Gideon stood still, hands on his knees, his chest heaving. It had been a long time since he had been so brutally active. He had been working out for the past few years but nothing as intense as fighting off an entire legion of Nova Units. "Gideon come on! What's slowing you down?" Cameron asked, ready to get moving before more Nova Units were sent after them.
"I think I sprained my ankle after jumping out of the hospital," Gideon said, wincing as he pulled up his pant leg, exposing his swelled ankle. Terrence winced at the sight of it.
"Come on, we've got to get back to Head Quarters before they send more after us," ahe said, putting Gideon's arm over her shoulder. "Terrence help me. Take his other arm." Terrence did as he was told. Gideon had noticed that Cameron was quite a strong feminine leader. She was modest about her power, but each member of the team respected her and obeyed her commands fully. She was smart, compassionate, and a great problem solver.
She groaned under his weight but didn't complain at all. She was a strong leader but a stronger friend. "You know," Gideon said putting his weight on his strong foot. "you don't have to do this. I can walk on it. It's not that bad."
"Not if we expect to make it back before the Novas catch up to us. Get a move on Gimpy the One-Legged pirate." O'Connell said, poking Gideon in the back with the butt end of his dagger, "We "ourrrrght" to be getting a move on." He chuckled at his clever jokes as he watched the rear, making sure no Novas were on the horizon. They walked in a slow rhythmic pattern, silent besides their quiet groans and heavy breathing.
With one block to go the silence was finally broken. "Uh, guys," O'Connell said, his dagger absorbing the nearby energy as he charged it up. "We've got Novas on the horizon, twenty maybe thirty."
"Have they seen us yet?" Cameron said, quickening her pace almost dropping Gideon. Gideon could feel her pulse quicken through her neck under her hard shell, Cameron must of been terrified of the Nova Units.
"I don't think so, but it won't be long until they find us," he said, trying to quicken up their pace as they rounded the corner. Finally the Holo-wall was in sight. Once they got through that, their was almost no way they the Novas could continue to follow them. "Come on guys hurry! At the rate they were moving, they'll probably be on our backs in a couple of minutes." O'Connell said, his dagger at the ready. His breathing was heavy, his heart beating hard. No one on the team was quite as fearless as Gideon would have guessed.
The holo-wall was just a few buildings away when Gideon heard the skittering and scurrying of hundreds of small metallic legs. "They're here! Hurry! We're almost there!" O'Connell yelled, spittle flying off of his lips. He obviously became angry when he was afraid. "Come and get me ya' nasty lil' bugga's! I'll gut you like the the rotten fish you are!" O'Connell screamed, waving his dagger around in the air, sending his threats loudly out to the small robots, his voice reverberating against the nearby buildings, echoing throughout all of Sector 33.
"O'Connell what are you doing?" Cameron screamed, her voice stronger and more confident than Gideon would have expected it to be. Her pulse was soaring, faster than any he had ever felt before. "Get back here!" she said, entering into the Holo-Wall.
"Take Gideon from here." she said to Terrence, picking his arm off, leaving him Terrence with Gideon's full weight. He groaned but continued on, opening the dumpster doors.
"I can take it from here." Gideon said, using the hand rail for support as he hopped down the stairs.
Cameron stood halfway in the wall, her bow at the ready. "O'Connell! Get a move on! We've already lost one good man, and there's no way we can afford to lose you! Hurry! They're going to find headquarters! All our hopes for a future, lost because of your stupidity!" she screamed, sending an arrow into one of the approaching Nova Units. Unfortunately in her anger, she didn't think her actions through, and this attack only grabbed the bots attentions, sending them scurrying at twice the pace towards O'Connell.
He backed up, like a cornered animal with nowhere to go. Sweat beads developped on his forehead, his eyes examining each of the approaching Nova units,darting back and forth between the Nova Units, licking his lips preparing for the kill. Cameron grabbed the back of his shirt, tugging him closer to the Holo-wall. She reached in her quiver, picking her only silver arrow in the bunch. It was one of Carlos' flare arrows, which would send shock waves for over 250 feet from its target, scrambling the Nova Units mainframes momentarily. She launched it into the center of the group, waiting for it to land before entering the Holo-wall. There was no reason to risk exposing the Holo-wall the entrance to the head quarters, especially in front of the Novas.
The arrow hit its mark perfectly, sparks flying on its impact, sending blinding light everywhere, lighting up the alley, brighter than Cameron had ever seen it before. The light dulled, small electric pulses still moving between the Novas. Cameron waited a moment, just to make sure it worked. None of the bots, moved, a few of them making strange clicking sounds. The shockwaves worked as planned, leaving the bots stunned, their systems down. Their normal orange eyes had turned off, into just gray holes. Cameron ran through the Holo-wall, dragging O'Connell with her.
