YEAR 2030 - LONDON COMPOUND
Jake and Max had followed the sound of the boots across the roof of the Chimera squadron who had just flown into the battle zone. It was clear from the numerous drum beats underfoot that there were more than a handful of them about to descend on the young teenager and his companion. He had two handguns but knew that his opponents would be heavily armed and more than capable of overpowering them.
He had run all the way from the domed epicentre of the surveillance unit back to the destroyed entrance where he had seen the young brown-eyed operative crouched down and hiding when he and Phoenix had broken into the building in what felt like a lifetime ago. The unravelling battle taking place outside told him that the platoons of foot soldiers had arrived at Tower Bridge and that the rebels had put up resistance. He wondered if any of the dream walkers had followed the lead of the operatives from UCCA and had taken up arms against their captors. He hoped that Phoenix had been successful in taking over the mainframe and had been able to broadcast the message far and wide that the Empire was no longer fully in control of things, only then would the revolution really be underway and other rebel factions might be storming other fortifications across the globe.
As Jake imagined the scenes that would be breaking out all over the territories, he could hear the Chimera agents gaining entry from the hatch a floor above. Max was slowly skulking up the stairs, hunting them, and preparing himself to pounce. Jake trailed behind, guns both raised and following the American Staffordshire Terrier up the staircase. The thumping movements of the troops had slowed and fallen silent, the sounds of fighting from within the compound now filling the void.
Unexpectedly, Jake heard movement just behind him from the devastated doorway to the headquarters. He spun on his heel and swung his guns on four figures who had somehow managed to sneak up on him. No more than a split second passed as his finger gripped tightly on the trigger before he caught the familiar sight of a large star shaped afro, a young woman with emerald green eyes and red hair and two burly bouncer looking types, one slightly smaller than the other, but both with military haircuts and stubble beards. Jake breathed a huge sigh of relief as he realised that the armed troop closing in on him were Isaac, Lexi and the cousins, Mike and Sam.
'Hardly the welcome we were expecting old friend' joked Sam his arms raised in mock surrender.
To look at Sam and Mike, Jake could see that the two of them were dressed in the spoils of war, dried blood on their arms and faces mixed with a thick black dusting of smoke from the explosion that had catapulted him and Phoenix from the back of the truck.
Jake raised his index finger to his lips and gestured inside. 'Chimera agents coming from the roof' he whispered.
They were all now huddled together guns trailed on Max who continued to progress slowly up the stairs.
'How many?' Isaac asked rifle in hand and ready for action.
'I don't know but from the sounds of it, a lot' Jake replied.
'We saw five choppers come in' Lexi spoke up. 'Could be anything up to twenty' she said desperate to catch Jake's eye and very relieved to see that he was unharmed.
Jake continued to focus on the stairs above, Max getting dangerously close to disappearing from sight. He decided to follow him up and gestured for the cousins to cover him.
'Jake' Isaac whispered drawing Jake's attention. 'Where's Phoe and Frank?'
Jake gestured down the long corridor back to the domed surveillance centre from where he had left them.
'You go back there and check on them' Isaac ordered. 'Take Max with you, we'll take it from here' he continued highlighting his far superior firepower.
Jake was reluctant, the movement of the enemy agents began to pick up and it was clear that battle was about to break out any moment. He was desperate to play a role in this fight and he could sense that Isaac was protecting him, perhaps fearing that he would fall to the same fate as Tank back at Porton Down.
'Jake, they are going to need you, especially if Numen is here' urged Isaac more forcefully.
Jake now turned from his position on the stairs to face Isaac. Max's progression up the stairs ceased and he now came up alongside his master having clearly been commanded to telepathically.
'There's nothing more I'd love than to kill that bastard myself, but the truth is you are the only one who stands any sort of chance against him, and Frank and Phoe could be in serious danger' explained Isaac.
'Let me go with them' Lexi said her eyes desperately trying to draw Jake's into looking at her. He had avoided her for so long and she was desperate to reconnect with him, but he kept his eyes focussed on Isaac.
'Max and I will take care of it' Jake said before Isaac had a chance to answer.
