Floor 21- Dark Angel

by Jason Luthor

  It’s put even more pressure on us to get this next operation to find this monster underway, and I’m pushing Tommy to quietly get his men together so we can deploy them before the War Council has a chance to protest. I’m within my authority on this one, but they won’t like it. Still, if we don’t track this creature down, it’s going to make forging this alliance difficult. We just need one, solid victory to prove to the council that an alliance can work. To prove to them the raiders aren’t just mindless murderers and that we can work together, as humans.

  Because, after that visit from our friends at Fort Silence? Well, I don’t think I need to remind anyone how much Representative Bouley wants to get the military back in Central. I just . . . I can’t help but feel as if between the Tank, Fort Silence, and the Dark Angel, something’s going to break soon. I don’t know how, and I don’t know when, but somebody’s going to do something stupid, and it’s going to make life worse for all of us.

  Mark my words. Something’s about to give.

  IN FIRE

  Tommy’s Recording 12

  It’s almost midnight when the alarm goes off from my Baby Boy. I practically jump out of bed when it suddenly starts spinning circles on the table, a red light from its eye washing the room over and over as it turns. The whole time, it’s screaming, CODE ONE ALERT. CODE ONE ALERT. The second I’m out of bed, I’m grabbing for my personal sidearm.

  There’s only one thing a Code One means.

  I’m out the door as soon as I’ve got clothes on and rushing down the hall to Dodger’s room. She’s already poking her head out of the door as she sees me rushing for her, my Baby Boy floating just over my shoulder. Her eyes look panicked. Not that I can blame her. “Tommy, what the hell’s happening?”

  “No idea. Haven’t had a chance to call in to the garrison yet,” I tell her as I start pointing into the apartment. “I’m on my way down there right now. I know you’re not ready to get back out there, but you’re still building captain here. Keep everyone organized. Grab your gun and tell everyone to stay in their rooms until we get more information. If you get any word from the block captain, just follow their orders.”

  “Uh, right. Yeah. I’ll grab Cynthia too, she . . .”

  “Yeah, grab a couple of people you know will keep their heads straight and tell them to spread the word.”

  “I’ll start rounding up some of the building officers.”

  I nod to her as my eyes jump up, right into Mike’s face as he’s running up to us. “What’s the word, Tommy?”

  “No idea. As soon as we’re outside, I’ll get command on the line.”

  “Great. Already seen a few other people heading down to ground floor. You’re senior officer in the building, so—”

  “Yeah, I’ll make sure everyone’s in the transports before we roll out. You do some counts down there and fill me in on anyone we might be missing.” Mike gives me a nod before heading off. For a second, I look at Dodger. She looks like something’s tearing her apart inside, half wanting to come and half wanting to lock herself away. I just nod to her. “I get it. It’s not just the arm.”

  “What?” she asks.

  “I can’t . . . I can’t stay much longer, but I know it’s not just the arm that’s bothering you.”

  “No, I . . . I know.”

  “But you can make a difference here.”

  “I will. I’ll make sure everyone’s safe.”

  That’s the last thing we say before I wrap her up in my arms and give her as big of a hug as I have time to. After that, I’m sprinting for the elevator to join about a dozen soldiers already waiting to deploy out to Central Primary. I turn and give her one last smile and see her waving to me. That’s before I cram myself into the elevator with everyone else and take a deep breath. All I can hope is that this isn’t as bad as I think it is.

  Mike’s Recording 07

  Me and a few others are doing roll calls as guys load up into the transports, checking names against our tablets and getting people loaded up. Same thing’s happening across dozens of buildings strung out along a dozen city blocks, so all you see up and down the street’s transports filling up with guys and gals who’re grabbing for equipment inside the transports, everyone strapping on helmets and vests before settling in to take a ride.

  Every apartment building’s got a procedure for getting troops out to the garrison in an emergency. Here, a couple of us do the grunt work of getting everyone checked in and finding anybody who isn’t. Tommy makes the final call on when we’re ready to roll, but by the time I see him coming out of the building, almost everyone’s accounted for.

  “Mike,” he shouts as he’s running my way. “What’s the headcount?”

  “Got nearly everybody except for a couple of stragglers. Maybe half a dozen or so.”

  “We’re not waiting on them,” he says as he pushes me toward the closest vehicle. “Message the building officers and tell them anyone who’s not on these transports is following back up protocol. They need to get their weapons out of the security lockers and provide protection for the residents in their buildings.”

  “I’m on it.”

  “I’m going to put a call in and—” Just as he’s saying it, we see a ball of fire rise into the sky like nothing I’ve ever seen. It lights up the night, and you can hear it, even though it looks like it’s miles away. Tommy shakes his head as he shoves me inside. “That’s close. Whatever’s happening, it’s just across the river.”

  “You mean they’re already at Second Freedom?”

