Hello and welcome back, I know its been awhile but for those of you who have been keeping up with my updates, you know the story. For those of you who don't it really doesn't matter, to sum it up, I was sick for a while, school was hanging over my head and I'm being my usual lazy self. I'm beginning to rethink my plans for this story, its still going to get finished don't worry, but it might not be as soon as I wanted it too.
My inspiration and desire to write comes and goes, I am only a high schooler after all, and I'm not revealing too much if I tell you guys I'm a senior. For those of you who have been there, you know what its like. Ugh, well winter break is quickly approaching and with it a bit of... "good" news. I have to get my wisdom teeth removed this winter, all 4 of them so I'll be out of commission at the house for about a week. This may or may not give me more time to write, I don't know how drugged up I'm going to be then, but I will try to take advantage of the time.
Also as a side note, I'm been formalizing some ideas for a minecraft story for a while. I haven't actually started on it, I'm stuck between two ideas, anyone whos interested in that can check them out under the planned stories section of my profile. Just a heads up I may start working on one of those soon, though I'd prefer to get this story to specific point before I put it on hold for any long period of time.
Anyway, my personal problems aside, heres my responses to the reviews of the last chapter:
Jack Cross: Eh, the enemy of my enemy is a problem for another day.
MrClosedEyes: Glad to hear your getting so into it, I'm going to get to some of those topics in the next few chapters, so stay tuned.
Also, thank you to staying young for the favorites and thank you MrClosedEyes, Stuffies12, Worgenflemon and World1000 for the favorites and the follows
Alright now, where did we leave off...
"History is written by the victors."- Winston S. Churchill
Somewhere Near Fredericksburg, Virginia
It felt like he had been riding on the soldier's back for hours. Nigel had recovered enough from the crash that he could now make sense of his surroundings, but he was still slung over the soldier's shoulder, so all he could see was the scenery passing by them. For awhile it was just country side, but that eventually gave way to small houses, then neighborhoods and then lines of short, squat buildings as the soldiers trudged through what used to be a small town. His soldier must have been towards the front because he could see Rachel and the rest of sector being carried behind him. The other four soldiers were absent, probably scouting up ahead he reasoned.
Nigel's view was abruptly cut off as the soldier suddenly changed course and dashed for the safety of a nearby building, the others behind him did the same. The soldier dashed inside what had at one point been a general store, the kind that sold everything from snacks to beer. The small group of men ran through the open front door and quickly hid themselves amid the rows of empty aisles. Nigel was roughly hauled from his less than comfortable perch before being equally roughly dumped onto the floor. He opened his mouth to question this sudden change of events, but the soldier silenced him with a hand to the mouth.
With his other hand he pointed to the ceiling and made small circular movements. "Gunship", was all he said, and now Nigel could hear the soft wine of the gunship's engines as it made slow passes over the town. One of the soldiers was stationed near the entrance, out of sight from the air. Soon the soft wine of the gunship's engines faded and after a few minutes more, the soldier by the door made a few quick gestures to others and they all relaxed. Nigel sighed, he hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath the whole time. The soldier beside him, the one named Jones, wiped the sweat from his brow, "its gone for now, but it'll be back." Turning to the others he said, "we'll rest here for a moment then move on."
One of the other soldiers, the one who had been carrying Rachel said, "that was the same gunship from earlier, guess that means we lost our air cover." Jones nodded, "all the more reason for us to get back to the base as soon as possible." "Hey", said Nigel, still a bit groggy, "sorry if I sound a bit ungrateful, but just who the heck are you guys?" Jones looked at him with what Nigel could swear was a thinly veiled look of disgust, "I told you, US army, 9th Battalion, 2nd Rangers, now keep quiet, we don't want to make any noise." "Ya I know", said Nigel, "this isn't the first time I've done something like this, but I doubt they'll be able to hear us whispering, and I have to know: how do you know about the KND?"
