The nameless quickly took cover as several more gunshots rang throughout the quiet street. Commander Mono, Lieutenant Lapel, his two security division soldiers, and the two police troops remained in the alleyway. Commander Mono walked to the edge of the alleyway, sneaking a look at who had begun shooting them.
A group of seven people stood at the other end of the street, five males and two females. All of them wore thick clothing and carried automatic firearms. Three of them seemed to be carrying extra equipment.
Commander Mono lined up one of the seven in her MO-4’s reflex sight, the reticle illuminating her view. Then, she squeezed the trigger.
Three bullets came out of her magnearm’s muzzle, almost silent compared to a normal firearm. All three bullets hit their target, who fell to the ground and didn’t get back up.
The remaining six scattered, taking cover behind cars or in alleyways before returning fire.
“They’re competent,” Commander Mono remarked. She put her left hand to her helmet, establishing a connection with the nearest CFM garrison. “This is Commander Mono, authorization code delta seven five omega. Lockdown sector seventy-six,” she ordered. “No one in or out.” Then, she broke the connection.
“Why a lockdown?” Lieutenant Lapel asked, one of his G-86’s in his hand.
“Merely a precaution,” Commander Mono explained. “They seem to have at least basic training, some advanced, perhaps. If they know they’re going to lose, they might try to flee from the battle.” She looked over at the several of the nameless in an alleyway across the street, making several hand gestures. The nameless merely nodded in response.
A second later, her and two of the nameless left their cover and opened fire on one of the cars, immediately killing the person behind it. The rest of the nameless came out of hiding, providing suppressing fire so that the remaining five couldn’t return fire without risking being hit themselves.
After several moments of hesitation, Lieutenant Lapel, hist two security division soldiers, and the two police troops exited the alleyway as well, opening fire and killing another of the enemy.
Then, Commander Mono saw something in the corner of her vision, a hand sticking out of an alleyway, holding a metallic sphere.
“GRENADE!” she shouted as the hand arched back and threw it. She jumped to the side, Lieutenant Lapel and the two police troops leaping back into the alleyway. The two security division soldiers weren’t so lucky.
The grenade detonated itself as soon as it came into contact with the ground in between the soldiers, the explosion shattering their armor and launching them both in different directions. The first slammed against the side of the building right next to the alleyway Lieutenant Lapel and the two police troops had taken cover in, a cough of blood coming out as they did before slumping down. The second was launched into the middle of the street, hitting the ground several times before stopping. They raised their hand up slightly before it fell back down. No movement came from either afterwards.
The enemy in the alleyway was about to throw another grenade, but thanks to her new position, Commander Mono had a clear line of sight. She pulled up her MO-4 magnearm and fired a short burst. He screamed out in pain as the bullets hit him, his arm now a mangled, bloody, useless mess, the grenade falling out of his hand. It hit the ground next to his foot, and immediately detonated. A brief series of explosions lit up and echoed throughout the alleyway, the grenade that he had dropped most likely having triggered the rest of the explosives on him. Nothing of him was left in the alleyway once they did stop, just freshly made craters and holes in the alleyway.
Commander Mono didn’t have much time to look, rolling behind another car as a hail of bullets whizzed past her. One had hit here in the lower leg, but her black durasteel body armor had completely protected her, only leaving her with a soft and quickly fading pain. After a second, she peeked back out.
The nameless were all behind cover again, occasionally firing a short burst before ducking back as the enemy returned fire. All of them were perfectly fine.
Meanwhile, in the alleyway, Lieutenant Lapel sat in a corner, clearly frozen in fear. One of the police troops was performing first aid on the other, having seemingly been struck by a piece of shrapnel.
Commander Mono ducked back behind the car, ejected the current clip in her MO-4 and inserting a new one in its place. Then, she peeked back out again.
One of the enemies was out in the middle of the street crouch-walking while holding what seemed to be a large, folded durasteel plate. They were carrying it in such a way that they were entirely protected on one side. One of the nameless fired a single shot, which deflected and ricocheted off. The person carrying it stumbled slightly from the force, but kept on moving.