  “With an explosion like that? They have to be.” He slides between the row of soldiers in the transport and leans into the driver’s cabin. “Get us out of here and message the rest of the transports. We’re moving out.” The guy up front gives him a thumb’s up, and a half second later, the ground beneath us is rumbling. Tommy makes his way back to me and tosses himself into the last seat left. He’s already shoving a helmet over his head and turning on the mic piece inside. Then, for a couple of seconds, it’s just him screaming questions until he finally leans back and growls. When he does, he looks like he’s out of breath.

  I just stare at him from my seat for a second. “Find out anything?”

  He shakes his head at me. “Just the obvious. We’re being hit. Hard.”

  “Do I need to ask?”

  Tommy laughs. “You already know what’s going on.”

  “Raiders.”

  “Looks like we couldn’t trust them to hold up the treaty after all.”

  Personal Recording of the President, Gabriel Branagh 05

  The screen in the war room’s blazing alive when I step inside. Martin’s already barking at someone on the comms system by the time I’m at the table, but all I’m greeted by are the icy stares of generals who think I shouldn’t be holding my office. Not that I have time to pamper them while I’m staring at a screen showing me my city getting rolled over by tanks.

  “Martin!” I bark at the colonel the second he’s shut down his line. “What the hell am I staring at?”

  “Oh, I think you know what you’re staring at, Mr. President. We’ve already seen pictures of these beasts before.”

  “Raider tanks.”

  “That’s not the only problem we’ve got, though. Early reports from the outer colonies say a not insignificant number of raiders are wearing power armor, just like our guest from Fort Silence said they would be.”

  “What do we know about them?”

  “They’re highly mobile. Strong enough to shrug off small arms fire, which makes most of the weapons our militia is packing ineffective. Heavy machine gun fire, grenades, missiles, it’ll take one of those to stop them.”

  “Are any of them in Central yet?”

  “They’re practically at the gates. They’re coming from the south and north, along two bridges.”

  “Our defenses?”

  “Suiciders have been bombing the hell out of the bridge defense line, softening them up for their ground forces to come in. We�
��ve taken out a lot of them with anti-air fire, but they just keep coming.”

  That’s when another voice interrupts us, one I can’t ignore. The admittedly bloated face of General McCullum is staring at me from down the table and barking, “What the hell are you going to do about this, Branagh?”

  “I think that’s why we’re all here, general. I’ve already ordered the Green Zone primed to detonate in case the raiders do manage to get a foothold.”

  “You’re already thinking about blowing the food supply?” His face is so red that I’m almost sure he’s about to explode. “Are you even going to bother fighting back?

  “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I am. The majority of the militia’s convening on the garrison as we speak. We’ll split our forces north and south and try to keep their tanks trapped on the bridge as long as possible. We’ll get the armored transports out on the streets to wipe up their troops and Furies, but I think we all know that we don’t have any tanks here ourselves.”

  “Yes. How unfortunate that political decisions weakened the ability of our military to defend our homes.”

  My eyes nearly cut right through him. “If you want to argue about my lack of fitness to lead, do it after we’re out of this. For right now, we’ve got a fight to win.”

  Tommy’s Recording 13

  Everything’s a mess by the time we roll through the Battery District and onto Freedom Bridge. The way ahead is clogged with wrecked shells of transports that’ve been blown to hell, and there are troopers tripping over themselves to fall back. It’s not hard to see why. We’re practically staring down the barrel of a gun here, with tanks so close that anyone on the street is a target. I’m out of the transport and immediately screaming orders, because there’s nobody there who looks like they have command. “Patel, get on that overhead walkway with some of your men and put down some fire on those tanks. Put a missile right up their barrels.”

  “Yes, sir,” he shouts back as he leads some of the guys away. The entire bridge has a walkway that runs above it. When Freedom Bridge was built, the designers tried to mimic some of the style of some of the older bridges around the island. People haven’t used it in a century, but it’s the only place to get any advantage. It’s not like we can go toe to toe with tanks.

  “Mike!” I shout, but he already knows what to do. Somebody was stupid enough to think we could face these tanks down by firing back on them before they finished crossing the bridge, but that’s impossible. Mike’s organizing everyone and getting them back down the ramp and to street level. All I see are a crowd of men and women just sprinting back down the pavement. What a mess. I barely have time to process it when Mike points behind me.

  “Get down!” he screams just before one of the transports goes flying into the air. It rockets into the sky in a ball of fire, and I’m diving away as pieces of flaming wreckage go spilling along the bridge. It’s only a second later when I feel him grabbing me by the arm. He gets me back onto my legs, and soon we’re joining the rest of the troops on the retreat.

  As we’re running, I manage to get my comms channel open. “Patel, do you have a shot from up there?”

  “I’ve got eyes on the lead targets.”

  “Can you tell me how many there are?”

  “At least a dozen rolling. There’s a lot of Furies behind them though.”

  “Only twelve.”

  “Only?”

  “It could be worse. Alright, we all know that walkway isn’t sturdy so take your shot but stay safe.”

  “I’m on it.”