Jones looked like he wanted nothing more than for Nigel to shut up, or better yet, cease to exist, but he answered, "after Washington fell, the chain of command was in turmoil, we lost most of our senior officers during the first hours of the attack, not to mention the president and his command staff who were captured when they took the White House. Most of the forces that remained after the blitz were retreating from the area when we got the call to rendezvous with some other units that had regrouped outside of Baltimore. When we got there, we found a bunch of assorted units plus a couple of surviving adult industries executives, they told us the whole story."
Nigel groaned and passed a hand over his eyes, "you know theres more to the story than what they told you..." "They told us enough", cut in Jones, "they told us your little para-military organization has been hiding out on the Moon for years, that you had weapons and technology that could have advanced us a hundred years into the future, but instead you hoarded it all for yourselves just so you could subvert the nations of the world and amass power!" Nigel wanted to cut in but Jones was on a tirade, "oh we didn't believe them at first, but they had plenty of proof, a bunch of your so called operatives trickled in from Washington and ended up getting caught in Baltimore, they had plenty of interesting little gadgets to show off. Then a few hours ago some more flew in on a few of your fancy airships, before getting shot down near Washington, some of our guys had to risk their necks dragging their asses all the way back to the base, just like we're doing now!"
"Well if you don't like us so much then why don't you just leave us here", exclaimed Nigel angrily, "we survived this long without you just fine!" Jones snorted, "orders, we're all in this together now apparently, besides, the more of you we save the more weapons you can make us." Rachel had been listening intently to everything Jones was saying and now, angrily, she got to her feet and said, "if you've harmed any of our people I swear that you will regret it!" "Relax", replied Jones, "they're fine, besides, we need the weapons they're making, better than the crap guns we were using." Nigel cut in before Jones could continue, "theres a reason why we never shared that technology with you, you adults are violent, irrational and oppressive, we only used our technology to subvert you because you adults were oppressing kids!" "Hate to break it to you boy but thats not the way the world works", said Jones snidely, "uhh, guys? Should we really be doing this right now?", asked Numbah 5. "Yeah sir, this is getting out of hand, we need to keep moving", said one of the other soldiers.
"Shut up Ramirez, this needs to be said", shot back Jones, he turned back to Nigel, "the way the world works is you kids learn from us so you can grow up to be big, responsible adults, while we, the big responsible adults, run the world and decide how things should be done, you had no place hiding this from us when it could have benefited so many, do you think we would have been invaded if we had your kinds of defenses across the world?" "Thats not the point", cut in Numbah 2, "if you had the technology you would have just abused it like you have with everything else, oil, nuclear weapons, the media, everything you adults invent just causes problems!" "Yeah", added Rachel, "and a lot of our operatives already died trying to save the planet, you think we've just been sitting on our butts since the invasion started, we've been fighting them more than you have!" "Not to mention", continued Nigel, "that we have every right to rebel against you, did any of you ever ask us if we wanted to be adults, if we wanted to grow up and continue the same stupid system over and over again, because we don't and we never have or will!"
"You don't have a choice", sneered Jones, "everyone grows up eventually, I was a kid once too you know, theres nothing you can do about it, its the way things have been since the beginning of time!" "Thats not true", counted Nigel, "our history predates yours, we ruled this planet long before you existed, we created you!" "Thats preposterous", blurted out Jones, "I've never heard of anything so stupid in my entire life!" "Really", said Nigel, "cause a couple of days ago kids couldn't fight space invaders, make laser guns and fly spaceships, but surprise! Now we can!" "And what evidence do you have", demanded Jones, "I'll believe it when I see it!" "WOULD TWO FOOS YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTHS AND LISTEN!" shouted Numbah 5, all heads in the room turned to her.
Abby took a deep breath and continued, "its clear tensions are kind of high right now", Nigel and Jones glared at one another, "but we really, really need to keep moving. Now where is this base you kept talking about?" "We're pretty close", volunteered one of the other soldiers, the one Jones had called Ramirez, "about a mile more to the north and we'll reach it." "Well then, could we please get a move on before that gunship comes back, I'd much rather continue this conversation within the confines of a heavily guarded military base than sit here in some grocery store with a gunship flying over my head, while these two knuckle draggers here have a fistfight over ancient history!" Jones looked like he wanted to say something, but one of the other soldiers shook his head sharply, a clear shut up if ever there was one. The other soldier, Ramirez said, "unfortunately its not as well guarded as we'd like, those execs we were talking about, took most of the survivors west in some special adult industries planes, said they had a plan to bunker down at the secure testing facility over in Alaska, we also got word that most of the remaining defense forces across the country were being recalled there as well."
