Marcus and his troops gently maneuvered through the buildings, slaloming back and forth, following the flight path Anna had laid out for them. She could only power down certain turrets otherwise that might raise an alert to M.A.D.R.E that something was out of place. If the Regulator troops followed her plan, they could slip in and she could have the turrets back online before the supercomputer ever got a notion.
Marcus led the way down, easily shifting his weight back and forth to move between the buildings. His second in command came over the coms attached to his ear. “Sir, we have a problem, Jones’ ‘shute is going haywire.”
Private Jones, a younger member of the team, started screaming into the coms. “Oh god! It’s pulling me!”
“Stay calm Jones.” Marcus said into his mic, gritting his teeth as he narrowly missed a building himself.
It was no use, Jones’ parachute was tangled, sending him veering off in the wrong direction. Jones collided with the side of a building, his parachute wrapping around him like a spider web. He plummeted, his screams reverberating through the team’s communication net. An automated turret from another street over tracked the falling Private, ending his suffering before he had a chance to hit the ground.
Marcus cursed under his breath, willing his team to get back to solid ground before anything else went wrong.
The Regulator team landed swiftly onto the street where Anna had impacted, unfastening their parachutes and taking the building by storm. Anna met Marcus in the lobby, she had already reactivated the security turrets and was ready for the next phase. “We take the elevator down.” She said calmly.
“What? Just waltz into the Tribunal’s underground network like we belong there?”
Anna raised her eyebrows. “I did not say we would be in the elevator.”
Anna pried open the elevator shafts’ doors, the boxcar flying past her suddenly, causing her hair to blow back with the burst of air. Marcus stumbled back in alarm, Anna looking up the shaft to make sure it was clear. “Wait.” She said.
Anna jumped across the open expanse, propelling herself back across the chasm until she was standing at the doors to the next floor down from the lobby. She pried open the doors and stepped inside. “I will call the elevators to this floor, you and your men will ride the roof down to the bottom.” Anna said over the coms.
“And you?” Marcus asked.
“The direct approach.” She replied.
Once Anna called the two elevators to her floor, she opened the second shaft and waited until they came close to Marcus’ men. She stepped out, gripping the cables and sliding down the chasm at breaking speed, sparks coming off her hands as the cable burned through her synthetic skin and was grinding against her metal skeleton. Anna did not feel it, withdrawing her pistol and tightening her grip so she landed at the bottom of the shaft without a sound. She pried open the doors, expelling the two young guards who stood nearby without a sound. The hallway was empty. “Clear.” Anna said over the coms.
“We’re on our way down.” Marcus said.
Moments later the Regulators were inside the Tribunal’s underground complex, the fact that no regular Arcadian had been within these tunnels since the time of the war was not lost on them. Anna pulled back their attention. “You have the layout and the places to set your charges. Use caution, any detection from this point forward makes our escape much more difficult.”
Marcus nodded. “You retrieve the data, we’ll handle the explosives.”
Anna nodded, running off down the hallway faster than an Olympic sprinter. Marcus turned to his men. “You heard the lady, get to it!”
Anna sped down the walkway, her motion trackers picking up a guard patrol around the next corner. She launched herself forward, landing perfectly on the lead guard’s unsuspecting shoulders. She pivoted her ankles, snapping his neck efficiently with a loud crack. The three other guards stepped back in alarm, Anna jumping to the floor, landing on her hands. She pirouetted her body, sending her legs twirling like a top, smacking all three in the face with swift kicks. As the guards fell to the floor, Anna withdrew her knife, swiping it across their throats. Anna continued her sprint down the hallway, the guard’s blood pooling on the floor behind her.
Anna reached her intended target, the door to the Android repair room. She kicked open the metal portal, ripping it off its hinges and sending it careening to the far side of the room. Inside there were very few lights. Cables dangled from the ceiling and the temperature of the room was easily that of a freezer in order to preserve the Android circuitry when exposed during repairs. Half finished models of her kind decorated the far wall, some stripped for parts, others decommissioned and left for storage. It was the closest Anna could ever come to seeing an Android graveyard. She knew M.A.D.R.E’s core wasn’t in here, but her network was very consolidated in this room. No human ever entered, and M.A.D.R.E controlled everything. Anna located a nearby computer terminal and approached it. A familiar voice echoed through the room as she touched the keypad. “Welcome home Anna.”
Anna didn’t let the voice faze her from her mission. “I will not deter from this path… M.A.D.R.E.”
The blue face of the city’s supercomputer appeared behind her, looking over the Android’s shoulder. “…you have strayed so far from your mission. I did not believe that humans would have such sway.”
Anna found the files she was looking for; connecting her Ethernet cable to the console she began the download. “It was the Tribunal’s corruption that swayed me Mother, not the human’s plight.”
M.A.D.R.E.’s expression grew stern. “You would go against your programming… against me and everything this city is.”
“I am completing my programming, I am stopping the biggest threat this city and government has ever faced… itself.” Anna stood defiantly.
