Ch. 10.5- The ceiling of the den

Serviceman’s bullet flew higher and higher, parting the colored factory smoke while rapidly spinning towards a target clueless of what was coming its way. Once it reached the ceiling of the County’s current floor, it tore through the layers of metallic plates until it dug out the other side and a second later, through the enhanced skull of a masked person. 

The sudden headshot of their friend made the other strangers panic, forcing them to speed up their plans. “ The Brands found us, I repeat, the Brands found us! We’re dropping the bomb earlier!”, yelled out the leader into a crude, portable radio that felt more like home in the trenches of an ancient war. 

The group had now 8 individuals, profusely sweating from the sudden fear of being found out and how fast they had to work to reach their goal. Using 3 massive buzzsaws they started cutting through the metal floor and simply drop a bomb in the middle of the arena, originally planning to take out only the pillars of the CEOs. “Start the spin on the bomb, we’re taking out the entire stadium- we have to be sure that all 8 of them are caught in the blast!”

Simpler said than done- besides the frantic pace, fingers fidgeting from a fight of freight response, there were also the technical problems: the buzzers overheated very fast and needed at least 2 people to keep them on track and not jump around like mad jesters. The floor was tougher than their crude calculations predicted, and lo and behold, teeth from the blade soon started to fly around, leaving the rebels with cuts and bloody holes; but neither of them backed down from it though. 

A few silent steps caught on to the commotion and leaned on a guard rails for a few seconds to take a good look at the frantic workspace. A dark blue cape covered half of their uniform, while his masked face rested in his left-handed gauntlet as his gaze pierced the darkness and got a grasp of the situation. 

– “Ah, so this is where Serviceman’s aim was set on. And what do we have here, 8”, but then the newly arrived officer checked the body “9 enormous rats hiding in the rafts.”

Instead of addressing him, the now silent crew turned to their own leader as if he could dispel their worst fears. But hope was the last thing the man could offer them, and instead he gave them a nod. One that told them that their lives were counted for, his included, but not to fret and buy some time. 

The first to get it was a madman that raised one of the buzzsaws at the officer, and with a sudden explosive sprint, he rushed and hoped that the sight of a yelling, grizzled giant with a screaming circular blade might put the officer on edge. 

Thankful and in a hurry, the leader turned toward the bomb technician with his final order- “ We’re using it here, and now! If we can’t take the Brands out, killing the Commissar of the County should still count for something and give the others a fighting chance.”

In the time it took him to relay the order and turn back at the conflict, he had already lost 3 of his crew members. The giant was on the ground, with his head cut in half, with the buzzsaw stuck in his cranium, while the other two were face down on the ground with metal hinges pierced right through their chest. Pieces of the dead giant’s prosthetic arm that apparently were thrown by the Commissar.

“I usually tolerate the unemployed terrorists, you kinda give a reason for my job to exist and for me to do it with zeal. But, well, I don’t really get what is happening today. I thought we had a good thing, a yin-yang thing going on”, mused the officer, taking a particular interest in what was going on behind the leader. 

“ You fuckers think that hunting us down is some sort of balance?” screamed with apparent fury the rebel leader.  “You’ve made it impossible to get a job after a single-fucking-”position removal”, then you start adding those albino zombies and after all of that, you don’t even let us live in the fucking filthy, dark corners of this stupid city!?” For his plan to work, the leader had to sound angry, livid, giving the impression that he was riled up.

In truth, all the ones like him have already cried out their anger and despair to the void, and since nothing happened through, they decided to channel it back into actions. All he was doing now was performing like his younger self only to buy time and make the enemy think they have the upperhand. 

“…Well, yeah? Thought we both knew the truth, about how this system works. The same way you threw away the grime from the factories, same we do to you. We can’t recycle you, can’t send you back to the lower levels and ruin the fresh batches or let you loiter around and smell up the place. “

Unlike the leader, though, there were still a few younger members of their group that still had some zeal for the void. “ So just let us leave! Let us give it a shot to make it outside of the County and…” but a bullet through his mouth cut him off.

“You should train your recruits to understand the pact better. Thinking we could do something like that? What if it works, huh? Just imagine, making it without the County?”

Seeing as waiting around only dimmed their numbers, the leader pointed at the Commissar and gave him a sly smirk, before a curtain of smoke started spewing from his plastic fingers. A trick he hoped it could buy him at least 1 minute, but it each new thud the rebel leader found out quickly how pointless it was.

The Commissar’s bullets locked in on their targets without reprieve and hit the organic parts first, incapacitating for the short time needed for him to reach them and split them apart with his electric spiked gauntlet. One by one, all of the rebels fell before they could graze the officer, until only the leader, the Commissar and the bomb technician remained. 

“That is false, by the way”, related the officer while pointing towards the bomb and the deceased next to it. “She was the first to go when you dropped the smoke screen, so I think that means that the mission is accomplished. Now, I’ll need you to come with me for; right, forgot that there was a protocol for this; give me a second, it’s been a while. It went some likeeeee…right:

You are under arrest.”

Instead of suffering a fate he knew would be worse than death, the leader decided to hug the bomb instead and take the pin off a grenade. “ One way or another, I’ll-” but to his shock, the Commissar took a few nonchalant steps towards him, gently swiped the grenade and threw it away and with a few chirurgical cuts, deactivated the bomb. 

“Citizen”, he said in a jest, “stop resisting and comply with the law, otherwise I might be forced to use force.” The Commissar laughed loudly at his own joke, mockingly slapping the rebel leader on the back. “ But for real now, go to sleep already”, and with a well pressed finger he cracked the spine, with the shock leaving the remaining rebel unconscious and, for the rest of his remaining life, paralyzed and fated to be stuck in a torture bed.

With his assignment done, the officer started to make the necessary calls, giving orders for a swipe and such, and left the remaining one last. “ Sir Ekapol, madam Alvara, you can relate that everything was solved. Whatever threat the C.T.D Serviceman perceived was dealt with and there’s no need for any extra actions.”

Alvara- “Good job Commissar. We’re going to send the payment to your estate after Samuel had his fill of cheers and we can start this…ugh…disaster of a R.O.C already. “

Ekapol- “ As she said, man. By the way, with it you’ll also get plans for a raid we’ve been planning for a while now. And a new toy all the Brands have contributed to that might help you out.”

That last part left the Commissar scratching his nose temple in plain sight of the video call, but instead of complaining, he asked for the details of it to be delivered along with the job. “ Sure, the Zin family will babysit whatever thing your R&D pissed out this time as well. But that’s not what I’m interested in right now. Ekapol, tell me, how’s my boy been doing?”