"Since when does adult industries command US forces?", asked Rachel quizzically, Ramirez shrugged, "they had more of a plan than us, plus their chain of command, corporation or not, was, for the most part, still intact after the initial attacks, so we just kind of went along with it." "Doesn't really make a difference now I guess", said Numbah 2, "lets just focus on getting to that base." Everyone looked at Nigel and Jones, "both of you keep a lid on it, at least until we get back", said Abby. "I don't take orders from children", said Jones, he stalked off towards the front of the store to talk to the lookout. Nigel glared after him, "whats that guys problem", he asked Ramirez. "Sorry about the sarge", said Ramirez, "he's... well... he lost his first squad during the attack on Washington, we just happened to join up with him on our way out of the city. He's still kind of beating himself up over it." "Oh...", Nigel didn't really know how to respond to that, he looked over at Jones who was quietly chatting with the lookout by the window. "Don't blame yourself", said Ramirez, "all he's really looking for is an outlet, you guys just happened to drop in at the wrong time." He patted Nigel on the shoulder, "get some rest, you'll need it cause theres no way I'm hauling your ass the rest of the way there." Nigel sighed and sat back down. He'd just begun to relax when he noticed it. The wine of the engines was back. He was already on his feet and shouting when the front of the store exploded.
Confederate SpecOps Gunship #245: Above the store
Kreller was mildly annoyed, what had supposed to be a quick smash and grab had turned out to be an frustratingly difficult game of hide and seek, as the gunship banked back and forth over the small swathe of land, trying to require the targets. To top it off, those two idiot adult pilots had managed to damage the rear thrusters, just before they had been blown out of the sky. Now the gunship was not only twice as slow, but also twice as wobbly, whats more the adult's primitive missiles had dented the sensor array, so they had lost their motion detection and infrared imaging systems. Thankfully though, the highly sensitive sound detection system was still operational, and it hadn't been long before it had locked on to the rather loud argument that was taking place in the building below. Voice recognition software built into the detector had already confirmed that Uno was among the group.
Kreller allowed himself a moment of satisfaction, finally this little chase would be over. Kreller motioned for his men to get into position as he opened the the troop bay doors. Just before he gave the ok to the pilot, Kreller turned on his squad com and said, "remember, we need Uno alive, the rest are of no importance." Green acknowledgment icons winked in the corner of his helmet, verifying his troop's recognition of the order. Before he gave the order, Kreller gave Chad one final look, Chad in return just shrugged and looked away. Cameron sighed and gave the order The gunship let fly a missile and a short volley of laser fire which blew open the front of the store. "Go!", Cameron yelled, and he and his troops jumped out of the bay and into the expanding cloud of smoke below. On the way down, Cameron activated the cloaking field built into his power armor, and in an instant, he vanished from sight.
Inside the store
Jones and the lookout had been blown across the room by the explosion, Nigel was on his hands and knees, blinking the dust from his eyes. He moved to stand up, but then a burst of laser fire cut through the smoke, slicing through the air above his head and cutting into the soldier standing behind him. The nameless man fell to the ground, not a drop of blood dripped from his body, the holes made from the laser fire had cauterized his flesh. The other soldiers began returning fire through the smoke, though their chances of hitting anything were slim. Someone grabbed Nigel by the arm and pulled him back behind an aisle for cover. Nigel saw it was Ramirez, though he now had a deep gash on his forehead from piece of shrapnel. The store was not very big, it had a small, square open empty space at the front and three rows of horizontal aisles at the back, not a very good place for a firefight. The soldiers had taken up positions just behind the first set of aisles, which looked like they wouldn't stop even a bullet, let alone laser fire.
