7

Yuller took the lead as they the building. Clara, Qwes, and Shadow stayed at the back so that they wouldn’t get in anyone’s way. They didn’t head directly to the station but entered the top floor of a small office building that stood opposite the station.

Yuller tapped his comm-ring and said something. “Miss Clara, come over here, you might find this interesting.”

She went to stand next to him, he was only slightly taller than she was and she hadn’t even fully grown yet.

“Look over there,” he said as he pointed to a distant building. At first Clara could see nothing particular about the building but after a while she realized that there was movement coming from on within.

“Those are our people.” He pointed to three other locations, all of them strategically chosen.

He tapped his comm-ring again then said, “Begin.”

A gun shot went off, this one was much louder than the normal firearm. “Snipers,” he informed her. She could see people falling one after another after each gunshot.

The soldiers guarding the station began to stir, they didn’t like dying without being able to fall back. Before the enemy soldiers even started to decide on their next course of action the suddenly stopped, then left their posts and headed inside the building.

“Is that what you wanted to happen?” Why did he allow the enemies to barricade themselves inside the station?

He smiled. “Wait for it,” he said before crossing his arms and looking away.

A short time passed after he spoke. Clara started wondering whether Yuller really knew what he was doing.

The broadcasting station remained quiet, no signs of movement. The sniper fire had also stopped since there were no more targets to be had.

It was then that a large group came heading out of the station. Some were carrying shields over head and some were pushing people infront of them.

“Looks like they made you.” The commander said. He tapped his comm-ring and started speaking again, “Hold fire. I repeat, hold your fire until further orders.”

The enemy group along with their hostages left the station and headed to one of the buildings that housed one of the snipers. “Alpha team lead come in.”

“This is alpha team.”

“I’m handing over command to you now, you know the drill. Right?”

“Yes sir! This is a straight up thirteen-dash-B sir, we’re prepared.”

“Good. Over and out.”

“Affermative.”

The comm ring let off a click as the Alpha Team’s captain hung up.

Yuller turned to the squad. “Let’s move.”

They went down the stairs and left the building. “Oswald, take point.” A thin tall man stepped forward and held up a ridiculously large rifle. Clara couldn’t help but think that it seemed very unpractical. Despite the size however the man, as thin as he was, was able to swing the rifle around as if it weighed nothing.

Oswald aimed to the broadcasting, station, he shouted, “Clear!” then ran towards a car parked on the road side and took cover behind it. The rest of the team followed. This area of the Meritocracy was quite well off, so they had no need to wait for the trams to come around if they happened to want to go somewhere. This was an area filled with medium-high income households and it showed in the neatness and the expensiveness of the surroundings.

The Amere TV broadcasting station was an ugly block. Especiall in comparison to the scenery, there were well maintained parks, glimmering shopfronts, elegant patios leading into houses. In the business areas there were benches, small trees and fountains to help maintain the sense of tranquility coming from the rest of the neighbourhood.

The area now however was quiet different. There was no one in sight, Clara could only imagine that the rest of the residents had been chased off somehow.

Regardless of how it came to be she could only judge the area according to how it looked like at the moment. And the only thing she could think about was how desolate it all seemed.

The commander waved at Qwes. Without a word the girl grabbed Clara’s arm and pulled her along as they ran towards a parked car. Oswald was already on the lookout. After the commander joined them he started moving without having to be told. It was clear this was part of a procedure.

The went from car to car, then they broke through a store front, it was a wonder that the alarm did not go off, but she assumed that the commander had already taken that into account.

They walked through the storefront to the backentrance. One of the burly men stepped forward and used a tool to break open the doors lock. They found an alleyway on the other side. Above them one building away from where they were standing was the tall and imposing but most of all ugly broadcasting station. Oswald took his rifle and aimed over the walls and looked through the scope to the station’s rooftop.

“I think someone spotted us,” Oswald nonchalantly remarked to the commander.

“Shoot him,”

“It’s a woman,”

“Is it an enemy?”

“Yes,”

“What are you waiting for.”

CRACK!

The sniper sounded like nothing she had ever heard before. It was pretty obvious that the sniper wasn’t an ordinary weapon. No projectile based weapon would make such a strange sound.

Oswald relaxed his shoulders after firing the gun. He scowled at Yuller before returning his attention to scanning the rooftops.

“I was just making an observation.”