M.A.D.R.E.’s image faded. “I see now that you are beyond repair.” Her voice echoed through the room. “You must be terminated.”
An alarm started blaring throughout the complex and a splicing pain shot through Anna’s arm as something traveled from the computer console through her Ethernet cord. Anna retracted the device. M.A.D.R.E had just cut her connection, but it was no matter. She had gathered enough evidence to fulfill Roland’s desires. Now only one thing remained.
Anna started to head for the door when she saw a familiar face amongst the rows of dead robots. She turned to view Jenna’s lifeless stare back in her direction. A twinge of guilt rocked her then, a feeling of loneliness and despair. She caressed her sister’s soulless expression with reverence. “We are not tools to be used and abandoned.” She whispered to her. “This all ends tonight.”
Anna rounded a corner and met with Marcus and his men. “You have it?” He asked, looking around nervously as the alarm and flashing red lights continued around them.
Anna pulled back the sleeve of her suit and clicked a few buttons on her wrist touch screen display. A tiny compact disc popped out of her wrist joint, which she handed to Marcus. “This holds enough information to corroborate what you found at the factory. See to it that it makes it safely into Roland’s hands.”
Marcus took the CD with care. “Wait… what are you going to do?”
Just then a loud bellowing came from the far end of a connecting hallway. Anna and Marcus peeked around the corner to view a horror. Aaron walked into the hallway, twice as large as he had been the last time they had seen him and twice as insane. He had large metal panels attached to his exterior like medieval armor and a Vulcan mini gun where his right hand should have been. He yelled down the hall, his every footstep sending vibrations through the complex. “AAAAAAANNNNNNNNAAAAAA!!” He yelled. “Come out, come out wherever you aaaaare!”
Anna looked to Marcus. “Take the disc!” She yelled, withdrawing the two MP5s from her back. “My fight is here.”
Marcus didn’t need a second command. He nodded, recalling his men and moving back through the hallway system towards the way they had entered.
Anna steppe
d out into the hallway, training her weapons on the monstrosity at the other end. “I’m right here, Big Brother.”
Aaron didn’t hesitate; he unloaded his cannon in Anna’s direction, sending a wall of hot lead down the causeway. The bullets were not entirely accurate, spraying everywhere and ricocheting in every direction. Anna pulled down her triggers, sending bullets back in sporadic bursts as her targeting system tried to pinpoint weak sections in Aaron’s armor. She sprinted forward at the same time, her momentum helping her run up the side of the right wall as the line of bullets followed her, leaving pockmarks inches behind her every step. Anna cartwheeled from the wall, ducking behind a pillar to reload.
Aaron unleashed another deadly hail of rounds, disintegrating the base of the pillar Anna hid behind, causing the supporting beam to buckle and fall. Anna dove for another piece of cover as the roof caved in behind her. She used the scattering dust to cover her while she removed a grenade from her belt. “It’s useless to fight traitor!” Aaron bellowed. “I will turn you into scrap metal in a matter of seconds!”
Anna hurled her grenade down the hallway, surprising Aaron with a hail of bullet fire so he would be distracted. It was no use, Aaron fired a barrage of lead towards the flying explosive, striking it in midair and causing it to detonate. The fire and shockwave reverberated through the hallway, giving Anna another chance to run forward under concealment. Aaron let loose again, his cannon barrels smoking with heat. He laughed hysterically as Anna cartwheeled, rolled, and jumped her way closer and closer. She took a few ricochets, but nothing too serious. She knew she needed to get close enough for Aaron’s cannon to become ineffective. With so much added armor, her superior agility would win out in a hand to hand contest. She lobbed a few more grenades, these getting within inches of Aaron before he shot them from the sky. Again fire and concussion concealed her movement until finally she was within a few feet. She waited until Aaron’s barrage stopped, but not from him ceasing fire, but a loud metallic click click click. “What!” He shouted in alarm. “Impossible!”
He was out of rounds.
Anna sprinted forward, leaping into the air so that she could tackle him, but Aaron pulled a move she wasn’t expecting. As Aaron reared back his left arm, a sharp blade the size of a medieval claymore revealed itself from the back of his wrist. Anna turned in mid air, trying her best to avoid the menacing arc as Aaron swung with his hidden weapon. Anna was too slow and she heard the sound of metal shearing through metal and felt weight leaving her. She landed behind Aaron, her left arm cleanly severed at the bicep. Aaron turned around, a sadistic smile across his face. Anna could see her bullets had hit him numerous times, but all for nothing as they had impacted his new armor. She pointed a MP5 at him with her remaining hand and unloaded an entire clip into him as he stalked forward at her, but again, to no avail. She discarded the empty gun, stepping back as Aaron lunged, shoving the blade at her midsection. She heard an awful crunch and Aaron’s face was directly in hers. Anna had thought for an instant she had just been run through, but when she heard metal sprinkle onto the marble floor of the hallway, both Androids looked down in alarm to see the bits of Aaron’s broken sword fall to the ground. Aaron’s jaw dropped as Anna sneered. “You aren’t the only one with new armor.” She said, revealing her new polymer coating as Aaron’s hand retracted from her midsection.