Jake was now running through all of the permutations and replaying old memories inside his head that had scarred his childhood. All of them had involved Numen and he had taken so much from him. Jake was less certain than Isaac seemed to be that he might be able to match the general's abilities, but the ball of anger within him meant that even if he was not able, he would certainly die trying. The sombre look on Isaac's face informed Jake that he wished him luck and to reap vengeance for the rebel leader's murdered son.
Jake and Max began to head along the corridor from whence they had come, the smell of retribution in the air. He was so focussed on what was to come that he had not noticed the crestfallen look on Lexi's face which quickly turned to one of sheer anger as she took up his place at the helm of the gathered group.
They had only just turned the first corner when the shots began to ring out behind them. Jake was tempted to run back, but he could see Max charging ahead in the opposite direction towards where they had left Phoenix and Frank. The brief moment of dissonance and hesitation was quickly resolved by instinct, whilst Jake cared about the group behind him who had taken him in and looked after him, those whom he held most dear were in danger and it was this realisation that propelled him forward towards the mainframe.
Frank had barely moved outside of the domed structure of the surveillance hub when he was met with a familiar face descending the stairs from the roof. A cluster of black commandos with large machine guns surrounded the tall dark figure of Numen. His piercing blue eyes fixed on Frank and his captive Van Duyn. Frank swallowed hard, keeping his Sig Sauer pressed against the president's head, he hoped that this leverage might mean that he had some chance of getting out of here alive.
'Sweep the rest of the building for the boy, I know he's in here somewhere' Numen urged to his troops.
They swooped down the stairs past Frank and Van Duyn and into the core of the UCCA building on his orders. This left just the three of them, the president, the general and the director of Security and Surveillance by the stairs adjacent to the dome structure that housed the mainframe. Numen had a gun in his hand, standard issue, just like the ones that Jake had retrieved from Van Duyn's security detail. He slowly began to descend the stairs towards Frank and the president, the gun loitering with intent, held at his side.
'So at least we know what side you are now on' Numen said continuing to step closer towards the director and his captive. 'I always knew you were one of them'.
Frank tightened his grip on Van Duyn and started to take steps backwards to maintain the distance between him and the advancing ebony General.
'So tell me, Frank, how did you see this playing out?' Numen asked now on terra firma and able to see the destruction of the domed surveillance hub for the first time.
'Why don't you tell me, seeing as you think you know so much' Frank challenged, taking another step back to keep his distance.
Numen's eyes swept across the ruins of the vacated security stations, the majority of screens dead from the explosion and response of the sprinkler system and he could just about make out the figure of a brunette young woman encased in the vestibule hurriedly operating the computers within it.
'Well it looks to me as though, you have handed over control of our surveillance systems to the terrorists' he said now stroking his silver goatee beard. 'I can only assume you are holding our esteemed President here as some form of assurance of getting out of here'.
Van Duyn's eyes met with Numen's now, there was no love lost between them. The president could see the flicker of enjoyment in his General's eyes, seeing him helpless and vulnerable in this way giving him some kind of wicked thrill.
'Just shoot him already' Van Duyn ordered. 'Kill the traitorous little prick and let's go and stamp down our authority before these peasants work out what we have been doing all this time'.
Numen just smirked. 'It's far too late for that now Raymond, chaos has already begun to descend'.
Van Duyn's face was beetroot now, half through the tightening grip of Frank's headlock and half through the fury of his subordinate officer.
'I am still President and you will address me as such or so help me-'
His sentence was cut short. Numen's recently discharged handgun had given way to a short blast and a puff of smoke. A burning hole had opened up right in the middle of the rotund little man's face and had sucked his head into the fiery vacuum that the shot had created with a shrill scream of agony swallowed into the void. Van Duyn's decapitated body now fell to the ground in a burning bloody heap whilst Frank's utter shock bulged through his eyes to the burning corpse at his feet.
It took Frank a few seconds to react and he swung his Sig and fired at Numen. The general simply swung his free hand swiftly aside and Frank's gun toting hand seemed to follow its path, the impact of the bullet missing its target by some considerable margin and the stray bullet lodged itself in the wall near the stairs. Frank's hand now swung back following the orchestration of Numen's hand and without any control over the gun, Frank now felt his finger tighten on the trigger discharging a bullet through his left thigh. A searing warm stab shot through his leg, shattering his femur and causing him to collapse to the ground, blood pooling beneath the exit wound. Frank began to wail in sheer agony as the impact took hold of his senses.