The rest of the group groaned.

“We don’t have time for this. We’ll argue about semantics later.”

“Fine… No one else has spotted us. We should move out now.” Oswald was speaking in a hissing voice, as if trying to be quiet, but in actuality he was failing miserably at it.

“Proceed.”

Oswald took off without anymore banter and the group all trailed after. They broke through another locked door then entered what appeared to be a very large warehouse.

Once inside Oswald tapped two others and they left to go scan the building.

The three came back and waved the others in. Once they’ve gathered Oswald slung the rifle over his back and started climbing the racks filled with all kinds of boxes and materials.

One by one the rest of the team climbed up the rack.

“Clara, get up here.”

Clara looked over at Qwes and Shadow, she shrugged and made her way up the rack. Even though she wasn’t the most physically fit of everyone she knew, it wasn’t like she was weak either.

Her mother would never allow her daughter to be weak. Clara imagined that’s were she got her lazy streak from, she could remember the days spent sneaking away and hiding from her mother and her brutal training.

She loved the woman, but she just wasn’t interested in becoming a fighter.

She arrived at the top and Shadow and Qwes soon joining her. Oswald stood next to an open window with his rifle on the ground and leaning against his side.

He gestured to the window with his head. Clara turned to look. What she saw was a small hook embedded above the window with a thin rope running from it and through the window.

“Your turn.” Oswald said.

Clara gulped, suddenly having developed a keen fear of heights at the sight.

He took out a small handle bar and threw it over the rope, “You ready?” he didn’t wait for her to reply. He pushed her to the handlebar then pushed her further until she had no choice but to climb on to the window ledge. Before she went he left her one last message, “Don’t scream.”

Then he pushed her. The window and the building fell away, she swept over one roof, then another, across and alley.

A wall was fast approaching, Clara was a moment away when a hand suddenly grabbed hold of her.

“Easy there.” The commander said and pulled her from the handlebars, his small frame deceptively powerful.

Clara felt dizzy, she closed her eyes and took a breath.

A thump came from behind her. She looked back and saw Qwes standing from a ten point landing. A moment later, with a flash of black shadow appeared. Who knows how he’d managed that.

When Oswald arrived and started reeling the rope in the commander took the time to speak with his crew.

“Alright, we managed to make it here by relying on Alpha Team’s distraction. From here on out its going to get messy. I don’t think there are any groups we have to worry about but there’s going to be a lot of fighting.”

Yuller looked over at her, “Remember, if anything happens Miss Clara is our top priority.”

Clara looked around. They were standing on a flat rooftop, a small distance away was the broadcasting station.

“Qwes, you know what to do. Everyone, let’s go.”

The commander took out two small submachine guns, his ears twitched and his expression turned serious.

The commander took point this time. Oswald stowed the large rifle onto his back and took out a pistol.

Qwes waited for the rest of the group to leave before she waved for them to go.

They climed down a ladder and then headed out of the warehouse building. Their entrance wasn’t met with any resistance, since the people that had been guarding the entrance were now outside.

They were heading to the broadcasting room, the place which housed the tech that allowed for broadcasting across all of the Southern Isles. Above the station was a large antenna, that and directly below it in a small room was the controller.

Their first objective was to secure that room.

Yuller, pointed two fingers into the sky then swung his arm forward, two elite immediately went ahead and around one of the corners.

Bang, bang, bang, the shots went.

There was a moments pause then another six shots went off. And the rest of the group went around the corner.

6 bodies were laid sprawled out on the ground with a group of scared looking people crouching and staring in fear at the two men holding their pistols aimed at the group.

Yuller gave them a once over then turned to leave. “Wait, we’ll need one of them later,” Clara said.

Yuller nodded and stood to the side, constantly scanning left and right. Clara stepped towards the group, most of the people seemed bedraggled and scared. “Do any of you know how to operate the TV station? My family will compensate you handsomely for your assistance.”

A scared hand shot up, it was a man, unlike the rest of the well dressed group he seemed much calmer. He was also wearing a uniform which was commonly worn by janitors.

“I know how to operate everything in this joint. It would be a pleasure to be of assistance Miss Clara.”

“You know my name?” She asked.

“How could I not, everyone in the station was talking about how it was you that sent those people. At first we thought it was your father but he made it clear that you’ve been put in charge of your clan.”

She tapped her chin, “So these men?”

