Ch. 4
I once again swung for where I last saw the campfire I left Cassy. Even if they weren't there, I could track them wherever they went.
Zack was behind me, following me on foot pretty well considering I was swinging from tree to tree at nearly 30 miles an hour.
"What do you go by?" he asked me as we speed through the forest.
"What?" I asked.
"What name have you given yourself?"
"None yet. I'm still supposed to be working for 'The Program' right now and have only just started fighting against them today. So I never made an actual name for myself."
"What do you mean by 'actual'?"
"Well, I gave one girl I meet up with in the group we're looking for the name 'Kuraz' when she asked me for mine."
He started laughing at that.
"That name is ridiculous."
"I was on the spot and it was the first time I had thought about naming myself. I'm lucky I wasn't original and decided on something like John."
"Wait, you were more worried about being original than sounding authentic when lying to this girl?"
"Well, I wasn't afraid of getting caught doing so. If she knew I was lying and demanded an answer, I wouldn't have given it to her. And it's not like she could have made me answer honestly, anyway. But since the last person I told about 'The Program' was instantly killed after I finished talking, I decided to lie to keep her safe. Anyway, what about you?"
"Me?"
"Yeah. Do you really only call yourself 'Zack?'"
"It's short for a name of a prophet called Zachariah."
"Then why not introduce yourself as Zachariah?"
"It's wordy in normal conversation."
"Touché. Hey, you mind me asking what Dust you were made with?"
"Red Flame Dust. You?"
"Gold Lightning."
"Ah, a strong element. I hope I get to see you do amazing things in the upcoming fight."
"How about you hope for us to live through the next ten minutes? The things following us aren't going to be easy to kill."
We had noticed that the three of them had been following us for about a mile now, just out of sight but not out of detection. They looked a little like battle mannequins, but that meant that they were a lot faster that the A.P.s we had fought. They had also been programmed to work in unison with each other via Wi-Fi connections to each other, making a kind of hive mind. This did mean that when one was destroyed, the rest of the others processing speed was affected. However, it was made us by the fact that when fighting one of three, it was as smart as three. So destroying one was almost impossible, but if you could, the rest fell easily afterwards.
"Please, if they're anything like the hunks of junk we destroyed already, this'll be a breeze."
At that point, another Scout came in front of us with a grenade launcher/ hammer. It slammed the heavy head right into Zack's face. The sight of him skipping across the ground like a pebble across water would have been funny if we weren't under attack at the time.
I swung myself right towards the trunk of a tree, braced my feet against it as I touched, and pushed off as hard as I could in the exact opposite direction I was once going. This allowed me to tackle one of the Scouts that was behinds us right into the ground.
Unfortunately, it pulled out a small but solid dagger that it lodged right into my diaphragm. I was able to cut off its head as we tumbled on the ground, but know it hurt to breathe. I wasn't going to be able to use my Semblance in this fight.
Zack wasn't as fazed as me. He got up on his feet before he even stopped moving and ran straight for the Scout that knocked him in the face. It fired a few bombs in his direction, but he just batted them aside with the back of his hand before they detonated. Before he reached the grenade Scout, though, it jumped high to show another Scout with a long sword charging for him. It swung in an arc that would have taken a normal head clean off.
But we weren't normal.
He ducked under the blow and punched it solidly in the chest. It went flying back, and that was when I was left to focus on my own problems. The other two droids that I had noticed following us suddenly burst with speed and rushed me. I blocked a swing of a sword with my axe and a barrage of bullets with my shield, but the third got me in the gut with a lance, right between two plates of armor. I instantly felt numb where the wound was, followed by a feeling of great fatigue.
The blade was poisoned, but no normal poison should have been able to affect me as greatly as this one did. 'The Program' had trained my body for such tactics. This must be something that was made specifically for people like me.
I thought of all of this in half a second, as the next few ones were going to be critical.
Taking a moment to steady myself, I pushed my axe straight upwards while jumping backwards. This left the droid with the sword off balance and right in the line of fire of the second droid that was still firing a clip from what looked like a rifle. The one with the lance kept driving its weapon into me, dodging the weapon fire and spreading the numbing agent throughout my torso.
