Roshma Book 1: The First Steps

We soon landed and prepared to save the day once again. I only picked up a plasma pistol. Guns weren’t my niche; I kind of sucked with them. However, I did load up on med-packs stored them in my backpack. We found ourselves on a giant bridge after exiting the hangar. There was a squad of what looked to be the town law enforcement waiting for us, and that it when I saw it was him.

Maldeves really was full of surprises. It was my uncle Cyrus Buck. One may say, “Wow that’s really cool to run into your uncle.” Well, it would have been cool if it was Uncle Bobby, Uncle David, or Uncle Sam, but this was Uncle Buck. He was always bragging trying way too hard to be hip. Cyrus was overprotective of his family and I’m pretty sure he saw me, his own kin as a threat.

I put on my happy face façade and went up and hugged him. I felt his moustache on the side of my neck. He said, “Welcome to Maldeves, it’s an honor to be working with you and your freak show friends, aw just kidding of course.” See that’s what I mean.

He introduced himself to the rest of the team, “Hello, my name is Cyrus Buck but my friends call me Officer Buck, again chuckled to himself. I am the captain of law enforcement on Maldeves. With that he pulled out a thermos and poured him a cup of coffee and said, “Ah coffee the most important meal of the day.” Westcon started to laugh under his breath.

We were saved from the antics of Cyrus Buck by the arrival of Chancellor Martin. The chancellor had a charismatic presence about him that made people stare. Martin was a very large man. He was really tall and a little bit overweight. He had long slicked back grey hair, and wore a very nice tailored suits. Martin carried himself with dignity.

With his hand raised he addressed us, “Oh there you guys are. I heard all about what went down in Mako City and let me say, I feel safer already. Do you guys want to do a walkthrough of Maldeves? I heard they have great shopping; my daughter always loves the gifts I bring home from my travels.” Look at that he’s a family man too

He defied my expectations. I expected a pompous arrogant jerk like all the other people who were our superiors, but he seemed to genuinely care about our well-being. Martin proceeded to tell the local law enforcement that “there service would not be needed.”

My uncle begged and pleaded, but it was kind of hard to argue with the Chancellor of the West. So, we entered the city and boy was it breathtaking. There were fountains everywhere. It was almost angelic. I preferred the layout of this city better than Mako City. Maldeves was a mix of old and new. However, even in this place of beauty were signs of war. There was no giant energy field surrounding the city, but there was still many large anti-air guns surrounding the city. Mako City was a little too Indratrial for my taste, but then again, my opinion was slightly tainted considering I had grown up in the most rural city of Desantiago.

Katotta reported to Chancellor Martin, “Chancellor, I will find a higher ground to snipe from please wait here until I get into position.”

He smiled, “Hold on Katotta.” She nervously looked up at him. He continued, “You can drop the formalities. Call me Connor if you want, Connor Martin. You are protecting my life after all.” I really liked this guy.

I did feel safer with Kaotatta on the rooftops, but I was half-expecting assassins to jump out of the shadows at any moment. Nothing of the sort happened. There were a lot of little shops selling knick-knacks and such I bought a little Mobodo figure. The Mobodo was a cute bird-like creature. Cierra would probably like it. I‘m such a thoughtful brother, she’s lucky to have me.

Despite the lack of danger, Katotta couldn’t relax. She had reposition herself on a different roof. Turns out the farmers market was completely safe. This was unexpected where was the enemy? I didn’t let it get me too worried. There I bought some fruit from a terrifying old woman with one eye. The fruit was sweet like nothing I had ever tasted before. Citrus, but not to tart.

However, the people of the region weren’t as caring as the chancellor. Many people shouted, “Go back home Chancellor Martin, you failed your people. We don’t need you here.”

Then a group “Martin supporters” showered the previous group with a barrage of expletives.

One particularly rambunctious group of boys ran up to the Chancellor, “Go back home you squell. You’re going to bring the enemy right here and then we’re all going to get killed.”

Most the time, the best way to deal with idiots is just to ignore them. They’re not worth your time. Westcon did not buy into this philosophy. Instead, he formed a small ball of energy formed in his hand and taunted, “You won’t be able to talk so tough after I melt your face off.” The boys looked terrified.

