“It's okay Ed, I can see him behind” Haziq said, the silhouette of Jacob approaching them.
Behind Jacob they could see another drone, then another, followed by yet another. He had a whole troop gaining down on him. Jacob noticed them too and pushed the motorcycle faster and faster to try and outrun them, a near-impossible task. One of the drones fired a piercing beam of light that just missed Jacob, who managed to swerve away to his right to avoid it. A second beam was shot out, followed by a third, Jacob still narrowly missing them with his twists and turns. A fourth beam clipped the back of the motorcycle, that then let out a hissing sound and began crumpling beneath him, as it dissolved into an oozing metallic blob. Jacob was thrown to the ground just as the motorcycle melted itself away and disappeared.
“Shit, we got to go back and get him” Ed screamed to whoever was controlling their taxi, to which it did a swift U-turn and raced towards him, “Let the windows down, we need to get a clear shot”.
The windows duly obeyed and they both leaned out, their arsenals slung over their shoulders. With a swift pull of their triggers they launched their assault skyward, Haziq's precision taking down one of the drones effortlessly. The two drones left swung straight towards them, their beams poised and ready to take aim. The taxi screeched to a halt and the door swung open, a few metres away Jacob hobbling along. Ed took some pot shots at the aerodynamic scourge to distract them, Jacob inching closer to the car.
With no warning at all, Jacob was suddenly enveloped by small Nano-bots, completely covering him from head to toe. Ed and Haziq watched distressed as a humanoid looking Nano-colony stumbled towards them, the faint cries of Jacob emanating from within the exoskeleton. Haziq decided they had nothing to lose, so he took aim with his small handgun and a series of shots rang out. They clanged against the metallic surface, causing the Nano-colony to disperse and fly towards the taxi defensively. Behind them they could see that Jacob was okay, apart from the two daggers sticking out of his appendages and a series of tiny incisions dotted around his body, where the swarm had been. He tried to run faster towards the taxi, where the Nano-bots were headed. The taxi had no choice but to close back up again, the Nano-bots crashing into the side of it and trying to saw through the exterior. Jacob suddenly realised the drones were right behind him and turned to see them fire their beams at him. He didn't have enough time to jump out of the way fully and both beams caught his left arm, the caustic incision making his flesh and bone bubble, along with the dagger that had made itself at home. Jacob screamed out loud as the foaming of his arm became more intense and started to work its way up towards his shoulder. With a sudden panic in his eyes he knew he only had one option, he had seen what happens if he let it be. With more courage than he ever realised he could muster, he placed the barrel of his gun in his right arm on to his left, closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. The fizzing section of his arm below it shattered away and dissolved on to the floor, leaving blood spraying dangerously from what was left of the top of his arm. It was that or be thoroughly dissolved.
The drones had passed above him now and were swinging back to make another approach, all the while the Nano-bots sawing their way into the stationary taxi. There was no way he was going to make it to the taxi, he was losing too much blood, and that was if he could even get into it, his entry blocked by a hive of angry robots. His last option was to use the flame from his other weapon to cauterize the wound, something he didn't hesitate in doing. He screamed with more pain that he had ever felt in his entire life. Every other scream he ever made sounded more like a whimper next to this. As he did the unthinkable, he knew he had to dash for cover, the drones were turning back towards him for round two. He sprinted to the building to the side of him, his fiery weapon still held in place, and just managed to reach the inside before the drones had let out more shots. The beams fizzled through the building entrance, causing the walls inside to start melting down, simmering down to a stew.
The taxi outside duly took off, the decision made to try and save two of their team instead of losing all three. It screeched away, still with the Nano-bots attached and now with the two drones in hot pursuit. It weaved in and out the streets, quick turns trying to shake the swarm off, but making no difference.
Back in the building, its facade was slowly liquefying, and Jacob took a deep breath. He was out of immediate danger, but he had no idea what to do next. He had one arm missing, and a dagger sticking out of his leg. He didn't like his odds, but he refused to give up. He refused to give up even when the people inside the office building began to turn hostile, all of them attacking at once from all angles. His weapon saw off as many as it could, but they kept coming, like a swarm of locusts, over and over. The last thing Jacob saw was an eerie grin on the face of a young secretary, her beauty masking the violence she would hail down on him. With one more heavy crash of a stiletto against his forehead, the pain vanished, everything vanished into something else, and Jacob left the building.
The taxi sped through the