It was getting hard to breath. I was having trouble standing up straight. I felt that I was being trapped in my own body.
That made me angry.
I brought my shield down hard across the shaft of the lance, breaking it clean off with the top part spinning out of my flesh. (*The one good thing about the numbing agent was that I didn't have to feel the thing rip through me as it came out) I then bashed the droid with a reverse swing of my shield, causing it to stumble back. I took the moment to bring my axe up for a killing blow to the head.
But the second droid with the gun shot my weapon at the height of the chop, making me hard pressed to catch my balance. The lancer got its footing because of this and proceeded to use the busted lance as a Bo staff. It went to sweep my left leg, but I jumped to avoid it. It then tried to hit me in the wound it made, but my shield blocked it. It went on like this because whenever there was an opening I could use, the second mech with shoot cover fire. If I tried to make a move, I may end up with a bullet in my head.
But you gotta have guts in a fight if you want to live through it.
After blocking a blow to the head, I dropped my axe and caught the next blow that can from the right. Two bones broke in my hand, but I didn't let go. Using my shield to block the gunfire from the second, I pulled the lance backwards hard. The droid had locked all its joints to try to keep its balance, but I just grabbed higher on the lance, pulled back again, and socked it right where its chin would have been if it had a proper head. (*With the broken hand, too. Hurt like hell, but I lived there for the first 18 years of my life, so not that bad in context) I heard lots of gears crush under my fist, and the droids now lifeless body toppled over like a museum statue.
I picked up my axe as I was shot by the second automaton and was about to chuck the thing at its head, when I heard what could only be described as a roar from Zack. I turned to see a speeding rock hurl right pass my helmet, too close and too fast for me to properly react to it. Thankfully, it only hit the Scout in the chest, leaving a perfect hole where it went through. Needless to say, it crumpled like tinfoil.
Still looking in the original direction I turned to, I saw the most incredible sight. It was the first time I laughed hard.
Zack was, after throwing the rock, beating up a large number of droids with - and I kid you not - other droids. He had two of them by both sets of ankles, one in each hand, and was just going nuts. He was tossing them around like rag dolls. Just swinging them like so much rope. Oh, Glow, it was funny. Especially when you lived fighting them in death matches. (*It looked like a toddler with an oversized beanie baby) With every swing, he took out 2 to 4 Scouts.
But he still needed to be covered.
Still giggling a little, I focused and made a stack of red light spears appear beside me. Taking one, I got in a good stance and threw. I nabbed one trying for Zack's back in its own back. I took another and did pretty much the same for about a few minutes. After that, there was a ring of metal bodies around him.
I walked over, healing my stomach and hand.
"Well," Zack said, panting lightly, "That was a learning experience."
"Don't tell me you're tired already?" I said. "They'll undoubtedly have a lot more than this paltry force."
"Really?" At this, I could tell that he was smiling under the visor. "So there's going to be an actual challenge later?"
"You could say that. Now come on, we still need to find the others."
(*This is a literary device to show something I will actually find out happened later, but occurred during the time of my escape)
"Sir," came from a radio in front of two people, watching the events unfold from atop a Stealth Carrier not yet released to the Atlas Army, "the target is about to meet with the others. Orders?"
"Incapacitate the trainees," said the first figure, a lanky man that had a whispering voice would remind people of a skeleton when seen or heard, "but after the target believes he has escaped."
"Sir, may I ask why?"
"I desire to see him grow more as an individual. He kept his emotions from us so well that we never suspected him to have ever wanted to escape, let alone felt so for years. Hence the need for him to think he has done so. He'll let his emotions show more, which will give us insight as to how he works."
"Thank you, sir. Proceeding with execution."
The radio clicked to show that the unknown talker was off the air.
"A rather cruel thing to do," said the second figure with a rich voice and stocky frame.
"I must observe all of his emotions," said the first. "That would include grief."
"But must you harm the young to do this?"
"I need the strongest reactions possible to understand their minds. You know this."
"I do. But this smacks of evil."
"Why do you think I ordered it and not you?"
"You're despicable."
"And you need me that way so that they may be strong. Now please excuse me as I watch them."
We got hammered.
