He peeked around the table and saw that the hand holding the gun was made from navy-blue colored metal with a unique serial number. The assailant was wearing a hooded cloak, but Caiden could see two glowing red eyes. Androids? What the fuck? The pause in action gave Caiden enough time to prop the table up like a shield and barrel forward toward the unsuspecting gunman. Using his momentum and superhuman strength, Caiden smashed into the gunman, sending him flying backward into his cohorts.
They momentarily lost grip of Vantz and Caiden seized the opportunity to land a vicious strike against the assumed leader of the group, ripping off his robotic arm. In doing this, the leader’s cloak was forcibly removed. It appeared to be male, with a metal, robotic face. Its body was slender, designed to be a candidate for skin grafts to make it look more human.
Without hesitation, the leader unleashed a powerful shockwave of kinetic energy from a circular device in the center of his chest. The force sent Caiden crashing into the bar. The androids grabbed Vantz and took off.
Not one to be deterred, Caiden recovered quickly, and ran in pursuit, destroying the metal exit door with a single kick. He ran down the alley where a hover vehicle shined a bright blinding light in his eyes. As it levitated, he saw the back hatch slowly closing with Vantz being held captive by the androids. The bright light forced Caiden to cover his eyes with his arm, but not before he was able to ID the license plate number on the vehicle; X3411. The hover vehicle shot off into the night. Caiden tried to pursue them on foot with no luck.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” He was frantic. He initiated his holo-watch and called the twins.
“Cai? Are you okay? What happened to you?” Hitomi asked.
“No time to explain. Can you run this license plate? X3411,” he snapped.
“Okay, but can you at least tell me what’s going on?” Hitomi shot back.
“Vantz. It’s Vantz. He’s been kidnapped!” He said catching his breath.
“Oh my god! Nami and I will get on this right away. You need to head back here so we can come up with a plan,” Hitomi replied.
“Okay,” He ended the call.
“Oh my god, Caiden! Are you okay?” Yvora called out as she rushed over to him.
“Yeah, I’m fine, but Vantz… They took him,” he said.
“Who did?” she frantically replied.
“I dunno. Androids, it looked like. I’m going after them. I gotta go,” Caiden said as he rushed off.
“But, wait!” Yvora cried out.
She wanted to help in whatever way she could. She followed Caiden down the backstreets to the main road. By the time she caught up to him he had jumped in a taxi and had disappeared down the street.
CHAPTER 15
---usr/systems/server-x/THE CHROME PIT & THE PINK FLAME RIDERS---
The taxi dropped Caiden off at the edge of Darkside, as most did, since most of them dared not enter the dangerous neighborhood. He paid the fair, and sprinted to Home-base. His sense of urgency upon his return alerted the twins of his arrival.
“Caide!” the sisters said as they rushed to embrace him. “Are you okay?” they asked.
“No, they have Vantz!” he yelled abruptly as he made his way toward the lab space downstairs. The twins followed suit.
“Is there anything we can do at all?” a concerned Nami asked.
Caiden remained focused as he searched through his equipment before he stopped. He pulled up the holo-menu from his watch and made a call.
“Caiden, my dear, how goes it?” It was Wizard.
“The Sentience; they have Vantz, and I need to get him back. Tell me where they are!” he commanded.
“The Sentience? Kidnapping? Are you sure it was an android that did this?” She asked, doubtful.
“I saw red glowing eyes. They were wearing dark brown cloaks, and one of them had a navy-blue metal forearm with a barcode and serial number on it. It had to be them. Tell me where they are!”
“Damnit. I knew one day it would come to this. There’s a reason why I left the group to begin with. They were becoming increasingly repulsed by the idea of integration into society. My views weren’t getting through to them, and before it got any worse, I decided to leave before any major conflict happened between myself and them,” She calmly replied. “I’ve completely cut them off and they, me. I’ve no idea where they could be taking up residence at the moment. Last time I heard, their base of operations was rumored to be in Blue Emerald District. But they are known to have hundreds of safe houses all around the city. They could be anywhere for all I know. I could try to triangulate their positions based off a digital ping and try to use some of the cell towers as a beacon transmitter. But even I wouldn’t be able to decode their signal.”
“Would you be able to try?” Caiden asked.
“Working on tracking them as we speak. Uploading the process to your holo-feed to view in real-time.”
Even Wizard’s powerful and unique ICM could not find a signal that was even remotely related to The Sentience. “I’m sorry, Caiden. I do, however, know a person who would have a much better idea about their current whereabouts.”
“Who and where?” he asked.
“A good friend of mine named Athena. She usually hangs out near the Chrome Pit. Be careful. Her friends are particularly abrasive. Use caution when you approach her. I’ll let