"What were you thinking?!" she yelled losing her temper, smacking O'Connell upside the head. "Whatever. Don't do it again. Get downstairs, We'll talk about this later." Cameron said, sighing as she descended the stairs.
*****
Three hours later, Ada awoke, resting on Doctor Faord's bed. The machines were hooked back up, her heart still checked every few seconds. She was scared for her life and her father. She had heard the doctors talking the day before-- the government had issued orders to terminate one of their patients. They went quiet as soon as they noticed Ada behind them. She was terrified by them and was planning and escape when they increased the amount of sedatives in her blood. She didn't remember a thing after that, and now, she lay alone on another surgical bed. Things seemed to make a turn for the worst since she had left the reality.
A taller man walked in, his blonde receding hairline, making his forehead seem enormous, his wrinkled cheeks making him look much older than the rest of him.
"How are you feeling Ada?" the man asked, his voice dignified and politically correct. He must be from the government.
"Get away from me, you political trash! I'm not telling you a thing!" she said, folding her arms, her eyes searching the room for some sort of weapon-- Anything to get her out of here.
The door slid open revealing a face that triggered a memory in her head. "You!" she said, sitting up in bed, pointing her finger at the woman in the door. "You sold Daddy out! You told them we were trying to leave! This is all your fault!" she said yelling.
"Calm down Ada," Cameron said, her soothing voice making Ada relax a little. "We were on your father's side, He used to be one of us." She said, walking over to Ada's bedside. "We are very sorry to here about- you know," She said, emotional tears developing in her eyes. "He was a good man." Cameron said, sughed memories of him clouding her train of thought. "Anyways, would you mind telling us exactly how you got yourself out of the Alternate reality?" Cameron asked, placing her hand on Ada's.
"No way!" Ada exclaimed, pulling her hand away from Cameron's. "How do I know you aren't from the government?!" She said, crawling to the other side of the bed.
Gideon entered the room, a crutch under his right arm. "Gideon!" Ada, exclaimed, his face still fresh in her memory. "Did they get you too?! Is that why your ankles broken?!" she exclaimed innocently.
"It's just sprained, and no, they didn't get me. I'm here because I want to be here." Gideon said, trying to sound soothing like Cameron. "I'm part of the rebellion now."
"So you guys aren't with the government?" Ada, said still partially uncertain if she could trust them. Gideon looked at her with a cocked eyebrow. His face practically said, "You've got to be kidding me".
"Do I look like I'd be in the government?" He asked, his uncombed hair, plain white tee shirt, and stained jeans, screamed 'no'.
"Okay maybe not. But why do you want to know why I left?" Ada asked, sitting up in bed, talking directly to Gideon, completely ignoring Cameron.
Gideon looked at Cameron to answer the question.
"She was talking to you." Cameron said, half smirking.
"Well," Gideon said, a little uncomfortable being the one with the knowledge for a change. Why did Ada have to ask him and not Cameron? "We want to free everyone, and let them back into reality."
Ada laughed.
Gideon looked at her oddly. "I'm being serious." Cameron folded her arms across her chest. Ada was already wearing her nerves thin.
"I wouldn't say free them." Ada said, nudging herself closer to Gideon. "Their plenty free there. They just don't want to leave."
"Why not?"
"Well, the government made up stories about a large war-- where diseases are the main weapon-- going on in the real world. They tell us when we're plugged in the reality machines, they take us to a safe house, where we can wait in safety for the war to end. They tell us that they'll shut down the power when the war was over, and we can all leave and get back to our normal lives. Some people don't mind though, it's quite nice in there."
"But not everyone wants to stay?" Gideon asked.
Ada laughed again. "Hardly, most people can't wait for the war to end."
"Then why don't they leave?"
"The power has to be off for us to leave. Then the door out appears. Daddy turned off the power in the house, and in an hour or so, I was back in the real world."
"So all we have to do is shut down all the power in the city, and somehow convince everyone in the Alternate reality that the war is over?" Gidoen asked, knowing how long that could take.
"Yep!" Ada, said smiling happily, swinging her legs off the edge of the bed, like a five year old on Christmas morning. "That's it."
Gideon sighed. "Thanks Ada. We'll be back later, you need your sleep." Gideonpatted her leg and left the room with Cameron, the door sliding shut behind them. He sighed gloomily. "What are we going to do now?" Gideon asked Cameron. "That'll take us years!"
Cameron patted him on the back. "Cheer up. Everything's different now."
"How so?" Gideon asked, not sure what she meant.
"Before, now, we didn't have a plan. We had no idea how to set everyone free. This is hope for us, a reason to keep fighting. You have no idea how much of a difference willpower can make. Give us a few weeks, and before you know it, we'll be living in a free world again with thousands, maybe even millions, of people, out on the streets again. Think of what it will be like living in a world filled with other people."
Gideon could only smile at the thought of it. He walked Cameron back to her room, then continued on to his. A world with other people. He couldn't wait.
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