The chancellor seemed angry for the first time as he said, “Now I don’t want any trouble just move along Westcon.”

Our little group ended up wondering the city until we got the industrial district. I heard Jin say, “Wow they just don’t make ’em like this on Praxis 8.”

Jon being a know-it-all had to comment, “What, you don’t have buildings on Praxis 8?”

Jin didn’t like being made to look like an idiot. He retorted, “Yeah we have buildings I was talking about the fountains you squell.” The chancellor seemed to disregard our bickering. I too had to admit the fountains were beautiful. However you couldn‘t let to city lure you in. She wasn‘t to be trusted.

Jon was right earlier when he said, “Things were not as they seemed in this city.” This was evident by the cameras positioned throughout the city. I felt heavy like a thousand eyes were focused on me. We then reached a large white building. It had many columns and looked rustic. Turns out, it was the governor’s palace and also doubled as the law-enforcement office headquarters. We followed the Chancellor up a long spiral staircase, onto an elevator and down a hallway.

I happened to overhear Mott and Katotta talking. She said, “I guess you were right so far about this mission not being dangerous, but I’m still wary of this place.”

He laughed as he put her worries to rest, “See I told you so, and you were all worried. We’ll do the dirty work you just watch our backs.” Yeah we were safe for the moment but it would be ignorant to think the worst was behind us.

Next thing I knew, we were in the governor’s suite. Chancellor Martin went and sat in a chair that over looked the whole city. He turned to us and said, “Nice work today, guys do have any questions? If not you are free to go. Although, I request at least two of you guarding me at all times.”

In fact, I did have a question, “What’s with all the cameras in this city?”

He thought long and hard before saying, “I have an answer, but I don’t know if it’s a good one, but here it goes. There are always multiple paths to take, different ways of doing things. Both paths can produce the same end point, but they are still different. For example, this city is under constant surveillance by a system of cameras called the “Big Brother”. In fact, it’s located in the basement of this building. Some may call this a breach of privacy and I agree.”

He paused momentarily letting his words sink in, “On the other side of the coin, consider the city that I lived in before the war, the city of Junesong the capital of the West. She was a flourishing city. Some people proposed a city wide surveillance system of cameras but I vetoed it. However, we were one of the first peoples taken over by the Raikai’s forces army.”

“We chose the path of liberty. Maldeves chose the path of safety and there still alive. Of course as chancellor, everyone places the blame on me. Some love me, some hate me. Some people have sympathy for me, but others just said I was too liberal and that’s why the people shout at me in the streets as well. Now I can’t be saying this kind of stuff to the people. To them I have to be a pillar of courage, but to be honest this job isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Sometimes I wish I had just stayed a lawyer.”

I had no idea, my struggles paled in comparison to the chancellor’s.

Katotta assured him, “You did all you could.”

Martin laughed, “You don’t know how much that means coming from the mouth of the daughter of one of our planets largest business owners. Your kind don’t usually like me.”

Kotatta looked at him with a reassuring smile, “I’ve never met a political figure before, but after meeting you, it’s hard not to like you.”

As the star set I found an abandoned room to make camp in. It would be a couple of hours of sleep for me and then I would have to get up and be on guard duty. So Mott, Jin, Westcon, and I set up “camp” in this room. There was a rule we had to sleep at least 15 feet apart so we wouldn’t end up spooning. I woke up to a hand on the shoulder. Someone was trying to shake me awake. It wasn‘t vigorous, but it was enough to do the trick.

I looked up to see who my attacker was it was Katotta. She greeted me with a, “Wake up soldier.” Then she walked over to Westcon and kicked him in the side. Not really that hard, but probably harder than necessary to wake someone up.

Westcon whined, “Ow, what did you do that for?”

Katotta didn’t respond to Westcon and instead, made her way over to Jin, I was curious how she was going to wake him up but she was interrupted. Before she had the chance to do anything, he said, “Don’t you kick me I’m already awake.” I still felt tired, but I guess I would have to get used to this sleeping in shifts thing. One of us would guard the door of the presidents sleeping quarters and the others of us would walk around the hallway.