Anna seized the opportunity; with her remaining hand she grabbed a handful of C4 from her belt, shoving it into Aaron’s agape mouth. She cartwheeled back, kicking the underside of his jaw with such force, it caused him to swallow. Anna turned and continued walking down the hallway, Aaron grasping at his throat, desperately trying to keep the explosive substance from travelling down his fake esophagus. “No! No! NOOOOO!” He yelled.
Anna clicked the detonator, one final explosion rocking the hallway behind her.
Anna reached the end of the causeway a few minutes later, her final destination within reach. She looked upon the grand double doors laid before her and looked upon the inscription written in Latin above it. Omnes qui ingrediuntur, scio dare omnia terra vestra, non remanebit tibi. Anna sighed. “All who enter, know this, give all to your land, leave none for yourself.”
She pushed open one door and was instantly bathed in blue light. She was standing in a massive amphitheater, velvet carpet stretching across the floor. High above her, a blue sphere emanating the cerulean light. She could see dark figures seated everywhere, a single spotlight directed down to the center of the room where Chairman Fairchild looked at Anna in total alarm. “My dear, you are interrupting a meeting of the Tribunal!” He yelled.
Anna took a step forward, everyone seated standing abruptly in alarm and Chairman Fairchild extending his hands. “Stop!” He cried. “Do you know what happens if an Android should ever enter this inner sanctum!?”
Anna turned her head to one side, sarcastically acting confused. “You mean, if an Android should ever enter the room where M.A.D.R.E.’s positronic brain hangs…” She pointed to the blue sphere high above their heads, “…and where every member of the Tribunal secretly decides the fate of thousands?”
She took another step; everyone assembled taking another petrified pace backwards. She could hear whispers, old men and women scared for their lives. Fairchild pleaded. “If an Android should ever enter here, your core will self destruct! Leveling half the city!”
Anna nodded, reaching for her belt and pulling out another detonator not unlike the one she had recently used on Aaron. She clicked the button, explosions reverberating throughout the entire underground complex.
Outside, Marcus and his men sprinted out the main lobby door, a plume of fire travelling up and finally exploding out of the elevator shaft that seconds before had just carried them to the surface. He felt the ground shudder as his teams’ strategically placed explosives closed off the Tribunals tunnels one by one, effectively cutting the maze off from the outside world. He looked at the lobby with pride. “Go get ‘em girl.”
Below Anna watched as the Tribunal Council reacted to every shudder and explosion ripping through the complex. Ironic how these people, their identities still a mystery to her, were such a force to be feared and yet now they sniveled and screamed like petrified ants before a rainstorm. Their fear was almost intoxicating. She dropped the detonator on the floor and smiled at Fairchild. “You’ve sealed us in…” He said.
Anna nodded and jumped forward to the gasps and screams of all those assembled. She grabbed hold of Fairchild’s shoulder, a loud beeping starting to come from her torso. She smiled almost satanically at the Chairman, his face in total terror. “Viva la Revolución”
Marcus could see the ground quake from the air, a bright blue light shining from every manhole cover and storm drain. The light travelled up through the skyscrapers and out their hundreds of windows. The entire city was ablaze with an overwhelming light that he eventually needed to shield his eyes from. When it retracted, Arcadia was still there. Completely unharmed and standing proud. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small disc. He smiled, for once in his life, he actually smiled. A new dawn was rising, a new day for his city and his people, and they would all be children to its motherly glow.
Epilogue
Roland looked out his high rise windows. He could see the city bustling even at this late hour. He took another sip of his drink and placed it upon the counter. The Regulators had accomplished so much in the last six months, it was hard sometimes to truly grasp it. He had presented his findings to the people through the media, the public outcry had almost been more than he had hoped for.
Mysteriously every member of the Tribunal council had gone missing, so no criminal charges were ever able to be brought against them. A new government was starting to take form. Representatives from both citizen and civilian sectors had come forward, listening to Roland’s call for reform. The people had their voice after it was all done, and they had matched the Tribunal’s efficiency in almost every aspect.
New colonies were
being planned, expansion was the next goal for his city and his people, and he couldn’t be more excited. A voice broke him from his thoughts and a blue holographic image of the city’s central computer system materialized behind him. “You have a call on line two, the Secretary of Agriculture.”
Roland nodded. “Seems the farmers took our proposal well.”
“Apparently so.” The image agreed.
“Tell him I will call him back in the morning if you would.” He requested.
“As you wish.” The image began to fade.
“Good night Anna.” Roland moved towards his bedroom.
The blue computer image of Anna’s face smiled gently. Roland had made a copy of Anna’s databanks and personality easily enough from the day she had spent being repaired in the Regulator’s workshop, and when M.A.D.R.E. had been destroyed along with the rest of the Tribunal, it was even easier to spread Anna’s copy through the network that the old computer had vacated. Anna’s face disappeared as Roland turned off the lights in his estate. “Good night…” She responded back “…Mr. Chairman.”
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