Plasmatropolis

Chapter Nineteen - The Brightest Stars Die the Fastest

The sound of helicopter blades cutting through air was nearly deafening to William, almost enough to drown out the mechanical whirring of the reprogrammed Droug soldiers. Even so, he refused to turn back. He and his army were on their way to the Citadel, and when they arrived, it would be the end of both his enemies.

He had borrowed this fleet of helicopters from the KNO, but they were only for transport. He wouldn't need them for the coming battle - he had his soldiers, a good portion of whom had been modified with thrusters, allowing for flight. Not to mention, CRDAC would carry out every order he gave with maximum efficiency.

The KNO had, thus far, failed at establishing a foothold. The blunder earlier, with McKinney and Gates failing to take the Mobilium Prime, had been nothing short of embarrassing. All in all, the organization was, to an extent, incompetent - although hopefully Operation Upheaval would work out in their favour. William's army, however, was sure to give them the strength they needed. It was powerful, effective... revolutionary.

These were thoughts William kept to himself and neglected to say to Orson, since he didn't want to ruin their alliance. Even though he had his doubts about the KNO and didn't fancy a good portion of their methods, they were still supporting his efforts. He needed them to accomplish his goals... for the time being. Perhaps one day their usefulness would be depleted.

William sighed. Now was not the time to be thinking about the future. Now was the time to be thinking about the present, because at long last... it had come time to set everything in motion.

*****

It felt like he had spent an eternity running through the Citadel, taking out any guards he came across. At last, however, Osivian caught a glimpse of a hallway leading to a vault door at the end. Without a doubt, this was where the Protisium Prime was being kept.

Crouching at the edge of the corridor, the Sendaris took another look. He realised the vault door was actually already open, but it was in the process of closing again. A team of four BPO soldiers were carrying a secure box on some sort of stretcher, accompanied by an officer. Had they already removed the Prime from the vault themselves? Osivian cocked his shotgun again, loading it with a specialised bullet, preparing to intervene.

"Alright, team." The officer said. "We just need to get the Prime out of here and let this empty vault waste the gangs' time. Nothing more, nothing less. Got it?"

Just then, Osivian whirled into view and fired a shot. The bullet he fired split into multiple shards, with one piercing the BPO officer right in the head. The rest began to ricochet off the metal walls until they had found their homes in the four soldiers, causing them to fall over and drop the stretcher. To prevent them from dying slower deaths, Osivian shot each of them again.

The Sendaris walked forth, stopping at the corpse that had once been the BPO officer.

"I got it. Loud and clear." He commented, a little amused that the officer had thought he could trick him so easily. Maybe for Ciantrius, duping him had been a walk in the park, but certainly not for this miserable man.

Osivian picked up the box. It was made of reinforced metal, but he could hear the Protisium Prime inside. There was only one problem - he couldn't put the Song in his inventory until he removed it from the box, and there was no way he could carry it the whole way back.

Examining the box, he realised there was a small keycard slot on the side. Surely that must have been the way to open it. He set the box down, walked over to the deceased BPO officer, and searched for a keycard. He found one, and inserted it into the box, but nothing happened. Osivian scowled. Perhaps the officer hadn't been high ranking enough. He needed another idea.