The gun now swept from his fallen hand and shot up as if governed by a magnetic force and into Numen's free hand. The general inspected it with a nonchalant almost disgusted manner before tossing aside.
'Not exactly standard issue now is it Frank?' Numen said as he holstered his own weapon.
Frank writhed painfully on the floor, removing his tie and tying a tourniquet around the bloody wound. 'What can I tell you asshole, I'm fricking old school' he said defiantly.
Numen looked down on his foe, a sinister smile forming. 'Me too' he said. 'Let me show you'.
Frank now felt the messages in his brain, commanding him to stand up. He tried to fight off the involuntary response but he was soon screaming in agony as his body arose from its fallen position and he was soon upright, the searing pain shooting through his body. His eyes watered under the strain and he could see Numen's sneering evil facade staring at him and mocking a puppet on a string his arms and legs flailing as though he was being controlled by an invisible puppet master above. Now the pain reached excruciating levels as Frank's limbs mirrored the movement of the towering black aggressor before him. Numen's laughter battled with Frank's agonising screams for precedence whilst his body jostled and jolted under the command of his evil puppet master.
After a while, when Numen's sick sense of humour was no longer getting the stimulation or satisfaction he was looking for from Frank's agonising screams, the general desisted the puppet routine and sent Frank sprawling through the air with the slightest twitch of his hand. Frank was catapulted right from the blown up doorway all the way to the vestibule with the ease of a leaf being blown by a gale. Frank's bloody body slammed into the transparent vestibule startling Phoenix inside and causing her to scream in fright as he slid down into a slumped and beaten mess on the floor.
Phoenix jumped to her feet and ran to the glass wall desperate to help Frank, she then saw the towering figure of Numen, his black fatigues cloaked under his long leather coat, striding towards them. The general then raised his hand, palm facing forwards, with Frank now straightening up from his prostrate position and spinning to face Phoenix, hovering a few feet off the floor. Numen then slammed the director into the thick transparent wall between Phoenix and the outer room of the surveillance centre. Frank was in a terrible state, blood flowing from his wound and his body was now drenched with sweat, seeping profusely from the burning fever that had overwhelmed his nervous system. He was quickly slammed to the floor like a ragdoll and Numen was now at the window towering over his fallen body.
'If you want him to live, then I suggest you open this door' Numen said, his piercing eyes locking on her and sharpening. 'If you don't do it willingly I will make you do it'.
Numen's eyes now were straining as he tried to take control of her, but something was not working. She should have been sucked up to the glass begging for him to stop, but she was just staring back at him, the fear in her eyes giving way to a sense of profound confidence. Numen's eyes quickly assessed the fortified glass between them assuming that it must have something to do with his sudden inability to take possession of the weak little girl. His gaze was now drawn back to Phoenix, she smiled at him and raised her middle finger slowly, holding her defiant gesture until it was clear the transmitted message had been received loud and clear. The general not to be outsmarted tried with all his might to take hold of her with his mind, to grab her and throw her around the room like the insignificant and feeble lifeform that she was, but no matter how hard he tried she moved entirely of her own volition, free from the clutches of his hideous and heinous psyche.
Phoenix now went back to her duties at the terminal and began to put the finishing touches to the virus that she had uploaded ready to reveal the truth to the world of the countless crimes perpetrated by the Empire to usurp power and control over the citizens of the world. Numen was powerless to prevent it and his arrogant demeanour was washed over by a feeling of abject failure and fury. He began to bash out his anger on the window, caught up in a rage befitting of a petulant child who was unable to get their own way. It did not matter how hard he slammed his fists against the glass, Phoenix did as she pleased.