I don't mean on booze, I mean we were put through probably the greatest fight of our lives. I never had to fight so hard, so long, or so adaptably. How I did not faint at any point afterwards is still something I can't explain. I don't know if the Dust in my blood helped me stay awake, I don't know if it was because of my training, I literally do not know how I stayed awake after the fight.
You see, while I and Zack ran through the forest, we came atop of a hill that overlooked most of the area around the Temple.
This let us see the army - ARMY - that was coming our way.
There were squads of twenty Scouts coming our way, each lead by an A.P. Groups of ten A.P.s were then lead by a van that held a mobile medical lab that housed a general, five troops, and three doctors. The doctors were there for when they planned to capture and dissect us. I still have the faded scars of where the doctors would repeatedly cut me so as to look inside of me. Even with my powers, the repeated slicing of my flesh made a permanent mark on my body.
There were eight vans. That math meant that there were eight generals, twenty-four doctors, forty soldiers, eighty A.P.s, and one-hundred-sixty Scouts. That made two-hundred-twelve against eight. (*The four Hunters, Me, Zack, Priest, and another that's about to be introduced)
"We are not going to win this," Zack said.
"Priest says that some Nevermores she controls are supposed to come soon," I said unenthusiastically. "The only question is how they'll arrive."
"Dribble in, they're a nuisance we can use as a distraction as we cut of their heads. All at once, we can fight them head on."
"I'd rather run as soon as we can."
"What, scared of a battlefield?"
"I'm scared of dying the first few minutes I'm free of them, not to mention what would happen if any of us got captured again?"
Zack nodded. "Fair enough. What do you want to do?"
"Find the others, get back in the pit, and use whatever you did to come here to get away."
"That last one will be tricky. My partner, Clarissa, is a Duster like us. She can use 'latent energy,' or something like that, to do crazy things. Hence the tittle 'Mage' when we were in 'The Program.' She made a tunnel for me to run all the way here, but she said it used all the energy she could reach to make it and it collapsed behind me once I was out. I don't suppose you're much of a digger, are you?"
"Priest has half of a monster-large Taijitu that's still kicking. Maybe it can burrow?"
We would have kept planning if we didn't suddenly hear the cry of a few Nevermores. Looking back at the approaching army, we saw three of them coming from behind the force. They swooped down to attack, but were immediately shot down by all of the droids before they gained much speed. But the flaming bodies still caused some damage as they fell on the force.
"We might not need to fight," Zack said, a small tone of disappointment crossing his face.
"Come on," I said. "We still have to find the others."
"I hope you mean us, because I'll be seriously angry if you forgot about us!"
I turned around to see the speaker (*Cassy) and her group coming from the trees.
"Hey," I called, running over to them. "You all okay?"
"Yeah," said Cassy. "We just fought a giant robot thing, but we're good."
"Speak for yourself," said the orange-shirt guy. (*Joseph) He was out of breath and using his mini-lance-gun as a walking staff. "That thing took forever to stop moving."
"You may want to see this," I said, gesturing back to the hill.
They came up to the top of the hill and say the approaching army.
"What the hell is all of THAT for?" whined Joseph.
"A good-sized party for us to enjoy," Zack said.
"Who's your friend?" Cassy asked.
"Zack, a friend I meet while scouting the area," I answered.
"He's cute," said Haily.
I notice Cassy look at her in shock before Zack said, "I'm out of your league."
Coming from the other side of the hill (*But not in the direction of the army) came Priest and another woman. She looked like what you would think Priests sister would be like. She is a few inches shorter than Priest, has short, blond hair, and piercing blue eyes. Also, where Priest wore simple clothes, the other were extravagant. The general colors were deep blues and dark purples, but the thing that really drew the eyes were the inlaid patterns. They were the same color as the background they stood against, so they disappeared if not in direct light, but they somehow manage to change. When I first looked, I saw a detailed pattern of a dragon on her shoulder. The next time I looked, it was a noble warrior.
I looked at Priest questioningly and nodded my head to the new arrival.
"Clarissa, Zack's partner," she whispers.
"So what exactly are we going to do about the army that's approaching us?" asked Chaz.
"Run," I said.
