Book 2: Preventing Londinium

Grievance...

We arrive at John's house a few minutes later, where he ignores me completely as he and Ryan enter the building. I head towards the garage instead, and begin to use bits and pieces of old & unused technology to make a Scan Map. These are similar to holographic maps, except they only map out specific sections of an area, which are chosen by the user. Around an hour later, however, John stumbles into the garage with the stench of alcohol on his breath. "If I hadn't saved you that day..." he mumbles, picking up a pipe with tears in his eyes, "If I hadn't s..saved you that day...she would still BE HERE!!!". As soon as he yells this, he lunges at me with the pipe. Because he's drunk, I easily grab the pipe and tear it out of his hand. "I'm sorry John, I really am!" I try to explain to him, "I didn't know that this would happen!". All my words do is anger him further, and he runs at me. But before he can do anything, I step out of the way, which leads to him falling through one of his workbenches. He tries to stand up, but he vomits on the ground and faints.

I carry him into his room, but I unexpectedly find Ryan hiding in his wardrobe. "Ryan? Are you alright?" I ask him. He runs out and tightly embraces me. I see a wound on his cheek, and scan it. It's a belt buckle wound. I look over and see that John hasn't got his belt on anymore. I take Ryan downstairs and tend to the wound, before disposing of any alcohol within the house.

When John wakes up in the morning, he enters the dining room and finds an all-day-breakfast on the table. "What's all this then?" he asks Ryan. Before his son can reply, I enter the room and pour him a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. "Please, John, have a seat." I politely tell him, as I sit down to join them. After we consume our meal, I head back to the garage to finish the Scan Map while John and Ryan have a proper sit-down to discuss everything. 3 hours later, I finish my device and go to inform John and Ryan about my new plan. They agree a lot faster than expected, and we set out for the CyberWall. On our way there, John turns to me, telling me "Thank you, James, for this morning. I'm sorry for how I was last night. It's just...hard.". I look up at him, responding with "I know it can be hard. I've lost many people in my short lifetime.". John is intrigued by this, and questions me about those that I've lost. "Well let's see, the first two were my parents. My mother passed away when I was 11 from an illness, and my father died in an alleyway whilst him and I were trying to escape London, or Londinium, as it was then known. Then, 5 years later, I lost my friend Jake. He was shot in the head by Karim Shuldrin as me and my group fled. Turns out he never died, but now he, for whatever reason, wants me dead. Less than a week later, along with my cousin Ron and my friend Sarah, I took down CyberCorps Tower. However, when the top half came down, a plank of wood fell and impaled Ron through the chest. And finally, 2 to 3 days before you found me, I woke up in my apartment only to find the building ablaze...and Sarah trapped under debris.".

As I recount these deaths, we arrive half a mile away from the CyberWall, which is the maximum distance of how close civilians can get to it. We sneak our way to the edge of the wall itself, and I hold out my Scan Map. I press a button on it, type in some coordinates, and toss it into the air. Merely 20-30 seconds later, it safely returns to my hands. But, as we start to head back, Ryan begins exclaiming "No..No..NOOOOO! JACOB!!" over and over again. I hear a soldier heading in our direction, and I do the only logical thing. "I'm so sorry Ryan." I whisper as I knock him out cold with a right hook. John went to say something, but I place my finger to my lips and camouflage Ryan and I in the grass. As the soldier gets near John, I sneak up behind him, hit his gun to the floor, and roundhouse kick him to the floor. I pick up Ryan in a fireman's carry and, together with John, begin sprinting back to the truck before more soldiers turn up. However, as we are running, my vision begins flashing back and forth between reality and when I saved Ron and Sarah in the same way on the night that Karim betrayed us. Luckily, I remember the promise I made to John, and use the anger as fuel. I lay Ryan down in the back of the truck and hop in with him as John begins to drive away. As we go along the road, I hear a police siren behind us. I tell John to pull over, and I quickly pour some wine around Ryan's mouth and place the bottle next to him in the truck. When the officer questions why he's out cold, I say that he got drunk and stumbled into the road and that we're only taking him home. The officer believes this false lie, and we make our way back to the house.