After a few more moments of thrashing about outside of the vestibule, Numen's tirade gave way to a calm acceptance. He might not be able to stop the girl, the irritation of how she had suppressed his abilities remained something of a mystery, but he could take out the threat of the boy at the very least. He turned to go about taking care of that particular attack only to be met with a sight he had not expected, Jake was stood just ten feet or so away, his eyes glowing with an electric blue energy staring right at him. More worrying for the general, the snarling dog, with his teeth bared was now reared up ready to pounce into attack just in front of him.
Nobody messes with my family and friends and gets away with it. Jake's voice carried a threatening tone deep in Numen's subconscious.
'You seem to have grown stronger, boy' Numen said trying to appear unfazed by the growth in stature of his opponent. 'How about you call off your little attack dog and we settle this like men?'
Max remained in position, his anger growing with each second and his teeth ready to make a permanent mark on the dark figure before him. The standoff that was taking place was like a calm before the inevitable storm, the sound of gunfire could now be heard being exchanged in the depths of the opposite part of the building and the activity on the streets could just about be made out whenever the gunfire ceased. All around them in various parts of the compound individual battles for supremacy were underway and with the slightest spark, this one would ignite into the most memorable battle of them all.
With all of the activity seeming to have been centred at the abandoned UCCA building, Wolfy had taken up the head of the rebellion out in the depths of the compound. The marching troops closing in on all fronts had not phased him much. He had come here to lay down a challenge with no expectation of ever returning. Wolfy knew that Isaac and the others had not abandoned the cause and he knew that it was essential that he and the remaining troops who had now gathered behind 'the beast' in their own vehicles since the breach would follow his lead.
The virile former soldier turned to his gathered comrades, the swamp of cars and trucks gathered behind him and littered with armed freedom fighters. He took up a megaphone and readied himself to give out a war cry as their enemies advanced.
'Fear not the tidal wave of metal that sweeps in on us comrades' he bellowed loudly over the megaphone. 'Instead, you all should fear my foot in your arse if you don't execute every one of these mother-' his foul-mouthed tirade was swamped by the sounds ringing from the big screens that had now kicked into action.
A montage of horrific past events now cascaded across all parts of the city. Jake's father's execution and how Van Duyn had come into power had been spliced with footage of former citizens being slaughtered by firing squads of foot soldiers and all manner of other atrocities. In bold letters, the words 'LIES' and 'CORRUPTION' had been stamped after old state-run stories had been flashed up at intervals showing the spin and manipulation of events from the past decade. Images of mass genocide, human testing and historical events that had been explained in a new light began to flood into the heart of the battleground.
Thousands upon thousands of the once docile and brainwashed citizens began to pour out into the streets, watching up at the messages being played out on the screens above with a look of sheer horror encapsulating them all. Even the usual news reporter Anna Spring could be seen among the horrified crowd watching on as her past reports were completely debunked and shown up as the Empire's lies and propaganda. The flashing words stating that everything they had believed was just a big deception and a way of keeping them under control was met with an immense outpouring of emotion.
The sea of onlookers now swamped into the voids between the robot foot soldiers and the rebels. Some people gave way to grief, crying for loved ones that they had lost whilst others spun like spinning tops trying to gather their senses as their bodies reacted with shock to the unrelenting rebel message playing out overhead. Whatever the reaction of the confused and bedraggled citizens, the noise levels as they began to wake up to the situation and to the truth began to grow and rise up like a tsunami.
Wolfy and the rebels looked on at the energy emanating from the ever-increasing crowd of onlookers, unsure of what to do. The sight was completely overwhelming, but the images and words from the big screens did not abate. More and more atrocities and discredited mistruths began to rain down on the crowded citizens like oil on a kindled fire stoking a few people to voice their pent up rage for the first time. Soon like a Mexican wave of fury and despair the crowd began to start to make movements towards the foot soldiers in every direction like a reservoir that had burst its banks.
Anna Spring and all those others who had been suppressed and kept under control all of this time now swept as a unified force towards the clusters of foot soldiers, picking up fallen bricks and debris to arm themselves. As the first stone was cast, the response of the foot soldiers had been vicious, with a burning shower of simultaneous fire cutting through the first wave of attack. If the Empire troops had expected this to restore order and hold back the onslaught then they had severely misjudged the intent of the now enlightened citizens. Their numbers grew, with huge masses of enraged men and women spilling out of every orifice of the city, spurred on by the revelations and standing up against the brutal murder of their fellow citizens right here, right now.