"No," Priest replied. "We won't be able to outrun them, and they'll search everywhere for us, so we can't hide. We can only fight."
"What!?" Joseph exclaimed. "You want us to fight this?!"
"I thought Hunters were supposed to be made of tougher stuff," Zack said.
"They're trainees," I said. "And at any rate, Priest is right. We wouldn't be able to run or hide from them. So how do you guys want to do this?"
"I CALL THE COWARDS IN THE CARS!" Zack yelled way too loudly.
"I think we could handle one squad each," said Clarissa, "but Zack will be the only one to do any real damage to the cars without killing the occupants."
"Wait, why do we care about killing these people?" I asked.
"Any of the doctors were strong-armed into doing what they did by 'The Program', Kuraz," Zack said. (*Also, he actually said the words 'the' and 'program,' not the actual name of the group. I mark the phrase 'The Program' with apostrophes) "They are as much trapped as we were."
"Anyone want to tell me what you guys are muttering about?" asked Chaz.
"No," said Clarissa, "But here's the breakdown: We were part of a super-soldier program and are trying to escape, and all of that-" here she pointed at the mass of metal marching towards us "-is here to try and stop us doing so. They're completely ruthless and are not against killing bystanders to make sure we don't become discovered."
"I'm sorry," said Joseph, "I think I missed something. Aren't there usually opening credits before a cheap movie plot like this is introduced?"
Before we started arguing, I took of my left glove, made a small blade of orange, and cut across the palm to show them my golden blood.
"Lightning Dust is not fuse to me," I said in the hush that followed, "but part of what make up my cells."
I turned to Cassy, staring at my palm like the rest.
"That's why I glowed during the blessing thing you did."
There was a moment of silence, tense by the fact that the attack force kept getting closer.
"Well," said Chaz, breaking the air, "what do we do now?"
"Form up back at the Temple for now," Priest said. "We can plan and defend from there."
"I want to take out the vans as soon as possible," Zack said.
"I agree," I said. "They're the only way that they can transport us for any length of time, so if we get rid of those, that makes them fighting us pointless."
"Let's move as we talk," Clarissa said.
We started jogging to the Temple, making sure we didn't leave the Hunters behind. We discussed where weapons would be most useful, areas that may need to be demolished before the fight, and other strategies. The Hunters were really helpful, thinking up of ways to use our powers in tandem to maximize their effects. None of it could really have been done without Clarissa, though. Her Semblance of Wizardry allowed her to do almost anything. There were limits she had to abide by, such as only being able to use the energy around her in a 500 meter radius around to do things within a 50 meter radius around her, but there wasn't anything she couldn't do. The only problem she has is how much energy she needs to do whatever and paired with how much energy there is in an area.
"Perfect," I said when I heard the gist of this from Zack. "Does that mean she can do stuff with the weather?"
"Sure," Clarissa said, "but the more destructive it is, the more energy it uses. What do you have in mind?"
"Well," I said, "I was thinking of a lightning storm, but that'd tax you. How about a thick fog?
"That's easy."
"Good. How fast can you make it happen?"
"About ten minutes, I can make about a hundred acres pure gray."
"I want ten feet of visibility, not ten centimeters. And can you make the fog mess with electronic senses, by any chance?"
"I can make it have its own energy signature, but only while I'm directly focusing on making it. If I have to defend myself, the energy will dissipate and they'll be able to scan."
"Then I want you and one of the hunters to stay with you inside of the temple."
"I'll do it," Joseph said.
"Alright. Haily, Cassy, Chaz, I want you to scout ahead. See if there's any terrain or fault in their strategy you can exploit."
"And you think they won't attack because why?" asked Chaz.
"You got passed them without even trying."
"What?"
"Sorry, I forget you're new to this. 'The Program' does a test where they drop you off in a wide area and expect you to figure out what they want you to do."
"Okay, number one, why the hell would they let you, people that they'd send an army to subdue, out alone to do anything without control: and number two, why didn't you escape the other times you were tested like that?"
"They do it to test the adaptability of 'the products' and their loyalty to 'The Program.' As to the second question, they encircle the area and kill anyone . . . how he said it . . . 'inconsequential and a danger to the asset.'"
