The shells screamed overhead, hammering down on the castles golden towers. For Tea, the sound was like an old friend, reminding him of nights spent in the iron tomb his family had called a bomb shelter as atlas' finest blew their land to rubble.
He watched the others bicker, too far away to hear them. rouge was pointing angrily at the portal while the others waved their weapons in her face and shouted in reply. They wanted to fight, it wasn't right for an islander to run, but they had a mission to complete.
With a nod to Grau, the warriors where knocked through the portal by one of his towering mechanical knights. Only Hops dodged, lunging for rouge with a feral scream. Then she vanished. Rouge spun around, shield raised, but the girl really was gone. It didn't trouble Tea; she could handle herself. As could Rouge.
Their eyes locked for a moment, and Tea considered giving in and following them through that portal, but the kid had headed off on his own, and Oz had followed. As leader of this squad Tea was responsible for its members, he had to find them. Gritting his teeth, Tea snapped to attention and gave a sharp salute, before quickly turning on his heel and marching towards the ever closer roars of engines and prattle of gunfire. He felt something shift as the portal closed. Then he was alone.
Planting one knee on the Captains neck
He reached out blindly, his and closing around a small boulder, its edges tore deep gashes into his palms, but that didn't matter now. he lifted it with a screech and brought it down on the terrified girl, again, and again, and again, until he heard her head crack. He rested there for a moment, taking deep jagged breaths as his fire cooled and his mind cleared. Tossing the rock aside he looked down at his handiwork, admiring with a grim satisfaction the iridescence of her grey matter as it seeped into the dirt.
The air was alive with a metallic buzzing, like a wasp stuck in a tin can. The sound sent shudders down Tea's spine, and after a few more deep breaths, he carefully rose to his feet. Slowly, steadily, so not to topple over as the world spun around him. He pulled off his shirt, letting the bloodied fabric drop in a heap into the dirt.
The buzzing stopped, and It materialised. Atlas' new invention was definitely a wonder of technology, an android with an Aura. It almost looked human, with a thick mass of curly orange hair framing a pale face with bright green eyes. The eyes where the giveaway, they were too dull. There was no sparkle, no depth, no emotion. Just a simulated glare of determination.
"Stop right there." Its voice was feminine, high like a child's. Tea could almost imagine her in a bow and frock, the result of some technical designers' fantasy, whether sexual or paternal he did not care. It was in his way.
Tea chewed on his cheek, letting a silence fall over the battlefield for a long moment, long enough to confuse Its handlers. "Where is the boy?"
"Gone"
"Gone?" Had they dragged him off to atlas already? Tea hadn't asked too much into why he had run on that fateful night, but he knew the last thing Julius wanted was to go anywhere near Atlas' or its Military.
"It was not our doing, the summer island warrior used some kind of teleporter" It looked at him with its almost human eyes, filled with sadness. "Ozymandias Riley died fighting. If that means anything. where he Atlean, he'd be remembered as a hero."
Tea's heart froze. No. It was too cruel. He wasn't a soldier, he was just a kid. He never should have let him come. He never should have let him play hero.
"he was a good kid, never told him that. Never said what i really thought. Now i never will." He mused aloud. A metallic warmth filled his mouth as he bit into his cheek, before he hawked a gob of blood into the dirt, that would worry them. "Aside from that girl I killed, what are my charges?"
"Assault, trespassing, harbouring wanted criminals, aiding wanted cri-"
"Hold on a moment... Am I not on the list?"
"The... List?" The Robot paused, head cocked to mimic thinking, though her inhuman stillness quickly shattered that illusion.
"The wanted list? I must say I'm rather hurt." Tea stomped one dress shoe down with a derisive snort.
"You are Mercian; Mercia last war was hundreds of years ago. You are an industrial nation, not a -"
"Wrong again ginger nut" he began to smile, but stopped in an exaggerated style, eyes wide and mouth agape. He held for a moment before letting out a knowing murmur. "Of course, you never knew it was us., did you? We wore no crest or flag, but our actions spoke for us."
Tea could almost imagine them, sharing confused looks and shouting out suggestions, but those that had been there would know, it was unlikely they could ever forget. What interested Tea was how they would react.
The robot looked concerned, though that was not surprising, atlas' channels would be in disarray.
Its eyes locked onto him again, and in it he saw fresh resolve. Even with no real idea what it was happening, it seemed to have got the gist of what he was. Which meant it now saw him as an enemy, real smooth going there. From accomplice to mastermind in the span of a short conversation.
There was something slumped against one of the ruined paladins, a large smoking hole in its chest. Someone had covered his face, the robot perhaps? But Tea knew it was Oz. A feeling of calm over took him, a dreadfully familiar feeling. Soon enough his pain had faded and the world dulled around him, with the robot like a beacon in the haze.
It had been years since the war, far too long to go without a good fight in his Opinion. He stretched out, hearing his joints crack. Did they notice his tattoo? He'd had it done just for them after all, would they even be able to put two and two together? maths was far more challenging than suppressing small nations after all.
Regardless, it was about time he saw what these little dolls where made of.