There were now hundreds of thousands of people charging upon the battalions of foot soldiers from all sides with full voice and armed with whatever they could find. They crashed against the huge robotic figures like waves, seeking to pull them down and use their weapons against them.
A giant grin now beamed from Wolfy's bearded face and the boorish brute watched on filled with utterly unbridled joy. He quickly turned back to his troops, his face immediately becoming a stern and serious one.
'Well, what the fricking hell are all you lot fricking waiting for? Get your fricking arses in gear and start helping these people!' He bellowed over the megaphone, or words to that effect, it was hard to fully comprehend the eloquence of his sentiments over all the noise.
As his assembled troops responded to his rallying call, Wolfy threw the megaphone to the ground, urging his driver to get a move on. Then with a howling call into the sky, he picked up his rocket launcher and began to fire into the crowd of foot soldiers. The battle for freedom was now underway.
The stalemate had continued long enough for Numen's liking, having been locked into a staring match with Max for some time now. The irritating and irksome little beast who had gotten the upper hand with him on more occasions than he cared to remember. The boy had not taken it upon himself to call the dog off, so Numen decided to take matters into his own hands. He flashed the holstered gun in Max's direction, but before he could get a shot away the roaring beast had pounced, his sharp teeth clamping down on Numen's right wrist and forced him to the ground. The general then fired the gun twice from his fallen position, the shots headed out of the domed room towards no one in particular as Max continued to gnaw away at his arm.
Jake had been drawn into the battle between Max and Numen who were writhing on the floor, his blood-soaked uncle passed out in the corner of the room. Just as he closed in on their huddled mass tussling on the floor, the two fired shots now under Numen's guidance arced back in his direction like a couple of heat-seeking missiles. He had no time to dodge them and simply closed his eyes and braced himself for impact. The two bolts of fire rebounded off the invisible shield that he had erected around him.
Numen finally managed to wrestle Max off of him and fired at the retreating hound who pirouetted and twirled his way to safety, avoiding any lasting wounds. The general now turned his wrath on Jake and began to fire at will at the boy, furious that his magical trickery had been so easily deflected. The flurry of blasts from his gun seemed to be caught in a state of suspended animation, slowing as they approached Jake. He had somehow managed to slow the progress of the shots and they began now to accumulate and spin violently together into a fireball that grew as each additional shot was absorbed.
Numen could not believe what he was seeing unravel before his eyes, ceasing to discharge his weapon before the growing mass of fire grew any bigger. Jake was walking slowly towards him, the gunshots all rendered useless and consumed within a furious ball of energy that radiated a tumultuous and pent up fury that needed a release. Numen was barely able to raise his hands to protect himself when Jake propelled the giant fireball headlong at him. The general's attempt to shield himself was less impressive than his younger opponent with the force of the blast now rocketing him into the vestibule with an almighty crunch as the reinforced glass cracked under the intense pressure. Stray shards of burning heat broke through the shield and scorched horrific burns on the general's pristine and once ageless face.
Before Numen had time to recover and whilst his wounds smouldered against his flesh, Jake was right in front of him. Numen watched as the boy assumed the role of puppet master that he had enjoyed just a few moments before with Frank. Jake lifted the slumped Chimera General up from the ground with consummate ease and then launched him high up into the destroyed surveillance monitors of one of the vacated stations. Numen crashed heavily into the area with monitors and equipment breaking his fall. Jake turned back to Max who had come to offer support.
'Get Uncle Frank out of here, and make sure gets out of there safely' he said exuding a powerful, self-assured confidence. 'Numen is all mine'.
Max barked acknowledgement of his orders and bounded into action to getting Frank out of harm's way. Frank was out cold, the fever overwhelming him and the colour draining from his face and limbs. He was a deathly pale grey, his skin clammy and saturated with blood on his lower extremities. His chances of survival were looking incredibly slim, as the American Staffordshire Terrier, grabbing a chunk of Frank's collar in his mouth dragged him away from the battle scene.
