheds I could see another interlocker turret firing towards the woods where Sarah was. I hoped that she could deal with it with her rifle. Apparently that wasn't possible before it fired again, but not at Sarah. It had fired at Kim and Tommy, and I could hear Tommy yell to Kim after the explosion from it's shot hit the ground somewhere nearby. I looked up again and saw a beam of light hit the trooper in the turret and it finally stopped firing, but what damage had it done beforehand?
I didn't have time to go back and see what had happened from the shots that the turret had dished out, so I moved on further into the sheds. After passing a few of the sheds up, I could hear voices. It was Brett and Rachel talking.
"What are you doing? Stand down," Brett said.
"No. I can't," Rachel replied.
"Why are you doing this, Rachel? What have they done to you," Brett asked.
"They showed me that we were wrong, Brett. Do you see this blood? Do you want to know who caused it? A machine did. We were supposed to stop the pain, not keep causing it," Rachel said.
"You're hurt. Let me help you. Put the gun down and I can help you," Brett replied.
"Like Tara got helped? By Vargus? At the hospital," Rachel asked.
"What are you talking about? Tara's missing," Brett said.
"Tara's dead, Brett. And Vargus killed her after she shot the mother of the Wharton girls," Rachel replied.
"What? No, he said...," Brett said.
"He lied. Can't you see it? He lied to both of us. About everything," Rachel said.
"Why? Why would he kill Tara," Brett said.
Another voice spoke up and said, "Because she became obsolete. She failed in her duty to stop the resistance fighters from escaping the mall, and then she shot the Wharton woman and caused her death when we needed her alive. She wasn't useful any longer and needed to be discarded."
"You. You killed her," Brett yelled in anger.
"Get control of yourself, Bricker. And you put that laser down, Youth Leader. Before you become obsolete yourself," the Overunit replied.
I decided to step out and even the odds and I could see that Tad was hurt. His armored suit was smoking and Rachel was trying to protect him from Brett, and now the Overunit as well. I stepped out and said, "The only thing obsolete around here is you."
The Overunit looked at me for a second and said, "The loss of your mother was unfortunate. We didn't want her to die. We just wanted her help, and that's all that we want from you or your sister. If you would just surrender yourself to us, the rest of this wouldn't matter. Your friend could leave in peace and nothing would happen to him."
"My friends you mean," I said.
"Stay here and all of your friends can leave without coming to any more harm," Overunit Vargus said.
"No, Amber. Don't listen to him. They'll try to kill all of us anyway," Rachel said.
At that, Brett turned his laser on Overunit Vargus.
"What are you doing, Bricker? You're committing treason," the Overunit said.
"You already did that when you killed Tara," Brett said.
"Come with us, Brett. Please, just leave with us," Rachel begged as he stood there aiming his laser at Vargus.
"Go, Rachel. Go, before I change my mind," Brett said.
"You can come with us, Brett. She cares about you. Don't stay here," I pleaded.
"I said go," Brett said as the other armored trooper from before came out from the shed behind Brett.
"No," Rachel yelled, but it was too late.
The trooper fired and Brett fell to the ground as Vargus ran off between the sheds. Before he could fire again I fired the shotgun at him, and he fell back against a shed wall and hit the ground. I wanted to chase Vargus down and make him pay, but Tad ran off after him before I could and Rachel needed help. I went to her as she pulled Brett up off of the ground. Rachel wasn't hiding any of her emotions now as her tears streamed down her face.
"Brett, hold on. Please don't leave me," Rachel begged as he looked up at her.
Before she could go on trying to help him, the caped Overseer stumbled out from between the sheds and I had to grab Rachel and pull her back away from Brett and the Overseer standing close to him now. One of her blades had been broken off of one forearm, and she glanced at us. Then she looked down at Brett. Before we could do anything, her armor opened up on her forearm with the broken blade and what looked like a scanner emerged from her forearm. We watched on in disbelief as the Overseer activated the extended device and a beam of energy was emitted from it, digitizing Brett before we could stop her. The Overseer seemed to be adjusting to having just digitized Brett as she looked up in the air as though she was stunned briefly by taking him in. Before she could recover I pulled Rachel with me and we both ran from her.
As we exited the area of the sheds, Rachel dropped a smoke grenade behind us. The smoke started billowing out from between the sheds and Rachel turned back around to look at it. I didn't understand what she was doing at first, until her eye started glowing again. Within a second or two I could see these little yellow lights appearing within the smoke that were the size of her eye. Glowing like her eye was, they hovered there within the smoke, at a distance away from where we were standing. Suddenly, laser fire started flying through where the glowing images of Rachel's eye were hovering. The Overseer must have been thinking that she was shooting at a few dozen versions of Rachel by now, and we turned away and ran for the gate.
As we started getting close we could see Dad helping Kim get to the gate. She was holding the remote for the wrist grenade that we had put on Rachel before. Tad could be seen also, but he was laying on the ground. It seemed like something was wrong with his leg, and Rachel and I ran to him. But Tommy had reached him first and we were close enough to hear what the boys were saying.
"Tad? Are you all right," Tommy asked.
"Stop him. You have to get him," Tad said as though he was exhausted.
"What are you talking about," Tommy asked Tad.
"The Overunit...he's the one," Tad replied.
"What one," Tommy asked.
"He killed Mom, Tommy. Don't let him get away," Tad replied.