As if to confirm Nigel's thoughts, more laser fire began cutting through the smoke, lighter fire, infantry fire. Two more soldiers fell to the ground, dead, the others began to retreat further into the store, pulling Nigel and the others along with them. Jones was on his feet now and began barking orders to the remainder of his men. One of them produced a rocket launcher, the single use, collapsable tube model, from his backpack. It was at this point Nigel realized that despite Jones' bluster about better weapons, these soldiers were still using standard adult weapons. The soldier who had been the lookout suddenly careened backwards as an unseeable force smacked him across the room. Nigel peeked out from behind the aisle, he could barely make out what was going on between the smoke and sound of gunfire, but he could swear the laser fire was coming out of thin air. Thin air..., he thought back to the gunship. "Somebody give me a grenade!", he yelled.
Nobody took any notice, Nigel saw the body of one of Jones' soldiers laying a few feet away. He still had a few grenades on his belt. Nigel quickly snatched up one in each hand, pulled the pins with his teeth and before any of the soldiers could stop him, tossed them over the aisle into the center of the room. Ramirez shouted, "GRENADE!", and the whole squad hit the deck. Nigel covered his ears but that couldn't stop the deafening roar that followed, thankfully though the metal aisle absorbed most of the blast. Nigel looked out of the aisle again and saw that the grenades had done their job. There were now small patches of what looked like metal hanging in mid air here and there and as Nigel watched, the cloaking fields surrounding the attackers sputtered and died.
Nigel could now see four soldiers in an evenly spaced firing line, positioned just inside the store. They were wearing, what looked to Nigel like sleek, highly advanced suits of medieval knight armor. The suits were black, with clusters of grey hexagons scattered around the surface, which Nigel reasoned were part of the stealth system. The four soldiers were all identical, so it was impossible to determine who was in charge. They must of had built in radios too for as Nigel watched, all four quickly fixed bayonets to their rifles and in response to the silent order, charged the line of aisles. Jones and his men rose to address the charge, but there was little more than twenty feet between the two sides and the charging soldiers ate up the distance in an instant. Jones' men managed a few glancing hits on their attackers, but the rounds just bounced off their armor.
The soldiers vaulted the small barricade of aisles and then they were among them. Another of Jones' men went down instantly, a Confederate soldier mantled the aisle and smashed an armor plated boot into his face, the soldier fell to the ground with a cry of pain before the Confederate thrust his bayonet though the man's chest, easily piercing his ballistic plating. That left six of Jones' ten man squad still alive, including Jones himself. The rest of the men dropped their rifles and drew their combat knifes before throwing themselves into the melee. Jones' moved in to help, but first gestured to Ramirez, who was still guarding Nigel and the others at the back. Ramirez gave a curt nod and kicked open the emergency exit at the back of the store. Nigel looked back at the fight, "shouldn't we help?", he asked. Ramirez looked solemnly back at the swirling melee, "no, theres nothing we can do, besides, the sarge's orders are to get you guys out of here, now come on!" He grabbed Nigel by the wrist and hauled him towards the door. On the way out he snatched up the rocket launcher that had been dropped earlier on and swung it, by the strap, over his shoulder.