They stopped in the center of the street, seemingly kneeling behind the durasteel plate. Then, the enemy lifted it slightly off the ground, before slamming it down, a soft hiss coming out of the durasteel plate as they did. Then, they pulled up on it. Instead of the enemy picking it up again, the durasteel plate seemingly expanded, reaching a height of about ninety centimeters.
The other two remaining enemies ran for cover behind the expanded durasteel plate, opening fire as they did. Once they had stopped, Commander Mono peeked from behind her cover and fired a short burst. Like they had done with the nameless’s shot, the bullets deflected off.
Then the muzzle of an M60 light machine gun appeared from the side of the durasteel plate. She had just enough time to duck back behind her cover as a torrent of bullets flew through the space she had been in just a moment ago.
She looked over at the nameless again, making another series of hand gestures. The nameless all nodded once in unison in response.
Commander Mono slung her MO-4 over her shoulder and took out two small cylinders from her utility belt, both of them so small that she could have hidden them from sight if she closed her hands. She waited until the gunfire from the M60 stopped before making her move.
Commander Mono pressed down on the tops of the two cylinders as she heard the M60 begin to reload, a soft beeping beginning from the both of them. Then, she tossed the two cylinders from behind her cover.
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The two of them bounced across the street, clattering each time they came into contact with it, before stopping in front of the durasteel plate, still softly beeping. Then, abruptly, the two cylinders stopped making any noise.
Two deafening explosions of white light filled the street. Her helmet protected her from the noise and brightness, but Commander Mono knew the enemies would all be temporarily deaf and blind. She took her MO-4 from her shoulder and left her cover, the nameless doing the same. Then, she ran towards the durasteel plate. No shots were fired. She reached it and swung around, her magnearm up and ready to fire.
A single man sat behind the durasteel, clearly dazed from the two stun grenades. He was in his late thirties, with dark skin and a scraggly beard. He wore a thick jacket and pants, boots, and a synth-wool hat. The man also carried a backpack, filled with ammunition and several other pieces of weaponry. He held the M60 loosely in his hands, still in the middle of reloading it.
Commander Mono quickly disarmed him, kicking the LMG out of the man’s hands, while still keeping her MO-4 aimed at him. “Where are the others?” she asked coldly. The man mumbled something.
She kicked the man, pushing him out from behind the durasteel. “Where are they?”
The man began to laugh. “The revolution has begun,” he said. “We’ll be free of this tyranny. Whatever it takes.” He continued to laugh, coughs mixed in as well.
Commander Mono took one step forward, her MO-4 up. Then, she paused and looked down.
She was standing where the man had been sitting before she had kicked him, on top of an old terrasteel manhole cover. She knelt down next to it. It had a hole where a hand could fit and lift it up, but the edges seemed to be melted together, effectively sealing it.
“N-25, restrain the fugitive. N-19, break open this manhole. They’ve escaped into the sewers.” Commander Mono shook her head. “N-21, N-27, and N-18, you’ll be coming with me and N-19 into the sewers once we’re through. N-31 and N-33, take care of the injured until the medvac gets here. The rest of you secure the area.”
“Commander Mono…” Lieutenant Lapel said, walking up to her after leaving the alleyway. “What is going on?” She stepped back, letting N-19 begin working on the manhole cover.
“They were using firearms, which are banned according to the Weaponry Bill of 2079,” Commander Mono stated. “It just so happens that a shipment of firearms that were to be melted down were stolen from cargo ship 2133.” She looked over at the durasteel plate. “This is a deployable durasteel shield, made out of reinforced durasteel, too weak for vehicles but too heavy for body armor,” she continued. “Convoy 3968 was carrying several of these. All of them were lost. If we were to check the serial number of this shield, I bet it would match with one of them.” Finally, Commander Mono looked over at the man. N-25 had put restraining cuffs on him and was now moving him along, rather roughly. “He said something about a revolution.”
“What does this all mean?” Lieutenant Lapel asked, clear fear in his voice.
“I believe the Arcadian Megalopolis has an insurgency on its hands,” Commander Mono stated. “It’s no mild insurgency. They’re well organized, well-trained, and well-equipped. They are a massive threat to the megaregion. It’s my responsibility to stop them.” At that moment, N-19 finished cutting through the manhole cover, lifting it up and setting it aside.