So we started night patrol. Jin took door duty first and the rest of us walked the building looking for anything suspicious. I was on high alert, looking for any little thing. My senses were alive, the ticking of clocks and the interworking of the building provided the rhythm of this outing. It was still dark, but the dim emergency lights provided a small amount of illumination. Add that to all the cameras that were constantly watching our every move. It was quite eerie. It was almost like a horror movie, I expected the enemy to attack at any moment, but much to my surprise, nothing out of the ordinary happened. We just did a couple loops around the building in silence.

I wanted to speak, but couldn’t think of anything to say. Luckily, we had brought Westcon along, and he couldn’t stay quiet for too long. He said,” What do you think about the outsiders, Jin and Jon?”

Mott answered, “Jin seems okay and he’s a pretty good fighter. It is too early to make any judgments though. However, that Jon guy is straight weird.”

I didn’t want to be the odd man out, but I had to stick up for my buddy, “You’re right Jon is sure a strange one but I’ve known him since childhood in Desantiago. Jon may be sarcastic and a know-it –all but he will always have your back.”

Westcon called me out, “I think you are a little bias because you guys grew up together and stuff but that guy is weird.” I could tell I was all alone in my view, so I dropped it and the silence returned.

Everyone was curious about the big brother computer system. We went to the basement to see it, but had no such luck. The door required a retinal scan and a keycard. Disappointed we made our way over to the library and that too was locked. This led to another phase of silence once again broken by Westcon. This time he said, “Hey Mott I’m tired.”

Mott said, “We’re all tired. Why should I care?” Westcon was trying to contain his laughter, “Because I was out all night with your momma. Don’t worry, I treated her, right took her to all the nice places.”

Mott clinched his fist, “My mother‘s dead. Take that back you dirty squell.”

Westcon’s eyes got wide, “I’m so sorry man I forgot about her death.”

Mott laughed, “It’s okay, I’m just screwing with you. It doesn’t bother me anymore, they died a long time ago, but you should have seen the reaction on your face. It was priceless.” What a morbid sense of humor. Okay, I’ll admit it. I laughed a little.

Night watch was over as the Alpha Star illuminated the sky. Something wasn’t right about this and I let the others know my concerns, “This place is off I’m getting a bad vibe. Though we haven’t seen the enemy yet, our spies did get Intel that they would be planning an assassination attempt. I doubt they got cold feet.”

Mott addressed us, “I’m sure they are planning an assassination attempt. I bet they are waiting for us to let our guard down before striking. Only problem is we won’t let our guard down.”

We went back to the sleep room. Katotta was setting upright by her makeshift cot polishing her sniper rifle. I noticed that Westcon looked a little disappointed; I think he wanted to kick her in the side and say, “Wake up soldier.”

It was probably better he didn’t get to go through with his plan. With that, we went back to sleep.

I was still groggy form my nap when the chancellor summoned us into his office. The man in charge said, “We had been doing a good job and that we could go explore the city for ourselves for a couple of hours if we wanted to. Of course, we jumped at the opportunity. So Westcon, Mott, Jin and myself wandered the city. We took in a lot more of it this time since we weren’t on duty.

It was also during this time that I thought about calling Aunt Melanie. We talked for a little bit and she told me I should come by her place after the body guard job was done. Even if it was just for a little bit I would try and see her. The address was 1900 E. Aferton Way. While I was on the phone the rest of the group decided we should get something to eat. Since there wasn’t a Miranda’s café’ around, we decided we would go for the next best thing, Tom’s Fueling Station. The locals told us it was good.

The people didn’t lie. The food was supurb and the service was great. The servers were down-home friendly, but it didn’t really matter. What did matter was a certain announcement. All the hologram boxes went fuzzy before being replaced by a giant face. It was Shodon’s face, then it switched to my face. An automated voice informed us, “These individuals have just set off a bomb at Rockhold stadium (where the professional Quetzel Team the Maldeves Mavericks played). These men were believed to be friendly. They were supposed to be protecting the Chancellor, but have since went rogue. If you see them, avoid them at all costs. They are highly dangerous. Local law enforcement will neutralize the threat.

