5 months later...

Drake took three deep breaths, trying to control his racing heart as he hid inside a garbage dumpster. Dunnovoocha has moved in, and militaries are powerless against his far more advanced machines. Rebels do exist, but many others are heralding Dunnovoocha as a hero. With his hard approach to many world topics, and advanced research such as cloning crops, ending world hunger has made him a god in some people's eyes. His intense water purification has allowed for deserts to become oceans, and intense hydro bombs rain water on drought-stricken lands. Faith in government dwindled as this new power rose, and the fact he was benevolent made it harder to hate him.

It all started at the Upheaval, one month ago. At a United Nations meeting, Dunnovoocha unveiled his dreaded machines, now called the "Predators." Drake remembered watching the internationally broadcast meeting on CNN.

The Predator was compact, standing just over six feet tall, and retrofitted in ballistic body armor and wearing a Flora-patterned hood. It was a light scarlet, laced with black smog tattoos. Dunnovoocha revealed the machine and said, "Ladies and Gentleman, your murderers!"

"What?" was all Drake could have said to himself before the machine took out a red lightsaber, and with a deft stroke killed the American President. "No!" Aresole yelled, making Drake jump. His heart had been hammering so fast he had not noticed his ally walk in, and it frightened him. What if that was a Predator sent to kill him? He would have been helpless! Drake sent another pulse out with the Force, and closed his eyes as it washed back to him like the breaking waves of the ocean, drowning out the pandemonium on television. There were approximately 4000 people in his immediate two mile vicinity, but some entered and left it all the time. An airplane passed over his zenith 4.8 seconds ago at an altitude of 4067 feet, and...wait what? Drake opened his eyes snapped his fingers. The TV shut off as people ran in an panic trying to escape the massacre, and he stood, cracking his knuckles and smoothing his black t-shirt.

"Boys, we have company." he announced. Ignition looked up from the table in the kitchen and scrunched his forehead. "How could you possibly know that?" he challenged. Drake closed his eyes again and felt for whatever he was feeling. All around him were a multitude of colors, smells, and tastes, special to each person. But now, he felt four black-holes in his perimeter, things he couldn't sense. Not electricity, no soul, no give off; he couldn't sense anything at all. Which meant Dunnovoocha had made some extreme upgrades.

"If you want to sacrifice our position because I'm jittery, go ahead by all means. But doing a perimeter sweep can only benefit us. Ask Boomstick and Mouse if they're okay if you think I'm wrong?"

Ignition kept his eyes on Drake as he spoke into a wrist-com, speaking swiftly and directly. He lowered it and whistled, bringing two burly men, Juggernaut and Cannon, to his side. Both had massive biceps and pectorals with serious expressions, but they often conveyed their expressions with their eyes because they were both rescued from biological and chemical tests. When Drake and Big Daddy led Shadow 1 back to save captured Shadows from a very wrong raid on an abandoned freighter, they got there to find that both brothers had been injected by a muscle paralyzer in their faces, completely rendering them from speaking and eating, so they must let their muscles speak for them and are fed by nutrients given to them intravenously. Drake could feel intense sadness and pain, but relief that they were there for each other.

"Boys, go with Drake and locate Drizzle and Mouse. They aren't picking up their coms, and if Drake is right," he gave Drake a look that said he would rather light himself on fire. "then we are in big trouble. Dunnovoocha can't know we still are working against him instead of running blind. If we can finish our own personal droids that can combat Dunnovoocha's, and possibly find James, who is building our enemy's troops, it'll give us an army. Then we'll just have to take on the rest of the world..."

Drake wanted to point out the numerous flaws in that plan, but Iginition hadn't trusted him since he came back without Big Daddy. Something rang wrong about Drake, and only Ignition could sense it. It also made Drake wary of his boss. What was giving him away? But now wasn't the time to argue. Cannon and Juggernaut both grab Emp Shoutguns from a wall and pumped them. Drake opened the door, sent out another pulse, and let the other two follow him.

"Run!" Drake shouted to Juggernaut. The alley was too quiet, with no activity on the other side. "How could I have been so foolish?! Going down an alley was a stupid decision, everyone knew never to go down an alley!" Drake rolled around a corner just as a beam missed and blew a hole in a wall. Without wasting time, he took off through the hole in the wall, sending as many pulses as he could. Juggernaut collapsed to his knees, a massive hole in his chest. Drake looked back and swiveled his head back to the front. He remembered something that Big Daddy always use to say when he tried to forget something...

"The dead always haunt us." More pulses washed back into Drake's mind, but he couldn't sense anything around him, no people. The whole town was abandoned, except for a scorpion, which was odd...

It occurred to him that Dunnovoocha may have known where they were this whole time, and these people were just scoping out where they were. That would explain the sudden absences. Drake couldn't hear anything running on the roof top, which meant it probably was on the roof. He couldn't hear Juggernaut or Cannon, nor could he spare them any help. His Force Powers were the only weapon he had, but his control over it could quickly deteriorate if he pushed himself too hard. He hit a dead end of a building, ten feet of stone. Without a break in his sprint he shot his hand forward, and the wall shot outwards, bricks and mortar splaying all in front of him. Drake dove through the hole, and screamed as a net exploded from the ground, ensnaring him and dragging him all the way to the roof.

Hey everyone, LLL here. It's official, I'm going to finish this story before I continue on my other ones. I'm aiming to finish this by June, so maybe ten or more chapters? Thanks for the great support, and I'm posting other chapter in a few hours hopefully. Take care, read long. =)