“They didn’t want news getting out, in fact they were just waiting for some of the higher ups to tell them what to do before you came along.”

She looked over at the group, “Why are these people still alive?” She asked the janitor.

One of the well dressed men muttered, “Samantha, they’ve got her.”

Samantha was a well known reporter on Amere TV. Even Clara knew who she was from the few times she watched the public news.

The janitor grinned then said, “They threatened to kill us if she didn’t help them.”

“So she thinks she can make it out alive if she helps them?”

The janitor shifted his eyes to the side, “She’s pretty kind, too kind I’d say.”

“Why you!” Another man, well built and handsome stormed at the janitor, Clara stepped away, one of the elites stepped in her place and kicked the man in the groin.

The janitor looked at the man gasping on the ground, “Samantha knew about these people coming here, she could have left and not gotten involved in any of this. But she wanted to save everyone, unfortunately… Anyway, as I was saying she’s too kind.” He looked at her. “So what do you want to do first?”

Clara turned to look at Yuller. He seemed thoroughly bored by the exchange, he’d probably tell her to make up her own mind.

She decided to follow her gut. “I need to send out a message to the Southern Isles. Maybe we can rescue Samantha along the way?”

The janitor seemed to perk up on hearing her offer. “Alright, the first thing you want to do is take over the Control room, that’s where they manage all of the communications coming in and going out of the station. After that you’ll want to go to the studio, that’s where they’re holding Samantha if I had to guess.

Clara looked over at Yuller. He sighed then looked over at his team. “1st and 2nd, control room and broadcasting room, Go.” The group split in three with two parts heading off to different parts of the station.

He looked at the huddling group, “You lot might want to get somewhere safe, in a few moments there are gonna be a few very angry soldiers storming this place again.”

Clara sighed then gestured to the janitor, “Let’s go.”

He smiled then led the way. Yuller, Oswald and the two muscular men following Clara’s group.

As they walked past a few corridors Yuller suddenly rushed past. A soldier crashed through a office door and let loose a shot at Clara’s group. Yuller filled the man with bullets, spun around shot behind him at another person hiding behind a wall. He then kicked off from the bullet filled corpse and resumed his place next to Clara. Shadow whistled in appreciation.

“Feels like I’ll never have a chance.”

Clara chuckled, “You don’t make a very good bodyguard, do you?”

The shared a moment laughing, and the group went further until they came to a door the janitor said led to the studio.

Two soldiers rushed out from the door, behind them and to the side came a few more people came out of hiding.

Qwes immediately pulled Clara down with her, a moment later Qwes hit the back of the janitors knee, causing him to slam onto his back just as the bullets passed by over head.

“Go!” Yuller said and vanished from sight. A moment later he appeared in front of one of the hiding soldiers and shot him and his partner before he disappeared again.

Shadow smirked then jumped with a gesture he threw out black needles which struck out at the soldiers. First one fell then another, then another.

A soldier aimed at Shadow who was in mid air. The soldier shot and the bullet sailed towards Shadow. A moment later a black streak glanced away from Shadows body and a bullet hole appeared in the wall next to him. Shadow grit his teeth then swung in the man’s direction.

A spinning disc of black blasted towards the man. The man saw the disk heading at him and jumped to the side just in time, raised his rifle and let lose.

Shadow lifted his hand and grasped, the bullets kept glancing off an invisible shield and hitting the walls and ceiling.

The soldier didn’t stop firing until his magazine was completely empty and he had no choice but to load another magazine.

Shadow didn’t waste any time, since he would not be able to defend from many more of such barrages again. He grasped with his hand and pulled back. A disk slammed into and out of the soldiers unaware body.

One of the two strongmen elite punch at a wall and a section came loose. He reached in and pulled out a hiding soldier before breaking his head like he was killing a chicken.

Yuller appeared in front of Clara and pulled her up, “It’s done,” He said. Qwes stood and looked around.

“Alright now on to the station.” The janitor said.

In the station a woman was sitting, Clara walked up to her, “Samantha?”

“Y-yes?” Samantha said, seemingly a bit nervous.

“We took care of the men outside, so you can relax now…”[Alt1]

“You, you’re Clara right?”

“Yes, seems that everyone’s already familiar with me.”

“Of course, Your famous. At least among the reporters that is.”

“Why haven’t I ever heard my name on the TV then?”