This was a time to panic. I didn’t know how we had been framed, but we didn’t blow up that stadium. I wasn’t sure what to do or where to go from here. Going back to the governor’s mansion would be futile since we were wanted criminals. We didn’t have much time to make a collective decision because some lady shrieked, “Those are the guys. They are the terrorist!”

The whole diner went into frenzy. Everyone left the restaurant except one guy behind the counter. He pulled out a gun and said, “You come here and try to kill the Chancellor, but you’re going to have to get through me first.” He pulled out a laser pistol and blasted me. I dived out of the way, but it still hit me in the arm I had no time to shield. However, Mott took him out. Then we ran out of the fueling station/ restaurant.

I screamed at Mott, “You didn’t have to kill the man, he’s innocent.”

Mott smiled, “I didn’t kill him, just hit him hard enough that he went to sleep.”

Then I proceeded to make some calls as we ran through the city. It was in a state of chaos as everyone scrambled to get inside a building. First call was the Chancellor. I was running and a little out of breathe as I said, “We didn’t do it. We haven’t even been to the stadiums. We’ve been framed.”

He angrily replied, “I’d like to believe that, but the Big Brother isn’t a system of ordinary cameras, it also does biometric scans. The height, the weight, everything is a perfect match. I want to believe you, but I’m going to need some solid proof.

Jin quickly slapped the com-link out of my hand. “Don’t make any calls. They can pinpoint our location.”

Mott informed us, “I don’t have much of a plan, but we need to meet up with the others.” He messaged everyone telling them to meet him at the bridge that overlooked the river. He had a different message for Katotta, It went something like this, “Katotta you need to get out of there now. Get back to ship and hide there until we straighten this thing out. Be careful, they might be looking for you too.”

As planned, we went to the bridge by the river. This place would usually be crowded, but everyone was hiding away in the safety of their homes. Right now the streets were “dangerous”. The river bridge was a shiny gold color. There was a two lane highway and on the sides of it were many benches to set down on as well as a jogger’s path. This was accompanied by a series of stairs along the bridge which could take you down to the river below. I wish I could have visited the bridge during peace time. I’m sure it was beautiful, but it seemed as if we were always on the run.

Upon reaching the banks of the river, I took my backpack off my back and opened it. I rubbed some ointment on my laser wound to ease the burn and sprayed some liquid sealant on it to stop the bleeding and hopefully prevent it from reopening.

Moments earlier, I was complaining about how no one was out today. At this moment company showed up. However, company in this case referred to law-enforcement officers. They parked their speeders the abandoned bridge and now they descending upon the river banks. They said, “We have you surrounded.”

We had been backed into a corner, but when you back a beast into a corner it bears its fangs. I sure hoped no one died. I told the others, “Try not to kill any of them they are just innocent men doing their jobs.” Our attackers looked baffled. Would a guilty person say that? It was the ultimate mind game.

The skirmish on the banks had started. Moxin armor vest and Ar57s these guys were well outfitted. Maldeves had heavily invested into safety. However, they weren’t very well trained, and would probably provide less of a threat than the first guys we fought at the diner, but they had numbers on their side. We would knock down an officer and we would be assaulted by five more.

There was the fact we had to go kind of easy on them since we didn’t want to kill anyone and they were leaving themselves open for kill shots right and left. I fought off many of them, but a couple of them got me with these electric rod things that kind of hurt. Must have been going for a live capture.

The fighting stopped momentarily when we heard a voice on a loud speaker. It was, Officer Buck he said, “Surrender peacefully we have you surrounded.”

I shouted, “Cyrus, I know this is going to make family get-togethers awkward, but I’m sorry but I just can’t do that.” The sky was filled with ships and there were snipers all aiming guns at us. All of the sudden, I got hit with a dart in the neck. I guess we did kind of need a counter sniper. I felt very sleepy and started to fall to the ground.

While I was on the ground something happened. I felt like a fog was clearing up in my body; it was the nanobots they were working! The officers that were closing in around me started to back away. “One shouted out what kind of demons are you?”

Then I heard Jon’s voice, “The kind demons you don’t want to mess with.” A couple of the officers were now levitating in the air due to Jon’s telekinetic abilities. To make a long story short, the local law enforcement realized that were outmatched and retreated in fear.