Rachel and the others had already made it out the door and down the back alley, Nigel and Ramirez were close behind. At that moment, one of the Confederates broke through the fight and barreled towards them. He caught Nigel by the arm and ripped him back with inhuman strength. Ramirez lost his grip and Nigel was thrown backwards towards the fight. Ramirez turned around and tried to run after him, but the soldier who had intervened punched him in the chest so hard he flew out the door and vanished from sight. Nigel ended up on the floor on the other side of the aisle wall, away from the fight. The soldier who had grabbed him marched across the room towards him. Jones and the soldier who had been on lookout, seeing what was unfolding, pulled themselves away from the fight and planted themselves firmly in the soldier's path. The soldier eyed the two men curiously, in his suit he was almost the same height as them. He looked Jones up and down and suddenly a voice echoed from his armor, "I'm guessing you're in charge here, sergeant?" Jones nodded; the soldier cocked his head, "stand down, give us the boy and I will let you and the rest of your men live." Something about the soldier's voice was oddly familiar to Nigel, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
Jones, to Nigel's horror, actually seemed to be considering the soldier's proposal, but then shook his head and sneered, "you must be crazy to think I'd believe that. I was at Washington, I know what you people do to your prisoners!" The soldier shrugged, "those were different circumstances", "it doesn't matter to me", replied Jones, "I'm not surrendering to some kid!" Annoyed, the other soldier took up a fighting stance, "fine then, but if you think you can stop me, then you're more deluded than I thought, I served on the front lines of the Great War for seven years, I've fought things that would make you curl up and cry like a baby." "Are you gonna talk all day", shot back Jones, "or are you gonna fight!" With a barbarian yell, he and the lookout charged the lone soldier. Jones swung his knife forward, intent on stabbing the soldier in the face through the seemingly weak glass of his faceplate. While he was doing this, the lookout swung right, intending on outflanking the soldier and coming from behind.
The soldier was unmoved, he met Jones' charge with a thrust of his rifle, deflecting the knife off his bayonet. Jones shifted his momentum and came in for a second thrust, the soldier quickly twirled his rifle end over end like he was on the parade ground, it came up facing stock out and he bashed Jones in the face with it. A dozen rounds bounced off the soldier's armor, the last of which managed to penetrate the plating and lodged itself in his shoulder guard. One of Jones' men had managed to detach himself from the melee long enough to bring his rifle to bear. The soldier flipped his rifle over and put six shots into the man, who fell without a sound. The lookout suddenly came in from the left and kicked the rifle out of the soldier's hands, it flew through the air and clattered to the ground on the other side of the store. The lookout then thrust his knife into the soldier's chest.
The knife snapped as it connected with the soldier's armor. The lookout blanched at the sight of his broken blade, the soldier backhanded him across the face with an iron fist so hard it drew blood. The blow spun the man around, the soldier then locked his left arm around the lookout's neck. He extended his right arm and a hidden blade snapped out of the gauntlet on his wrist. The soldier thrust the blade through the man's back and out the other side, severing his spine. The lookout vomited blood as the soldier retracted the blade and let the man's limp body fall to the ground.
Meanwhile, Jones, who had recovered from the blow to his face, leapt at the soldier from behind, intending on ramming his blade through the back of his helmet. The soldier, with inhuman precognition, swung around and intercepted the blow with an upraised arm. Jones tried to force the blade down, but the soldier's arm was like tempered steel. The soldier slashed at Jones with his blade, Jones who saw it coming, tried to dodge, but was too late. The blade sliced through his ballistic plate and left an angry slash across his chest. Jones doubled over in pain as the soldier shifted his weight and booted him in the chest. Jones flew backward and slammed against the aisle before falling to the ground.
The soldier walked over to Jones, who was attempting to pull himself off the ground. Jones looked up in defiance as the iron giant stood over him. The soldier gave a silent command and the glass of his faceplate unpolarized. The soldier had close cut black hair, and a pair of deep green eyes that Jones found unsettling, they looked too old to belong to a kid. Like most Confederate soldiers, the boy was young, looking 12 maybe 13 years old. The soldier, Kreller, eyed Jones with distaste, "you adults never change do you", he said. Jones got off one last sneer and replied, "you fucking kids may have us beaten now, but someday, we'll win."
Kreller laughed sardonically and sneered at Jones as he kicked him onto his back and punched down. His iron clad fist smashed through Jones' stomach, crushing his rib cage and pulping the organs below. Jones' expression was full of agony as he died in a pool of his own blood. Kreller withdrew his fist, his hand caked in Jones' gore and said to the corpse, "you bastards had your chance to rule, now its our time." Kreller looked over at Nigel, who had been watching the whole scene with horror and began to walk methodically towards him. Nigel looked around the floor for something to defend himself with and chanced upon Kreller's laser rifle. He quickly scooped it up and leveled it at Kreller's chest.
