“Caide? Wait!” He yelled at the top of his lungs. For a moment, everyone stopped. In that same moment, another android snuck up behind Vantz’s friend, took his weapon from him, and knocked him over. Another android threw a nasty punch sending Caiden’s head backward, blood sprayed as the punch connected. The blue-eyed android was also captured and subdued.
There was a terrifying silence before the leader R.Dash, slowly and gracefully walked toward the center where the two men were. She calmly examined both Vantz and Caiden.
“Is this your friend?” she asked.
“Please! H-he’s—” Vantz yelled.
CHAPTER 20
---usr/systems/server-x/TREACHEROUS RESCUE---
Caiden's hood was fully removed now. He was pinned face down on the cold concrete. Drips of blood from his face mixed with the sweat, then slowly trickled to the pavement as he held his head up as high as he could under the circumstances. The air was cold, and slightly smelled of metal. He never lost eye contact with R.Dash as she paced back and forth among the center of her horde of androids. He was laser focused. His face, though partially covered in blood, manifested in a death inducing snarl that culminated around the bridge of his nose, forehead and his ever iridescent eyes. Through his clothes, he could feel the moisture from the concrete seep through.
“You look very determined.” R.Dash said. Caiden defiantly stared.
“Dude! What are you doing here, man? You shoulda called the cops!” Vantz shouted.
“The cops aren’t worth a damn! They wouldn’t come for you until forty-eight hours after you went missing. I did what I had to,” Caiden replied.
“Shit! Never mind that. Are you okay?” Vantz asked.
“Your conversation is with me,” R.Dash interrupted. “You have become a thorn in my side. You risked your life for your friend, but look at you now.” Caiden’s glare became even more intense as she spoke. “You managed to tracks us down all the way here. You’ve even managed to win his trust," she said while pointing to Eddi. “You took out a bunch of members from my team rather efficiently, might I add. But all that ends now. You are too dangerous to be kept alive. Taking your life is now necessary.” She held her hand out, and one of her subordinates handed her a gun.
“No! Look, we can work this out! You said you wanted money, right? I can give you that! I have more than enough! Please don’t…” Vantz pleaded.
“Why kidnap someone like Vantz? Don’t you think that’s a risk too great to take? You trying to start a war?” Caiden asked.
“Don’t worry about our methods. What we do is of no concern to you,” R.Dash replied as she unlocked the safety on the gun.
The pistol was only a few inches away from Caiden’s head. He could still feel the massive weight of the two androids pinning him down. He had enough strength to wrestle them off, however. But what about Vantz’s safety? What about his own for that matter? The odds were stacked against him. All he could see around him were androids, primed and ready to stop him if he moved so much as an inch in resistance. Fuck, Caiden thought to himself.
“Please!” Vantz yelled frantically. R.Dash readied her gun.
“R.Dash! Stop this shit at once! What’s gotten into you?” a voice from the far end of the warehouse echoed.
A wide-eyed Caiden watched as her trigger finger eased off and she slowly stood up to see who it was. The androids stepped to the side. On the other side of the warehouse stood a wiry man with a fauxhawk and a greying goatee; it was Pierce. Pierce was also accompanied by five large tattooed and goonish bodyguards. They were equipped with sawed off shotguns and oversized pistols.
“You!” R.Dash angrily shrieked.
“Eddi! Now!” Caiden yelled. Eddi unleashed a powerful jamming wave of electromagnetic interference. Every single android was frozen stiff from the jamming signal. Caiden summoned a burst of strength and wrestled free from under the androids that had him pinned. He sprinted toward R.Dash. Eddi also broke free and followed suit.
“Catch!” Caiden yelled as tossed his pistol to Eddi. Caiden positioned himself behind R.Dash, who was still frozen. He kicked behind her stiffened knees and she fell. Caiden inserted a fiber optic cable from his holo-watch into the port near the back of R.Dash’s neck and immediately got to work. The jamming signal from Eddi ceased. All the androids remained stiff, eyes still lit red; they were rebooting.
“Hey man! What do you need me to do?” Eddi asked Caiden.
“Keep the gun on her. I’m gonna try to isolate the problem in her ICM,” Caiden replied.
”What!? Here!?” Eddi asked.
Pierce and his team ran over to Caiden and Eddi. They had their weapons drawn and made a barricade around the two unlikely allies. Just as they did so, the androids fully rebooted.
“Uh, kid? What are you up to? We don’t really have time to be playing ‘Mr. Genius hacker’ right now!’ Pierce grunted as he aimed his weapon at the androids, who were slowly closing in.
“Don’t move! I suggest you take a few steps back unless you want your precious leader to become nothing more than a lifeless metal piece of shit!!” Caiden warned the androids.
They came to a halt. “Explain.”
“Yes, explain.”
“Our leader is important to us and our mission.”
“Yes, our mission.” Four androids said in unison.
“Ooh, who’s in the driver’s seat now, huh?” Caiden jeered.
“Hey, kid! What the hell, man?” Pierce asked.
“Relax, I’m infiltrating her ICM. These guys are bugged with some sort of virus. It’s what’s been causing them to go nuts these past few months,” Caiden replied.
“How do you know this?” Pierce asked.
“Just trust what he’s saying,” Eddi interjected.
“I gotta isolate the virus and hope it fixes her,” Caiden replied.
“You crazy son of a bitch! And what about the rest of these guys?”