I'd never seen the enraged look that Tad carried with him worn by Tommy, until last night. It was like there was nothing left in the world besides his anger, and he ran off after Vargus, up the stairs and across the catwalk. Tad couldn't get up off of the ground and Rachel stayed to help him as I followed after Tommy. He was running so fast that I couldn't catch up with him. As Vargus ran he hit some water standing on the metal catwalk and fell down. Before he could get up and pick up his speed again, Tommy had caught up with him and leaped on him. Both of them fell to the catwalk floor and Tommy was holding Vargus down with his left hand as he rained punches down on him with the other. Vargus tried to kick Tommy off of him, but he couldn't get him off. I started getting close to the two, but I slipped in the water on the catwalk and fell, too. By the time I had gotten to my knees, Tommy wasn't on top of Vargus any longer and was holding his side. I could see that Tommy was bleeding from some kind of wound that he was holding and I yelled out to him, but he wouldn't stop.
A laser shot flew by me and it caused me to have to turn towards the plant grounds in time to see two more biodreads firing from the entryway of another building. I wrapped the shotgun over my shoulder and started using my laser pistol to fire back, but Kim and Dad started firing at them on their own, causing them to duck back inside of the building. I turned back to Tommy and he was choking the Overunit and trying to push him over the rail. As the Overunit was being pushed backwards, he let go of Tommy's left hand that was firmly around his neck and hit Tommy in the side that he had just torn open. Tommy released him completely after taking that, and Vargus swung at Tommy. Hitting Tommy with a hard right, he toppled over the rail behind him. Tommy's body flipped over the rail, but he managed to catch onto the floor of the catwalk with his left hand. I screamed out Tommy's name again as he was left hanging onto the catwalk floor for his life and the Overunit stalked towards his hand left gripping the floor. As he raised his foot to try to stomp loose Tommy's grip, I aimed the laser pistol at him and fired. Vargus stopped moving for a second after the laser hit him, and then fell to the catwalk floor. As he rolled in pain on the catwalk floor, he rolled himself too close to the edge of the floor and rolled underneath the rail on the opposite side of where Tommy was hanging from. I could hear him yelling out as he fell to the currents below.
I ran to Tommy and tried to get a grip on his hand, but I couldn't without breaking his grip on the catwalk floor.
"Give me your other hand, Tommy," I said as he reached into his pocket for something with it instead of giving his hand to me. After grabbing what he was after, he reached up with his free hand and the wrist grenade slid across the catwalk floor and hit my boot. Ignoring it, I grabbed Tommy's hand and tried to pull him up. His hand slid back out of mine as I pulled because of the blood he had on it. I could hear someone running up the catwalk to help, but I couldn't look away to see who it was. I reached down and grabbed Tommy's sleeve with both of my hands, but Tommy seemed to be losing his battle with his wound and he looked up at me as he was gasping for air.
"No, Tommy. Hold on. I love you, just hold on," I begged in hopes that he was still hearing me.
The footsteps were almost upon me, but Tommy slipped off of the catwalk and his sleeve tore out of my grip as he fell to the lake below. I remember trying to get over the rail and dive in after him once he hit the water, but someone was stopping me. Whoever had ran up the catwalk grabbed me and was holding me so that I couldn't get over it.
"No, Amber. Stop," Kim was saying from behind me.
I kept telling her to let me go and I tried to fight out of her grip, but she kept holding me there. I could see Rachel closing in on us, and she had stopped to look over the rail. Her eye was glowing as she searched the waters looking for him.
"I can't see him. The water is covering up his heat signature," Rachel said as she kept looking over the rail to the water below.
I screamed at Kim to let me go, but she wouldn't and kept her arms wrapped around me so I couldn't climb over the rail. I thought that I could save Tommy if someone would just listen to me, but they wouldn't let me go after him. I finally ran out of energy to keep fighting against Kim's grip and I remember falling backwards to the floor of the catwalk. It was more like Kim lowering me down and I couldn't speak any longer. Kim sat there, holding me from behind as all that I could do was cry for him. The shooting was still going on down below on the grounds. I didn't care. Nothing seemed to matter anymore.
"Kim, we have to blow the grid and get out of here. What are you doing," I could hear Dad say on Kim's communicator in desperation.
Kim couldn't say the words, either. Rather than answer Dad she picked up the wrist grenade and said in a breaking voice, "Rachel. Throw this into the grid."
"But Tommy...," Rachel replied.
"Now, Rachel. I need it done now," Kim replied through her own crying as she kept holding me.
We stayed there for what seemed like forever, and I could hear a large explosion coming from the top of the large building where the Phantom Striker was. I could feel Kim moving behind me as though she must have been trying to see what it was. The catwalk even shook when it went off and it must have concerned her. After the explosion on the rooftop, Rachel could be heard running back to us from the far end of the catwalk. I glanced up at her and could see that she was still looking out in the waters with her eye still bright and glowing, doing everything that she could to try to find him for me. I guess I had a moment of clarity then. I couldn't even gather enough will to get up to leave before, and leave Tommy behind. But Kim and Rachel were trying so hard to help that I couldn't let them die there with me. Is that what came over Tad before? I felt like I understood him better now than I ever had before.
And Karl. How would we be able to go back to him now? While he stayed there in the field, showing compassion to one of the enemy. Trying to save her life while the cause that she was fighting us over had just taken his son away from all of us.