The elderly man looked at them both and nodded, his scanning contraption had confirmed they weren't wired into the Elites grid.
“So where is it you're going? Another rebel camp?” He asked.
Ben nodded, his arms still hoisted up in the air, “Can we put our arms down?”
“Sure” the old man replied while signalling to the others to lower their weapons, “We've had a few of you pass through here. As there are hardly any cameras it's a good spot to be invisible and fade away out of the city. Just over a week ago though this area was a place where people disappeared for other reasons. Funny how quickly things change”
The old man was well dressed for what they considered to be someone homeless, a clean blue shirt and brand-new denim jeans, complete with designer trainers. They expected that he got new clothes every now and then from the unfortunate people that wandered too close, those that 'disappeared for other reasons'.
“So, are we good?” Danny asked, “You'll let us pass?”
The old man nodded. Moving his head in some way seemed to be his preferred method of communication.
“I'm not so sure about those gentlemen though” He said pointing behind Danny.
Danny and Ben looked round to see a group of six men heading towards them, fairly obviously members of the Elite's ground team. They weren't sure what gave it away most, was it the stark looks on their face? The gangster style suits? The weapons pointed in their direction? Or it could have been the fact that four of them seemed to flick some kind of switch that made their bodies disappear, the light being bounced around them to make them fade into their surroundings.
“God damn it” shouted Ben as he started to run, with Danny quickly joining him.
The old man shouted some garbled drawl at his colleagues and within a split second they all had their weapons back in the air and were furiously firing off rounds. A hail of bullets went soaring towards Story face, Slick back and their cronies. The invisibility cloaks not only repelled light they also seemed to repel bullets. What technology did they have here? None of them had ever seen this before. Story face and Slick back were behind the invisible four, being shielded as they all ran forward. There was another incoherent drawl from the old man and more than fifteen people emerged from the camp carrying an array of exotic and terrifying weaponry. They joined the old man and his little crew and began hurling a barrage of indiscriminate shots at the Elites foot soldiers, barely having an impact. A long haired hippy looking man flicked a switch on his gigantic gun and a thundering rocket shot out, narrowly missing the old man who was slightly in front of him. It flew towards two of the soldiers, more by fluke than skill and crashed straight into them. There were loud screams and their invisibility suits burst apart into sparks and crackles, the men inside them being dissolved into an horrific bundle of flesh and bone.
They all decided to fall back to the camp, all the while calling for more of their crew to join the fight. Several of them were picked off as they raced back to camp, dropping to the floor with a shriek. More fighters appeared, guns blazing. If Ben and Danny were expecting a quiet getaway, they were now very disappointed. The foot soldiers continued their pursuit, getting closer to the camp, letting off rounds of fire that shredded their way through the tents and makeshift huts. There were numerous cries as stray bullets ricocheted from pillar to post, passing through anyone who stood in the wrong place. It was quickly turning into a bloodbath; the weapons the Elites had acquired were so much more advanced. Danny and Ben had reached the far side of the camp and looking ahead they could see the van they were going to be picked up in, along with two guards who were stood outside. They waved to the guards to signal that they were getting close, and one of the guards jumped into the van ready. Behind them they could hear the carnage as the camp was being ripped apart and Ben stopped and turned around.
“What are you doing?” shouted Danny.
“These people are being slaughtered Dan, and it's our fault, I've got to do something” He shouted back.
“What? What the fuck can you do?”
“Take this” He said, handing Danny a small box.
“What's this?” He asked confused.
“If anything happens to me, make sure you get these to the meeting point, Sheryl needs these, now wait here” Ben said, dashing off back to camp and pulling out the second small box he had brought with him.
Ben had seen how the guards had a suit made of something that could repel both light and bullets; he knew that they must have had some kind of nano-bot technology. They were probably suits made of thousands of these tiny machines, that when combined were as hard as steel, and as reflective as a mirror. It gave him a quick plan that would enable him, Danny and everyone left in the camp to get away. He darted back into the camp shouting at everyone to follow Danny and then threw the contents of the box on to the floor, quickly jumping behind a post. The people in the camp were scattered all around, all clambering to get out and run towards where Danny was stood. Danny watched them run in his direction, one or two of them being slain by a rogue bullets dance.
“What are you doing?” He screamed over to Ben.
Ben got a controller out of his coat and began pressing buttons furiously. This was followed by a connection blinking into life on a small screen where he could see the view from where he had thrown the boxes contents. He continued to press the buttons and flicking switches manically and typing some instructions