Kreller stopped and regarded Nigel with an almost sympathetic look. Raising his arm he said, "put the gun down Nigel, its over." Nigel looked past Kreller and saw that his men had already finished off the last of the US soldiers, not one had been spared. Nigel looked back to Kreller and asked, "how do you know my name?" Kreller smirked, "besides the fact that it was on the mission report? I'm not surprised you don't remember, after all your memory was wiped." "Well in that case", said Nigel, steadying the rifle, "enlighten me." Kreller's smirk didn't waver, "I was your CO back in the Confederacy, you served under me for almost two years, so as you can imagine I already know most of your tricks." "Maybe not as many as you think", replied Nigel. Kreller lightly shrugged his shoulders, "maybe, but I know you, I can tell just by looking at you, you know your outnumbered, out gunned and cornered. But thats not going to stop you from trying to get away." Kreller gestured with his arm and the other soldiers brought their rifles to bear on Nigel, "even if it costs you your life your still going to try, because you will never give up, isn't that right?" Now it was Nigel's turn to smirk, "maybe I did serve under you after all", he said before emptying what was left of the magazine into Kreller's chest.
The rifle was of Confederate design, but like all laser rifles it was almost entirely recoilless and shot in a straight line. Only a few of his shots went wide as he sprayed an arc of laser fire across the room into the line of Confederates. A dozen or so shots connected with Kreller's chest, most left nothing more than sizzling pockmarks in the surface, but one managed to slip through and caught Kreller in the stomach. Instantly a shot rang out from one of the assembled soldiers that blew the rifle out of Nigel's hands. The soldier who had fired the shot marched forward and punched a stunned Nigel in the face. He flew backwards and slammed against the wall, hard. The soldier began to follow up on his assault when Kreller's voice rang out, "that is enough Private Dickson!" Nigel's head was still fuzzy from the punch, but he heard the name, Dickson?!
Chad unpolarized his helmet so that Nigel could see his face, he was grinning. "Surprised to see me Uno? Its been awhile." Nigel picked himself up off the ground, "not really, I didn't lose that part of my memory, you disappeared with Infinity after that whole debacle with the kid-teen treaty, I'm not surprised you ended up with the Confederates." Nigel glared at him, "I am surprised though that you chose to stay with them after seeing whats happened here, I thought you at least cared about the KND and our mission, but murdering innocent kids and adults?!" "I just got here", replied Chad nonchalantly, "and I signed up for this mission, not a war, but when you join the service, thats what happens." "HAVE YOU EVEN SEEN WHATS BEEN GOING ON AROUND HERE", screamed Nigel, finally losing his temper, "HAVE YOU SEEN WHATS LEFT OF THE ARCTIC BASE OR THE MOONBASE!"
Chad expression clouded with frustration, "you guys should have sided with us the moment we got here. If you knew the full truth you wouldn't be saying that, the adults have had this coming for a long time, besides isn't this what the Kids Next Door wanted all along? To finally end adult tyranny? To create a free world for all kids? Cause thats whats happening right now." "We wanted to do it peacefully, we didn't kill anyone!", Nigel was exasperated, Chad had been difficult in the past, but this..., this was something new all together. "I'm fighting for the right side Nigel", replied Chad, "if your little pal Schmitt had told you everything, you would realize that too." "Enough", said Kreller, pushing in between the two, "there'll be plenty of time for you two to play catch up after we bring him back to base." Kreller eyed Nigel with annoyance, "and your lucky I'm wearing power armor, else I'd be the one smacking your ass around the room right now." Kreller's wound had been minor and the suit's built in medical system had already taken care of it.
Kreller grabbed Nigel by the collar and thrust him out the broken front of the store. The gunship was still hovering there, waiting for further orders. Kreller spoke a command into his helmet mike and the pilot pivoted his ship as he came in to land on the street. The pilot was a half way to the ground when suddenly, a rocket arced out from a nearby rooftop and sped, through the open troop bay, into the cockpit. The cockpit exploded, showering the street with small bits of flying shrapnel as the gunship spiraled out of control. "SCATTER!", ordered Kreller, as the gunship crashed into the store with a tremendous explosion that obliterated what was left of the store and blanketed the street in clouds of smoke. In the confusion, Kreller had released his grip on Nigel's collar, Nigel had managed to jump away to a safe distant before the gunship made it's crash and now lost himself in the rolling clouds of smoke. Coughing and sputtering, he made a dash for what he thought was the other side of the street.
