Chapter 14
Everyone was in a panic in the house of the Defenders. Orad was still missing from after his patrol. He and Van had departed together but Van returned without him hours ago.
"We got separated after a couple guards caught track of us," Van explained to Aaron and the others. Dep had remained quiet ever since Bril and Van walked in one after the other. He stayed isolated in the back of the room, up against the wall with his arms crossed. Aaron was reminded greatly of his grandfather. Dep was mirroring Daniel's attitude when something wasn't going quite his way; like when the San Diego Chargers were behind in a game. Aaron slipped away from Sage, Tyree, Bril and Van whom all awaited the program's arrival. He stood next to Dep, glancing over periodically before finally speaking.
"Something on your mind?" he asked.
"Yep," Dep answered simply without looking away from the group of three Defenders. Aaron stared at him inquiringly waiting for an elaboration.
"About Orad?" he asked after waiting another answer. Dep glanced over at Aaron briefly before flicking back to the three Defenders.
"Something like that," he finally replied. What felt like hours passed by before Aaron finally grew restless.
"I need some fresh air," he said as he reached for his cloak. He walked through the door into the threshold. Aaron stepped out into the street. Outside, the storm raged even fiercer than usual. To Aaron's surprise, the burly form of Orad clomped up to him. At the sight of the user, the Defender collapsed. Aaron quickly grabbed his broad shoulders to steady Orad's fall. The program looked to be in bad shape. His eyes were weary and struggled to remain open. His cloak was soaked from the rain. His normally bright blue circuitry, was pale and blinking slowly. Aaron lowered into a crouch as he rested Orad up against the wall.
"Orad, Orad what happened?" Aaron asked with worry. "Are you alright?"
"It's chaos out there, programs are rioting all over the city. They're coming," he stammered. "All of them, they're coming for you!" Aaron was speechless. His throat felt dry as he felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "They got him," Orad continued. "I watched them derrez him, I barely got away," he growled.
"What? Who?" Aaron asked. Orad's eyes squeezed shut as he grunted out in pain both from his injuries and of a personal nature.
"Van, they derrezed Van!" he cried out.
"How's that? Van's inside." Aaron said. Orad's powerful grip clutched on Aaron's armored shoulder as he grunted and shook his head.
"No, I saw it!"
The door to the front room slid open allowing the two figures inside. The four Defender's sprung from their anxious positions at the sight of Orad being supported on Aaron's shoulder. Sage and Bril rushed to Aaron's sides to retrieve their comrade.
"Orad," are you okay?" Sage asked with worry. Orad said nothing as he winced while being led to the sofa off to the right. Van stood in the center of the room and watched in shock as Orad was lowered onto the sofa. Aaron approached Van with aggressive steps. He reached for his disc and swung his arm in one seamless motion, slicing the program's chest.
"Flynn have you lost your mind!" Bril cried out as he watched Aaron's attack. Van attempted to reach for his own disc but wasn't fast enough for Aaron. The program stumbled back as its form shimmered. The four Defenders watched as Van's image of green hair and blue circuited armor flickered away to reveal a figure made up completely of coding. Green strips of data flowed down it's black form. On its chest was a tear in the coding where Aaron struck it. In mere seconds, the figure collapsed into derezzoluted bits. Aaron, Sage and Bril stared at the pile of crystalline bits in shock as Dep calmly approached them with a snarl on his lips.
"An Impression Program," he spat. "In your world, they're tools of identity theft." Dep looked back up at Aaron with disgust still burning on his face. "I knew something was off about him." His expression softened from his sneer to a wide look of realization as he suddenly understood.
"Dep?" Bril asked.
"We need to scatter, now!" Dep declared.