Colony Wars 1: War Never Ends

Chapter Five - A Hero Rises

28th February 2076 – 1st Galactic Step

Shanti Street

New Dawn City

Earth

Solar System

Special Strike Agent Lance Two-Six, dashed forward on his reinforced legs, determined to stop the murderous robots that had just started attacking New Dawn City's civilian populace.

Lance had been idling in the empty crew barracks at the base of the Chateau when he had heard a garbled cry for re-enforcements over the TacNet. Without thinking, Lance had run out of the barracks as fast as he could, in the direction of the burning shanti town.

Lance was a Hephaestus class enhanced combat soldier, born, and built by EuroTac's special weapons division. His limbs and spine were reinforced with a super strong titanium-alloy exoskeleton, which included micro-mechanisms that were directly connected to his muscles increasing his strength tenfold.

His eyes glowed slightly blue, as the permanent digital silicon contact lenses placed images and data straight into his retinas. His nose was kinked slightly, where it had been broken several times in the past and never given sufficient time to heal. His bright yellow spiky hair was also partially artificial. Several of the pretend strands were short-range radio transmitters, which fed any unscrambled signals right into his ears. It had also been suggested that the hair had been deliberately designed to look hunky and strong, to inspire others to follow him into combat and give civilians a recognisable hero.

While he had been rushing to the frontlines, he had come across an enemy digging in the mud near a sewer terminal with its one remaining arm. Lance's blue heads-up display had tagged it as an East Asian Dynasty Demon class automated infantry unit, and the technical readout of the robot had then magically appeared across his vision.

Then he had heard the scream of a young boy coming from the sewer tunnels below him. He promptly smashed his way into the sewers, decapitated the bloody red robot and carried the two children to safety. The girl he had rescued had seemed shocked and amazed by Lance's appearance, but the feature he remembered the most about her, were her terrified eyes. A sudden feeling of rage flooded over Lance, no civilian, especially a child, should have to see or deal with such destruction.

He had silently vowed to that little girl, that he would stop all this senseless violence and protect New Dawn City to the last man. His enhanced leg muscles propelled him quickly over the mass of rubble and debris toward three big roaring fires in amongst the city's outskirts.

Then another of the big Demon robots appeared in front of him and a bleeping noise sounded in his head as it brought its laser rifle arm up to target him. Lance ducked and spun round behind an empty water tank, as the bright white-hot artificial lightning sizzled into the steel tank and melted an angry red hole onto it.

Lance felt the beam's warmth briefly as he hurdled over the tank and rushed the big-headed robot. The robot adjusted quite quickly to the unexpected tactic, by raising its other clawed arm to swat at the human that was approaching it. Lance caught the clawed hand against the back of his titanium-plated forearm and the servos in his arm whirred to dissipate the blow.

The Demon somehow looked completely puzzled by the super strong human's actions, but again it reacted quickly and tried to bring its laser to bear on Lance's exposed head. However, Lance was ready for it, he snapped out a kick, which had so much kinetic force behind it that it instantly severed the limb and several blue sparks spluttered out of the machines wound.