Book 2: Preventing Londinium

Opposition...Alliance?

As we begin to head through the hallway of the building towards the elevator, an employee questions us about what happened. We don't acknowledge her queries, and continue through the office space. We don't get too far, however, before a security guard stops us, demanding a reason as to why we're here. Before things get out of hand, I grab the man's taser and jam it into his gut. As he falls to the floor, we all enter the elevator and Ryan presses the button for the ground floor. We exit the building to find London I'm ruins. Cars are piled up in the streets on fire, buildings are half destroyed, and bodies are painting the alleyways red.

We head into one of said alleyways to get to a prosthetics warehouse, but I stop when I hear a familiar voice. "James, come here." it whispers. I tell John and Ryan that I'll meet them at the warehouse, and proceed to follow the voice until I end up finding someone at the end of a street wearing a long hooded jacket. I begin to walk over and they immediately head into another alley. "So then," I began, "what's YOUR deal?". He removes his hood and reveals himself to be Jake. Before I can turn around and leave, he speaks to me how he always spoke to me back when he was in Anonymity. "James, it's me." he explains, "I saw Dentry flee from The New Militia's HQ earlier, when bombs came flying through the windows from the rioters. When I (unbeknownst to him) learnt that he had left his the switch to my KillCode in the burning building, I made up a false reason to be away from him for a few hours so that I could talk to you in person.". While he explains this, I only have a few questions on my mind. "Jake, why do you have a real KillCode in you, and how the hell is Dentry the leader of The New Militia.".

Suddenly, before he can explain, we both hear a beeping coming from Jake's earpiece. He presses a button on it and we hear Dentry telling him to return to base. He turns to me and simply says "A showdown is coming...and I'm forced to attend.". He turns and runs out of the alleyway. I go after him but he's gone. It seems that he's gotten faster. Maybe a little too fast for my own good.

I regroup with John and Ryan at the warehouse around 20 minutes later, and explain the situation. As I do this, we break through the door and enter the storage room. "Ryan, go and see if you can find us some Neuron-Sensory Wires." John asks, pointing towards the furthest corner of the room and leading me to the complete opposite corner. As we start looking at prosthetic arm models to use, John turns to me. "James, I need you to promise me that, no matter what happens between us and The New Militia from this point onwards, you will help me to keep my son safe." he begs, holding my shoulders, "Please, I've lost everything else in my life and I can't lose him aswell.". I remove his hands from my shoulders, responding with "John, I swear to you on my mother and father's graves that I will protect Ryan with everything that I have.". We continue to search through the boxes of prosthetic arms and come up with.....nothing. Absolutely nothing.

The only model arms here are for everyday uses, not for (at least) heavy lifting or (preferably) military purposes. But the good news is that Ryan got enough parts for me to make a basic but reliable prosthetic eye. I begin working on the eye but, as I insert the wires, we all collectively hear an alarm go off in every building around us. John, Ryan & I all seem to hear a sort of liquid loudly flowing through the warehouse's vents. I think nothing of it until I hear something that made my heartbeat go two times faster. I hear the sound of a match being lit. I turn to John and Ryan and yell at them as loud as I can: "GET OUT OF HERE IT'S GASOLI-"

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

I'm not fast enough. The building exploded and sent all three of us soaring through the air. John is sent out of the garage-like door and Ryan isn't far behind him. I, however, slam into the metal bars that are supporting the shelves. I raise my head to see that the roof is missing, and that an enormous building (at least 20 floors tall) breaking. I quickly realise that the debris is crashing into the warehouse, and I charge at the door. But, just like before, I'm too slow. The wall in front of me breaks down and the rest of the rubble blocks me in. I head for the other door but I'm quickly struck over the head by a falling pane of glass, which temporarily dazes me. I steady myself and just barely make it out in time before the door too is destroyed. I fall onto my hands and knees and try to crawl into the street outside of the front of the warehouse so that I can breathe in something that ISN'T fumes from smoke. As I get into the middle of the road, however, I stand up only to see 2 people that I really do not want to see whilst I'm this weak: Jake & Dentry. Jake's holding a blade, but Dentry's holding a new KillCode.