“N-18, N-19, N-21, N-27, let's move,” Commander Mono said. N-19 stepped back as Commander Mono walked over and began to climb down, leaving the street and entering the sewers below.
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“Well, here we are,” the taxi driver said as he pulled up to the curb. “655 116th street, in sector seventy-four, as you requested. As for my-”
Arri placed a thick stack of Federation dollars on the center console, which was definitely more than she had promised him. “Here you go,” she said. She opened the door of the backseat, picked Marsh back up in a princess carry again, climbed out of the taxi with Marsh in her arms, and closed the door behind her.
Arri stood in front of an apartment building, in seemingly better shape than the one she made the delivery to. She pushed open the door to the lobby, stepping inside and leaving the street behind. The taxi idled there for half a minute before starting back up and driving into the night.
About a minute after the taxi left, Arri stepped back out into the street, Marsh still in her arms and asleep. She looked around before slipping into an alleyway, quickly walking down it to reach 117th street. There were also apartment buildings, but many had stores on the first floor, all of which were closed.
She crossed the street over to one of these stores. Its glass display windows were tinted black, with the words “TOP-QUALITY ANDROID REPAIR” in large white block letters. Below it in a smaller text were the store’s hours. Arri walked up to the door and knocked on the glass three times.
The sound of objects falling to the floor could be heard from behind the door. Then, after several moments of silence, a female voice spoke, rather groggily. “Can’t you read the fucking display window?” the voice groaned. “We are fucking closed! Come back in… seven hours and thirty-eight minutes. WHO THE FUCK IS UP AND AT AN ANDROID REPAIR STORE AT ONE TWENTY-TWO IN THE MORNING?!”
“It’s Arri.”
“Oh. For fucks sake…” Arri could hear a series of deadbolts being pulled back before the door swung open.
A woman stood in front of Arri. She was about thirty years old, standing at about one hundred and eight-seven centimeters, with messy, loose black hair, slightly pale skin, and tired green eyes. She wore a white res-fiber tank top and gray poly-fiber shorts on her well-built frame, but nothing else. Overall, she was quite attractive.
“Why the fuck are you here at one twenty-two in the morning,” the woman asked, stifling a yawn. Then, she saw Marsh in Arri’s arms. “What’s with the boy toy?”
“Critical injuries. My reserve power will last me about forty-six and a half hours,” Arri replied.” And he’s not a boy toy, Iso. He’s the one responsible for my injuries.
“Well, shit,” Iso replied. “Alright. I’ll get you fixed up. Then we’ll decide what to do with him.” Iso stepped back to let Arri in before locking the door behind them.
The inside of the store wasn’t very big, just a small area before a glass counter with various boxed android parts on display inside. There was a door to a side room, which was wide open. Iso stepped inside, Arri following her in.
Arri closed the door on a workshop, lit by several lights in the ceiling. Hanging from the ceiling via connections in their backs next to one of the walls were three lifeless androids. Two of them were extremely human-like in terms of appearance, in seemingly perfect condition and were just charging. The third might have looked like a human at some point, but all of its skin-mimic was missing, revealing its terrasteel body. Its torso cavity was exposed and empty, the contents in a box below it.
Against another wall was a shelf filled with android components, and a workstation right next to it. A third wall had a small table with a coffee maker, kettle, a box of tea bags, a bag of ground coffee beans, and two mugs. Against the fourth was a couch with a pillow, a blanket, and a knocked-over stack of paperbacks. Finally, in the center of the room, there was a durasteel workbench, recently cleaned.
“Alright, dump him on the couch and let me take a look at you,” Iso said, grabbing a pair of gloves and goggles from the workstation. Arri did so, setting Marsh down on the couch and her bag next to it, before hopping onto the workbench. She took off her jacket and shirt before activating the motors that opened up her torso cavity, seperating into several pieces and revealing the damage that had been done.
“Holy hell-” Iso gasped. She looked over at marsh. “He did all this?” Arri nodded. “Well, it’s gonna take a while to repair.” Iso sighed. “There goes my hope for getting some more sleep. I’m gonna make a pot of coffee, and you tell me exactly what happened while I work on you. Everything.”