When we get back, I lift Ryan onto the sofa and pour John a drink. "Thanks for today, James." he says gratefully, as he sips, "I mean it.". I tell him that he's welcome, and I then proceed to stand up again and head to the garage. Once I'm inside I place the Scan Map on the desk and tap a code into it. '2056,' I think to myself, 'the year that this all started for me.'. After the code is typed in, a holographic map of the entire CyberWall appears a few centimetres above the device. I zoom in on the closest part of the wall to us and, as I sit down on a wooden stall, I begin to think of a strategy to get into the city. After what must be at least an hour, I hear John's truck starting up. I head out of the garage and spot John and Ryan exiting their house. I dart my eyes towards the truck, and realise that someone is...stealing it?

I sprint towards the back of the vehice as fast as I can and grab on just as whoever it is begins to drive away. When they turn the corner to get onto the road, I use the momentum to launch myself onto the top of it. I carefully make my way to the front and drive my prosthetic hand through the top of the truck, wrenching the driver out of the seat onto the side of the road. I jump through the window and stop the vehicle, but as I get out I spot the thief running in the opposite direction. "HEY! GET BACK HERE!" I demand, as I begin to chase them. I see them run into Folkestone, and sprint after them into an alleway. I tackle them to the floor and turn them over so that they are facing me. But I know this person, I met them once before. "Dentry? Dentry Shuldrin?" I question out loud, confused at the whole scenario. I met Dentry in 2061 when I needed supplies for Sarah, Ron and I. He helped me to defeat some guards and to get some supplies, but then I never saw him again. He smiles at me menacingly. He's in his early 20s now, barely younger than me, but he looks different. Though I can't figure out why. "Oh good, you remember me." he states. I find this suspicious, but before I can do anything he grabs a partly smashed glass bottle and jams it into my side. As I eventually begin to lose consciousness, I see New Militia trucks appearing, and a lot of guards hopping out of them. But before they can reach me, I see someone ram through them in a vehicle. When I unfortunately lose consciousness, I hear a few gunshots, and then I snap awake.

But...where am I? I stand up as quick as I can, and soon realise that I'm back where I previously met Sarah...heaven. As I head towards the gate from before, however, she is nowhere to be found. I begin to feel confused, but before I can do anything I hear the word "Clear!" in the background, and a quick jolting within my chest. Moments later, I wake up in a hospital bed, with stitches in my side and John and a doctor standing next to me. John tells me that he and Ryan saved me from Dentry and The New Militia just in time for the doctors to save my life. I stand up and equip my prosthetics, and tell the doctor that I'm fine and that I'm leaving at once. I exit the building with John and meet Ryan in the truck, talking to someone on the phone. When we get into the truck, Ryan quickly hangs up and hides his phone in his hoodie, but John doesn't notice this.

When we arrive at John's house, I ask Ryan to help me in the garage while John heads into the main house. When we enter the garage, I suddenly grab Ryan by the shoulders and hold him against the wall. "Who were you talking to on the phone earlier?!" I demanded, staring directly into his eyes. "I'm sorry James, but I couldn't refuse his offer." Ryan responds sadly. "WHOSE OFFER?!!" I yell. Ryan's response sends chills down my spine. "Dentry Shuldrin and Jake Skilot... I'm sorry James, but the New Militia will be arriving here shortly to take you and to give me what they offered me.". I look at him and question what they offered him. "They offered to get me my mum back, the same way that they got Jake back.".

Moments later, I hear the sound of massive lorries approaching outside and I run over to a window, only to spot 3 lorries full of guards and 2 Mecha Guards arriving at the house. "Ryan, listen to me, they're manipulating you into betraying me. Trust me, they manipulated me before and it never ends well, so you need to stay in here and keep your mouth shut." I command him, as I head out of the back window of the garage towards the house, ready to defend this place no matter what.