He couldn't see two feet in front of him, so he wasn't surprised when he crashed straight into a wall. Then the wall bent over and picked him up and started running out of the smoke cloud. Nigel despaired, thinking it was one of Kreller's men. But then, as the man hoisted him over his back, he felt the soft touch of fabric instead of metal. "Did anyone ever tell your really heavy for your size", said Ramirez. "Must come from all the meatball sandwiches", said Rachel by his side. "What are you guys still doing here?", asked Nigel incredulously, "you should have escaped when you had the chance." Now that they were out of the cloud he could see them clearly, Ramirez still looked a little worse for wear from the fight, but he was managing, even with Nigel's extra weight. "What and leave you behind, not a chance", replied Rachel with smug grin, "besides, I believe you still owe me dinner from that one night with Lizzie." It was out of her mouth before she had a chance to think about it, surprisingly though, she found she really didn't care. Nigel smiled, "well we live long enough and I'll be more than happy to pay you back, if theres still any restaurants left after this." "We'll eat at the Moonbase", said Rachel, "after we take it back." "Would you two save the date plans until after we get the hell out of here", said Ramirez indignantly. Nigel and Rachel both blushed at his words, but they both knew he was right, and the three of them dashed down the street and out of the town.
Nigel looked back and still couldn't see Kreller or his men in the smoke cloud, "where are the others", he asked. "We sent the others on ahead to scout the path to the camp", said Rachel, "they should meet up with us on the way." "What about them", asked Ramirez, indicating the smoke cloud with his head, "won't they just follow us there?" Nigel shook his head, "not a chance, they're gunship is gone and their stealth gear was damaged in the battle, I'm pretty sure they'll want to play it safe for now." Nigel looked at Rachel, "I'm guessing that was you guys with rocket?" Rachel nodded, "Ramirez here made the shot, while you guys were fighting, we circled around the street to one of the other buildings and climbed up to the roof top while the gunship was focused on the store." Rachel looked at Nigel with concern, "I'm surprised they didn't hurt you more, your not injured in anyway, are you?" Nigel shook his head, "I'm fine, apparently they want to take me alive, though why I'm not sure." Nigel thought back to his meeting with Chad, "theres something else I've got to tell you when we get the chance..."
Kreller and his men had recovered quickly from the gunship's unexpected crash. A quick scan of the area with thermal imaging and motion sensors turned up nothing, which led to the conclusion that Nigel had made his get away while the squad was distracted. Kreller's second in command, Corporal Hysis had done a quick survey of the gunship's remains, the pilot was as expected, dead, but Hysis had managed to scavenge several supply crates from the wreckage. Kreller ordered each man to top off his ammo and make any quick repairs that were needed. He had already filled the hole in his suit with military-grade armor sealant and thankfully none of the other members of his squad had suffered more than cosmetic injuries. No, Kreller's wound had been the result of negligence and naivety. How can I expect him to remember what I did for him when he doesn't even remember who I am?
Dickson walked over to where Kreller was surveying the town, "if we set out now it shouldn't take long to find them, they couldn't have gotten far." "No", replied Kreller, frustratedly, "we've lost our air cover and our only means of extraction, what do you expect us to do the next time the adults send fighters our way." Kreller motioned to Hysis, "get on the long range com and alert the FCP in Washington. Have them send us another gunship." "Yes sir", replied Hysis and went about his work. Kreller turned back to Dickson, "I'm regretting bringing you on this even more, if it wasn't for your special connection to Uno I'd have your ass on the next dropship back to the Harbinger." "I was only doing what I thought was...", Kreller cut Chad off, "what you thought was right? You're a grunt, you don't get to think, and the next time you bring personal matters into this mission, I will have you out of this unit so fast your head will spin, is that clear PRIVATE?" Chad was unfazed, "yes sir." "Good", replied Kreller, "and remember..." He gazed off in the direction of Washington, "your not the only one with a personal stake in this war."