A torrent of flying monitors rained down on Jake like a sudden and unexpected storm. They flew viciously through the air like boomerangs and clattered into him before he had a chance to shield them away. The brief interlude with Max had given Numen just enough time to create a window of opportunity, peppering his unsuspecting adversary with the flying screens from all sides. It was now Jake's turn to be on the back foot as Numen emerged from behind the wall of flying monitors and thrust himself full force into the air and tackled Jake. They propelled like a rocket through the air until the young man felt his head and body crumple under the force of impact from the wall behind them. The entire front wall of the dome gave way and shattered under the weight of the two men's bodies soaring through the air.
Numen emerged from the wreckage, getting to his feet and dusting the remnants of shattered glass from his attire. His face was badly burned from the fireball, but at the present moment, he was looking the fitter of the two combatants.
'You certainly put up a better fight than your father did' Numen goaded. 'He was such a very easy opponent to overpower. Begged me not to kill you he did, just before I helped him blow his own brains out'.
Jake shot to his feet, his blood boiling and pumping the sudden burst of adrenaline through his veins. Numen was ready for him, lifting him effortlessly off the floor and tossing him into the air like a ball before unleashing a thunderous clothesline to his falling body. The impact was hard and it felt as though he just split Jake in half as he flipped violently in the air before crashing to the ground, the air in his lungs empty and gasping hungrily for breath.
He could just about make out the dark black military boots of Numen just in front of him, blood beginning to flood freely from his mouth. Jake could not decipher whether it was a cut in his mouth from the impact of the crash or a more serious internal wound given the raucous blow he had just received. He wanted to get up and punish Numen for his slur against his father and to avenge him, but his energy was spent.
'As much fun as this has been Jake, it really is time that I fulfil my duties here' the towering madmen said as he pulled Jake from the ground by his blood soaked locks.
The general now dropped the boy to his knees and lifted his beaten face up so that he could see Phoenix, screaming and banging on the glass walls of the vestibule having just witnessed everything. Numen was laughing, barely caring that half of his face had been melted under the intense heat, shrivelling his skin like a prune on one side. Vanity was least of his concerns and having checked that the troublesome Terrier was nowhere to be seen, he now turned to Phoenix tears welled in her eyes and raised his middle finger salute back to her. The encased mainframe suppressed her ramblings, her state of mind shifting from screams of intense anger to sobs of gloomy fear.
'Time to say goodbye Jake' Numen goaded him again as he locked his arms around the young man's head and squeezed him tightly in a chokehold.
The air from Jake's lungs began to empty at a rate of knots and black spots began to flash up in front of him making the sight of Phoenix's anguish more bearable, as they concealed her weeping figure from view. He could feel the energy that had once flowed so freely through him was slowly sapping away, everything around him was growing darker and he was beginning to fade.
'When I'm done with you' he heard Numen say. 'Then I'm going to kill her and that stupid dog of yours'.
Jake was now slipping into a state of unconsciousness. It was as if he had fallen down the deepest and darkest of wells, hurtling into a pool of nothingness, just a black and empty void. As he hit what seemed to be the bottom of the well, he broke through a cold rubbery type wall that had sucked him into a weird and colourful dimension. He wondered if all the bright twinkling lights of all luminescent colours that surrounded him were stars, paving the way forward to the bright opening of light that gently sucked him in. Was this it? Was this heaven in his midst?
The bright light now swamped all around him, drowning him in its dazzling glory and just as his view gave way to a bright pulse of white energy he was being fired back from where he came. It was just like the memory mapping experience, he was on a rocketing roller coaster only this time everything was in reverse and he was travelling at the speed of light.
Phoenix had watched Numen literally squeeze the last breath of air from Jake's comatose body, the lights literally fading into oblivion. The general had maintained his tight grip around Jake's neck all the while provoking her to crumble at the sight of his lifeless body, whilst he taunted her with his repugnant grin. She did not want to give him the satisfaction and she knew that even though the mission had been a success and the mainframe was now fully within the rebels’ control, it looked as if it had come at a heavy cost.
The door to the vestibule had opened once the virus had been released and she knew that whatever Jake had done to prevent Numen from doing as he wished with her before, she