Mott decided that we should hide out some place where law enforcement officers didn’t want to go -the slums. Inner city Maldeves had a reputation for being pretty bad. We needed to find cover. If we didn’t figure this out fast we may have to deal with more than local forces. Maybe even the military, though they probably wouldn’t leave the theater of war even to deal with this misunderstanding.

When one is navigating a rather large city, transportation is a must. It was then that we committed our only real crime. By that I mean we stole some of the speeders of officers that were still unconscious.

While riding through the city, we decided that we need to establish some ground rules. They were as follows: Rule number 1: “No killing of officers or military personnel unless absolutely necessary and rule number 2: We would not send any messages on our com-links. We still weren’t 100% sure of how they had tracked us but I bet that the big brother could trace the signals of the messages that we sent.

I wouldn’t consider myself a tech-whizz, but somehow I discovered our com-links could be used as a tracking device. We could find out where any fellow team member was at any time because of the microchips under our skin. The com-link would give the coordinates of anyone with the chip and then construct a map of the area surrounding them. I thought it was just so headquarters could track us. Maybe it was, but now the microchip served a dual purpose.

When we finally got to the slums and parked our stolen property in an abandoned parking lot. I wasn’t really bothered by the ghetto. Sure, it was dangerous, but I’m pretty sure the people who took over the dam were more dangerous than anything the ghetto had to offer us. I seriously doubted they could afford steel loaders so we could also just shield their lasers as long as we saw them coming.

However, Jon and Shodon weren’t as sure about this idea. Shodon tried to convince Mott otherwise, He whined, “We shouldn’t leave the law enforcement speeders here. They will probably get stolen or destroyed. That is almost like spitting in their faces bringing these on their territory.”

Mott offered up some street smarts, “Then we’ll find new ones. Hey, also put all your guns out of sight.” The rich fear the poor because they don’t know their plight. I knew from experience the poor were the same as the rich just more desperate cause they have nothing to lose.

There were rows and rows of buildings that all looked the same. They were tall, slender and smacked right up against each other with no space in between them. These were the tenant buildings where the poorest citizens of Maldeves lived. They were probably only one or two room living arrangements stacked one of top of the other. The walls were paper thin, and I would bet it got very hot this time of year with the hundreds of people sharing such a cramped space.

As for the buildings themselves, they were tattooed in graffiti. There was a stench that rose through the air that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. There were also many kids laughing and playing in the streets unaware of that their life sucked.

Jon got really close to me and began talking quietly almost like he was trying to tell me a secret, “Mother always told me to stay away from Van Bruen Ave. and where are we? Van Bruen Ave.”

This notion of panic seemed silly, and I assured him everything would be alright, “Don’t be scared you’ve got telekinetic powers.”

Jon went on the defensive, “It’s not that I’m scared of them. Quite the opposite, I hate them. You remember what the gangs/ street criminals in Desantiago did to my house? I’ll refresh your memory. They burned it to the ground, and that landed me in this joyous place. Once we got here, we stayed as far from trouble as possible. I’m worried if one of these street gangsters/mobsters taunts me, I might not be able to hold back. I may just kill them. I have all of this hate swirling around inside of me.”

I tried to inform him, “I know you’ve had it hard, but you just got to let it go. You can’t just lump a whole group of people together like that. Those are dangerous waters you’re treading in. Mott Blixer grew up on the streets, and look where he is now. Also, if you try to kill anyone then I will have to personally restrain you.”

We were walking down the street and we passed a park which. Of all the ghetto was lacking, parks did not make the list. At this particular park, there was a large group of men all carrying laser riffles. When we walked by they all got up and started charging at us.

The gang seemed to be led by a short dark skinned eleven Zatt. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and his body was covered in scars. He carried a plasma pistol. He shouted, “You fools wrecked my territory and ran away. I see you’re back for more. This time we prepared for y’all. My crew and I here got high powered laser riffles and we ain’t afraid to blast ya away.”

Mott look confused and responded to their accusations, “I can honestly say I have no idea what you are talking about.”

The man shouted, “Giaka man don’t play with me boy. I know you did it.”