There was a pause.
"I'm glad I didn't stay as long as I did," Priest said. "That was incredibly callous."
"I know," I said. "I was quoting what I heard from the first time I tried to escape. Now get going (*This was at the Hunters now) before you miss an opportunity. We'll attack when we either hear you fighting or when they're 100 yards from the temple."
Then a thought occurs as they leave the temple.
"Hey, Priest, what name did you choose?"
"What?"
"Well, Warrior chose Zachariah as his name when he escaped, Mage chose Clarissa, but I don't know the one you chose for yourself."
"I never chose a name for myself."
"Why?"
"Well, I thought that when I saved you, we could decide our names together."
"A little late there," Zack said. "He already decided on one."
"What?!"
"Yeah, and it's a goofy one to. Kuraz."
"Hey," I said, "I said that because I was on the spot and thought that I had to lie to protect Cassy. Remember what I just said about the other times I tried to escape?"
"But I had so many ideas for us," Priest whined. "I mean, I thought we should have 'craft' somehow in our last names since we craft light and it would be super cute, so I looked up different languages that had said 'craft' differently."
"Okay, okay. I just thought of a first name not ten minutes ago. I wasn't even planning on keeping it. There's no need for the drama, okay?"
"Drama?!" I don't know why, but Priest was getting really angry about this. Spots around her were becoming darker than usual, it was that bad. I stepped back, thinking she might start a fight. (*I now know she was only throwing a fit, but I have never been in an argument at this point. It was a whole new social experience I was in no way prepared for)
"OOO-kay," Clarissa said, stepping between us to diffuse the tension. (*Thank the Glow for that) "This is getting way out of hand. Can we talk about it AFTER we defeat the army marching on our dilapidated temple?"
"Yeah," Zack said. "You can finish your lover's quarrel once we're safe."
"Lover's quarrel?" I asked. (*Remember, still don't know what 'love' means at this point)
"Enough!" Clarissa said. "Joseph, I'll need to cast at a height so I can better see what I'm doing. Please follow me up to the roof. Zack, Kuraz, Priest, please space yourself evenly around the temple. They may try to flank us, so I want our sides covered until we know where the main attack is."
"Right. I'll stand by that half blocked entrance over there."
"I'll take the opposite one," Zack said.
"I'll stand guard at the pit," Priest said, "in case we need to make a retreat, I can protect the area with hard light walls."
"Zack," I said, "You ARE able to read a situation well enough to know when you can't currently win, right?"
"I never needed to," Zack said, "But I understand what you mean. If we become overwhelmed, I'll fall back with the rest of you."
"Alright. Get in position. You know the signals. Good hunting, everyone."
Once everyone had gotten into their position, I had time to think about everything that had happened so far.
I was about to be free or dead. 'The Program' won't allow me to live after this. At this stage of my development, if they haven't assured compliance and loyalty, they'd sooner kill me that put any effort into putting me under their control. They have now made it a fight for survival.
But that puts me at the advantage.
They had only ever fought to keep themselves secret or to retrieve me. I, however, have consistently fought to survive every single day of my life. True, in many of the tests they'd put me through, they may have saved me for further tests. But only whenever I'd show a new tactic in the original fight that they had put me in.
I had more experience surviving than they had.
Not to mention the Hunters. They may know what to expect from us Dusters, but the others will be our wild card. Or, at minimum, we have to make them think that they are. And their weaponry is something else. I've studied and even trained with a few melee guns, but I was never allowed to own any long-ranged weaponry because I'm 'already O.P,' whatever that means.
I looked through the opening in the direction of the oncoming battle. An odd nevermore would fly in and by immediately shot down from a dozen weapons, but the thuds could be felt from hundreds of yards away. I could only hope that they were at least doing some damage in death.
I started running battle simulations in my head. I needed to be prepared for every eventuality that may arise in the upcoming fight, or I may die. The rising fog Clarissa was making was appearing as I did this. It was slowly growing, but it was wide-spread. Far wider than I thought would be possible. I would have to kill Clarissa first if she turned on me.
As I watched the fourth bird fall in flames from the sky, I noticed two separate explosions happen at once.
The fight for freedom had begun.