Samantha seemed shy, “Well, you know, politics.”

“So someone is paying you guys to keep quiet? Where are they now, why aren’t they here to protect you?”

Samantha chuckled, “I’ve been asking myself that same question. It’s just one of those things you know. If you don’t want to lose your family you’ll do as the Bolansi’ say, otherwise everyone would have a very unpleasant day.”

“Then what about the anti-government vibe I’ve been getting the last day?”

“That’s actually a smoke screen, meant to hide the truth about why the police weren’t responding. At the time most of them where doing other things for their so-called masters. Some of the police were called in to fight against other clans, some were out taking advantage of the chaos to rob banks and storehouses. Millions of things stolen in just a few hours and no one the wiser.”

“Seems a bit risky to use dirty cops…”

Samantha chuckled, “They aren’t dirty, their normal, you don’t even get to be a cop if you don’t have the connections, connections being the Bolansi family and their allies.”

Clara frowned, “So, do you know why I’m here?”

“If I had to guess, you want to use the station for something.”

“Correct, are you going to make things difficult for me?”

Samantha shook her head, “No.”

Shadow appeared next to Samantha, “The chairs booby-trapped.”

“Can you get rid of it?” Clara asked.

“Piece of cake,” Shadow said and gestured at the chair Samantha was sitting on. Black lines rose from his hand and fingers and dove at the chair.

A moment later there came a click and a small package fell to the ground.

Yullers comm-ring chimed, it was the 2nd, they were reporting that they’d managed to secure the Control room. “Good, you, tell them what to do.” He said and pulled the janitor closer.

The janitor spent a time over the phone explaining the details until a red light on a camera turned on. “That’s it, we’re connected.” The janitor said.

Samantha sat in front of the camera, in the distance the sound of explosions and gunfire was drawing ever closer. The Alpha Team was delaying for as long as they could but their time was still limited.

“People of the Meritocracy, Good day. As you know my name is Samantha, I am a host in Amera TV news. Today we have a special guest with us. She wanted to spend this time to address the people of the Meritocracy.

The camera turned to Clara. She wasn’t nervous, she had done speeches many time before this. What was an audience of a few million more difference?

“My name is Clara Harcourt, of the Harcourt clan. One of the founding clans in the Meritocracy.

“As you all know, it has been a trying time for the Meritocracy. First we lose our lines of communication, our credit system, and all of our services. Not to mention the greatest and until recently most reliable companion, the nation-wide general management interface, also jokingly referred to as the Overseer, has left.

“With all of these services gone, it is a moment when we are at our weakest, and it is also this exact moment that the cult of Dawn decides to launch a full scale assault against innocents.

“Now, usually, in times of crises. And we have had no small amount of crisis’s within our history, we could rely on our law enforcement, and our military to take up the responsibility to defend our lives and our homes.

“But this time, for whatever reason, they have failed to appear. Why could this be? Aren’t these people also our friends and families, aren’t they chosen from among us to protect the people?

“The sad and unfortunate answer is no. They were never one of us, they were as much a part of the enemy as any foreign invader. Their only desire was to hoard as much wealth for themselves as possible. That was what they were spending their time doing while our friends and family suffer and died. They were breaking into banks, slaughtering just as the the cult of dawn had been and stealing.

“These police, people of law enforcement, people of national defense. While my mother was using our family troops to defend against an invasion the army was no where to be found. And why is that? It was because it was none of their concern. If we spend our clan’s lives to fight off the invaders then it was all the better for our enemies.

“Now, just as you surely have wondered, I too have come to wonder, why are these people in charge of our safety. Why do these so-called ‘public servants’ only have their own interest in mind? So I wondered, and then I came to another thought. Who is the one that had put these people in charge? Who decided that my family deserved nothing more than to die?

“And as if a veil had been opened I realized. There’s a cancer in this nation. It is slowly eating away at us, and it will continue to do so until the day we decide to remove it.

“People of the Meritocracy, although I come today to share in our sorrows for the lives lost due to the greed of others. I also come her hopeful. Hopeful that I won’t have to stand alone when I eventually have to face against those evils standing in power.”

Clara inclined her head and cast her eyes downward, “This is me offering my all in service of our country, this is me asking for yours.[Alt2]

[Alt1]Note: Clara had her helmet on, so how did the janitor recognize her?

[Alt2]Whole speech could use some more emotes.