His crew answered with a, “yeah.” This was a ragged crew. They were all covered in tattoos and many had scars just like their leader. Soon, after he stopped speaking we found 20 laser riffles pointed at us.

Author’s note: Wherever there is poverty crime follows. Usually it is not organized and everyone is out for themselves. However, with the advent of the “Big Brother” no crime went unpunished anything from jaywalking to armed robbery. This increase in law enforcement led to an organization of crime. The new organized crime had smuggled laser riffles and wasn’t afraid to fight local law enforcement. They went around smashing surveillance cameras and causing mischief. This particular gang had been very successful under the leadership of the one known as “The Gambler”. This Gambler had special abilities, and left the streets to join the fight against the enemy.

The short eleven Zatt gang leader got up in Mott’s face and pointed his riffle to his neck and challenged him, “Look me in the eyes and give me one reason not to blow your head off.” They stared down each other for a long time, and then the angry Zatt lowered his riffle.

He did something surprising and said, “Stand down men these one’s are different. I looked into his eyes and I saw the lights reflection. The guys I saw earlier looked the same but had dead eyes.” He was smarter than he appeared to notice such a subtle detail.

What an interesting discovery. I had been too panicked before to really think about how these imposters tricked the cameras. It was now clear to me that these imposters were somehow clones of us or at least creatures that could take on the identity of another life form. I didn’t how they got our blood or how long they had been planning this. In the process of real cloning the clone is born as a child. However, I doubt this plan had been in the works for 20 years. No, it must be some kind of instant cloning technology.

However, the clones weren’t perfect copies because their eyes were different. In fact, all of this talk of cloning reminded me of a book I had read as a teenager called, A Toast to the Executioner. It was about a man who was an assassin working in the shadows for a big corporation. He took out people who posed a threat to the business. One day he has to assassinate a man, but his target looks exactly like him and he realizes that he is a clone. He can’t kill his double; he turns against his employers and kills them all.

While I was off in my own world I guess we had made peace with the streets. The leader of this operation’s was nicknamed was Lucky. He got the name because he was shot five times straight in the chest and survived somehow. He was taking over while “The Gambler” was gone. Once he learned that Mott was a child of the streets too, he did a 180 and started treating us like friends. Even better family.

At his point Lucky started to make small talk, “When the clones came through they had this sexy chick with purple hair with them. I ain’t going lie, this was the finest woman I ever seen in my life. Do you guys know her?”

Mott smiled, “We do know her. Her name is Katotta. She apart of our team.

At this moment this short man from the streets said, “Katotta! I saw her in a magazine once. Her daddy is rich, he owns some big corporation.”

They started whopping and hollering and praising our name. She sadly wasn’t here to greet her fan club, but I had to wonder if Katotta got tired of being made over all the time and constantly be lusted after. Being that beautiful was a great gift, but it was also a curse.

Lucky turned out to be quite the host inviting us to one of his bases of operation. He said, “The other one had been blow up by the clones.” This one was much nicer -at least according to him. He fed us, gave us some more weapons. I still remember what he said as we left, “Keep your head up. If I see any those clones on my turf we’ll blast ’em for ya.”

We had some new friends, but I was kind of glad to be off Van Bruen Ave.

I taunted Jon, “See we made some new friends.”

He replied, “ I really hate you sometimes.”

Now that we knew our enemy, it was time to figure out what to do, but no one had the solution. Every once in a while someone would come up with an idea, but eventually we realized all of our ideas were doomed to fail. Then Jon went to speak up. He opened his mouth but nothing came out.

Jin, still salty from the other day, said, “Spit it out already.”

Jon retorted, “You guys aren’t going to like this plan, but every way I look we are defeated. I say we flee the city and escape back to headquarters. The clones will probably assassinate the Chancellor, but if we are there Polanski can be our alibi that we didn’t assassinate the Chancellor. We can come back with the military and kill the clones.”

Westcon clinched his fist, “You’re right, that was the worst idea I ever heard. I would rather die with honor than run tucked tail back to Polanski. This will be our last mission for sure if we turn back now. We have to make things right, or I’m not going home.