  As soon as we’re off the bridge, I flip on the video feed from Patel’s Baby Boy. The feed starts broadcasting through in the upper left corner of my goggles, and it lets me see exactly what he was talking about. Some of the tanks are treaded and some are repulsor powered, so the raiders must be finding these things in different depots all around the city. Otherwise, they’re built pretty similarly. Front facing guns and top mounted turrets for firing on troopers. Troopers like Patel. He’s smart enough to space out his guys before they pop their Pocket Space windows and grab for their RPG launchers. After that, I just hold my breath as the air starts to fill up with fiery trails of flying explosives. The air gets congested with smoke as a rainfall of destruction goes falling down along the bridgeway.

  I flip the signal on my helmet and tune into the war room. “Central, we need to rethink this whole strategy. Those tanks have too much firepower to hold onto the bridge. We’re slowing them down, but we have to fight this one in the street.”

  It’s Colonel Martin on the other end of the line. “The War Council’s being pretty insistent. They don’t want any of those tanks entering the city.”

  “Yeah, well, we’re going to lose half of our men trying to hold that bridge. Drag the tanks into the streets, put down rocket fire on them from all directions, and aim for their soft spots. Air intakes, treads, topsides. We have an advantage if we can come at them from all angles instead of just lining up in a shooting gallery for them.”

  “I’ll relay that to the council for consideration. For now, you know your orders, captain.”

  I shut the line down and shake my head. Mike looks over at me. “What’d they say?”

  It gets a laugh out of me. “They say they’ll think about it.”

  Personal Recording of the President, Gabriel Branagh 06

  Martin looks over at General McCullum and nods. “It’s a sound strategy. We get a few of our captains on the line, tell them to fall back. These raiders don’t know the city or how to get around it, and those tanks have limited mobility. We get them inside the city, and then we start bombing the hell out of them.”

  “Well, hell, Martin, if it’s so simple, then wake me up when this is all over.”

  “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but I think it’s better than us trying to go head to head with their barrels pointed straight at us.” He looks around the room. “So, can I tell my men to fall back into the city or are we going to let them die out on those bridges? The bridge line defenses are completely wiped out at this point so what we’re asking them to do is suicide.”

  There’s a round of grunts as each of the generals agrees, and a second later, Martin’s got a map of the area around Freedom Bridge up on the screen. “The militia is at Freedom Bridge and holding for now. If the raiders are trying to take a straight line to Central Primary from the south, they’ll most likely move up Broadway or one of the other major streets. We’re talking six miles of distance between us and them. We can sag back into the city and redirect our men around the path those raiders are taking, that way we can entrap them on two sides. If we get our men ahead of them, put them into an elevated position, then we can also drop some pretty heavy firepower from the surrounding buildings.”

  I raise a finger. “Martin, are those sections of the city evacuated? Were we able to get our citizens back to the secured bunkers?”

  He shakes his head. “Latest word is that most of the buildings for several blocks are clear, but we’ve got more than a few stragglers strung out in the Battery, Lower East, and Lower West Districts. We should be able to move everyone to safety who’s further north, but residents around the Battery District are going to take a pounding.”

  “Make sure our men know to keep a watch out for them. We need to prioritize savings innocent lives whenever possible.”

  “I’ll relay the orders now, Mr. President,” he says as he turns to speak into his mouthpiece. In the meantime, I’m flipping switches to change what’s on the viewscreen.

  “Let’s see if we can get a video line from the city. Maybe we’ve got a Baby Boy with a clear view of the attack.”

  Mike’s Recording 08

  I’m hauling it at full speed down an empty street with only a couple of guys with me. My visor’s got a map displayed for the whole area, and I can see a long streak of red on the opposite side of the block from us. Raiders. They’re moving parallel to us, heading north and straight toward Central Primary, and we’re t
rying to find a way to get behind them. I signal to the team, and soon we’re busting through a side street. This late at night, it’s almost pitch black. Maybe that’s a good thing. Wouldn’t want to get spotted, and the night vision in our goggles does keep us seeing in the dark. That’s at least one advantage for us.

  We’re halfway down a backstreet when my earpiece cracks to life and Tommy comes through the other end. “Chapman, I’ve got my people in position out ahead of those tanks. We’re going to slow them down and let you come up the rear.”

  “Are you in a safe position?”

  “Doesn’t matter at this point. We’ve got civilians in the area. If we don’t stop these tanks, there’s going to be a lot of dead people around here.”

  “Got it. I’m almost at the intersection. Give us enough time to light up the fireworks.”

  “You’ll have the time.”

  We hit the corner and I take a look north up the road. Less than a block away, I can see one tank. Treaded, so it’s not as mobile as those running on repulsor tech. It’s protected on both sides by what I think’s a dozen raiders. They’re just plowing through the city when Tommy’s guys start opening up. All of a sudden, the windows from a nearby building become a wall of gunfire. I can see muzzle flashes, like a few dozen stars flashing in and out of life. That brings the tank to a stop and gets the raiders firing back, using the tank to shield themselves as much as they can. I turn behind me to one of my guys and point to the tank.