Temporary US Army Firebase: Ten Miles Outside Stafford, Virginia
Nigel was sore all over from the trek from Fredericksburg. Half a mile outside the town they had met up with the rest of sector V and at that point, Ramirez had forced him to walk the rest of the way. He hadn't realized until now just how badly he'd been beaten in that fight. He was sore from running through the country side all day and his bruises now had blisters to complement them. It had taken them close to an hour of running to reach the temporary firebase nestled in the hills outside of the town of Stafford. When they got there Ramirez had immediately handed them off to a couple of sentries by the gate, before rushing off to grab some much needed rest. Now Nigel and the rest were clustered in a small group outside a cluster of tents waiting for what the sentries told them was the KND liaison to the base.
The base wasn't much, just a few rows of tents, a small vehicle lot and some portable, prefab buildings. A few gun emplacements were scattered around the perimeter of the camp, though more as lookouts than for actual security. Nigel doubted this base would be here long anyway, according to what the guards had told them, the Confederates had already taken this side of the country and were pushing west towards the less important states. The forces that were left here were pretty much just security in case of an unexpected counter attack or that was what the adults thought anyway. In truth, Nigel really didn't think it mattered what the adults were doing. The war would be won or lost with or without their help. After todays events, he really doubted they had anything that could stand a chance against the Confederate juggernaut. As if to prove his point, he could see on the horizon one of the Confederacy's massive siege walkers.
It was a platform held aloft 15 stories in the air by four towering robotic legs and was about the size of a parking garage. Nigel could see the massive rotating artillery cannon mounted on top and knew from one of the guards, that it was capable of reducing entire sections of a city to rubble with one shell. He couldn't begin to think of anything built by even the KND that could stand up to such force. He tore his gaze from the walker and looked down at the food that had been provided. It wasn't much more than rations, but there had been a few fresh loafs of bread that one of guards had kindly snagged for them. Nigel was busy chowing down on his 5th piece when one of the soldiers walked up to them, "the liaison is ready to see you now." The soldier brought Nigel and his group to one of the small prefab buildings, the one that was apparently serving as a command center. He opened the door ushered them into the small room beyond.
The command center wasn't much, a few adults worked away on portable laptops in the corners of the room, while the center was dominated by a table on which large maps of the US and the world were spread out. A single kid was busy pouring over the maps and as they entered he turned to greet them. Nigel was baffled, "Numbah 60? Is that you?!" "Numbah 1, Numbah 362? What the heck are you guys doing here?" The usually serious Canadian operative looked tired and worn, he still had on the same clothes from the Arctic Base, though they looked a bit scorched. "How the heck did you get out here", asked Rachel with confusion. "Well sir, when we scattered from the Arctic Base, the admiral ordered us to head for Russia, I didn't want to go, but we didn't have anywhere else to go. Unfortunately, the first wave ran into some Confederate fighter squadrons during the escape." "Yeah", said Nigel, remorsefully, "we saw their remains on the way over here." Numbah 60 nodded with regret, "yes, I only pray that it was quick for them, we were a bit luckier, we got hampered by a patrol during our escape, so we diverted across the atlantic and ended up over here."
"But wheres everyone else", asked Nigel, "and what have you been doing this whole time?" Numbah 60 grimaced, when we got over here we ran into some adult forces on the retreat, I wanted to leave and go find some more operatives but that exec they have roped me into helping them form a resistance force." "Whos this executive they keep talking about", asked Rachel, "I thought they died back at the convention center." Numbah 60 looked towards the door and grimaced, "not all of them, here he is now." "Hey guys!", said the toiletnator.
Ugh, thats enough for one evening. Also, for anyone who asks, no the tolietnator is not going to play a larger role in this story, thank god! I could have killed him off back at the convention center, but that was before I named all the major villains as being dead, so I needed someone memorable enough from the show to represent the adults who wasn't Father, thought he will show up later. Well thats all for now, please review, favorite and follow. I'm Jackrkazi and goodnight!