Mott stared straight at the ground as if he was trying to burn a hole in it before saying, “Well Jon has the best plan so far and unless someone could come up with something better, it looks like that will be what we are doing.”

I didn’t want to fail so I accessed the deepest corner of my brain and came up with a plan that was straight out of fiction. If this worked, I would be a genius or at least very lucky. I spoke up, “I have a plan that’s just as crazy but hopefully you all like it a little more. We are going to my aunt’s house, and we are going to kidnap my uncle. Then we are going to make him listen to his law-enforcement radio.”

I had everyone undivided attention so I continued, “ By doing this, he will hear that the task force is attacking someplace. The problem will be that we’ll be with him, proving our innocence. Then we will go confront our clones and send law-enforcement back to protect the president. We are the only one that fights the clones. The laws finest may not be able to protect the Chancellor, but we can’t let these clones rome free. They’re too powerful. They die in Maldeves. We return to the Chancellor’s side as soon as we are successful.

Westcon clapped, “Ladies and gentlemen I present Tyerow. The kid is good. Now that’s a plan.” Off to the Buck residence we went.

When we arrived, it was decided that I should go in and act as the “bait”. I would call them in if things got too heated. Everyone else went and hid as I went up to the door, swallowed down fear and knocked. I was going to kidnap my uncle. I didn’t know if he was home, but he would be eventually. I wish it didn’t have to be this way. It felt so dishonest.

Aunt Melanie and her two little daughters answered the door. The girls, Chelsey and Miraha, chimed in in unison, “Hello Mr. Tyerow.” They both ran up and hugged me. It was then I saw the worried look on my Aunt’s face.

I quickly spat out what I had come to say, “Somehow they have cloned us, we’ve been framed. I know it’s hard to believe, but we’re innocent and this is the only place I could think to go. My Aunt hugged me, but I could tell she was nervous she was shaking.

She told her daughter, “You girls need to go to bed.”

The girls chanted, “Aw but we don’t want to go to bed.” She shouted at them get to bed now!” The girls immediately made a dash for their bedroom. I had never seen my aunt that mad.

She said, “It was stupid of you to come here. Do you know my husband is hunting you?”

I desperately answered, “I know but I’ve got to talk to him, try and change his mind.”

She couldn’t look me in the eyes; I heard something move, “She said, “You are so naïve it is too late.”

I turned around and that is when I saw him. Him meaning Uncle Buck standing there with a steeloader. He looked crazed with his teeth gritted he spat out these words, “I knew you would come here trying to hide, but I won’t let you lay a finger on my family you monster.”

I frantically tried to defend myself, “You’ve got it all wrong. We’re innocent. We were framed. Let me stay here awhile I bet you get a call saying we are attacking some other part of the city because there are clones of us running around.”

He screamed, “Lies, you can’t deceive me. Big Brother saw you commit those crimes” I walked towards him he was shaking with fear. He fired off a warning shot obliterating a large glass vase, “I will kill you I swear it.”

The barrel of the gun was level with my eyes. The girls came out and my Aunt yelled at them again, “Get in bed.” She was crying. He had the gun pointed at my head.

I screamed, “This has to stop.” The rest of the team got my message. They stormed the house and disarmed my Uncle. Now, we play the waiting game.

We waited for a while and then it happened. “Sir the task force, they’re here at the Traski Hover Craft Plant. They have a sniper and she’s making short work of our men. We will have to retreat.”

Officer Buck hung his head before speaking into the com-link, “I’m sorry, but those are fakes. The real Task Force is here with me at my home. I’m ordering you all to go protect Chancellor. I don’t know what kind of forces they’re going to send to attack him, but the task Force will care of the imposters.” Then he addressed us, “I’m so sorry for not believing you. Tyerow, you should come visit sometime after this war. I swear I won’t point a gun at you.” Maybe Cyrus wasn’t all that bad.

I said my goodbyes, it was time to fight again. The girls were crying and I patted them on the head told them, “It was going to be all right.” As we rode through the night, I got really nervous it became hard to swallow. I didn’t want to battle myself. Even if I won, it would be by the thinnest of margins. I would need to change up my style try to be as unpredictable as possible, but unfortunately I’m only a master of Jijitsu.