The Utopia Project: Dawn of the Phantoms

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===[Chapter 21: Hooligans]===

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It was a struggle even trying to make it towards the end of the tunnel. With Eli's leg still wounded, he had no other choice but to shamble behind - struggling to keep up with her pace. He tried to keep up as best as he could, but to his shock, it isn't exactly easy to walk with a bullet hole in the leg. Though Otaes had done her work in stopping the bleeding, he feared pushing himself too far. If he agitated the wound, it might open back up again. With Otaes still recovering on her part from the fight against the Shock Trooper in addition to the presence of the suppression field, if his wound opened up - he ran an extremely serious chance of bleeding out.

He still had his pack of equipment stolen from the armory, and inside of that should've been a medical pack. Though he neither knew the contents of it nor how to use them. At least not like Matteo would've.

But the best he could was stay out of the water. He could walk, slowly if he needed to. But the last thing he needed was to jump into the cold canals and get the wound infected with whatever kind of magic super bacteria lurking on this planet. He was terrified enough of the Avonians and their giant war machines, Narva's microbiology was a threat he didn't even want to think about. It was a marvel that he hadn't already gotten sick. Wasn't there a book about that?

Finally, after what seemed like hours of walking nowhere - though what in reality was probably only a few minutes - they approached an exit. Sort of. It was an inspection point. An iron ladder provided a way for them to climb up and out into the streets of Raritan. A manhole cover sealed them off from everything going on outside. They had passed by plenty of inspection points like this one, but Otaes stopped here specifically, "This is us," she said as she stowed her bow away with the strap and grabbed hold of the first metal ring. Without missing a beat she had already climbed her way up to the ceiling of the tunnel before stopping to push the manhole cover slightly away. Sunlight immediately poured in, blinding both of them briefly as their eyes adjusted to the sun's intensity.

She took a cursory glance around, and then ascended to the street level when the coast was clear. She waved for Eli to follow, and up he went after her. Slowly of course.

When his head poked above ground, he was captivated by the chaos surrounding them. Gunfire loudly boomed around them, buildings sat crumbling from Avonian bombardment, dragons screeched as they flew over the buildings above the duo spewing liquid fire on the city below.

“Mother Lotus…” Otaes whispered in astonishment as she looked out at her home city. Buildings were on fire, civilians were gone, and all that had been left was the cause of the trouble, “I haven’t seen this level of destruction since…” Her voice trailed off, abandoning her sentence midway through as she was struck by the total annihilation of the city around. And the battle still raged on. She turned back to Eli, words heavy and carried by a new kind of sobriety he hadn't heard before, “Come on.”

Eli nodded, holding the Pulser tightly. A city in ruins when an unstoppable force rampaged through the region. He limped slightly as he tried to keep up with Otaes’ swift sprint. The wound in his leg, though significantly better because of her healing magic, hadn’t fully recovered. Anything beyond a light jog shot waves of pain that splintered up his leg and forced him to slow down. If he tried to keep pressure off that leg, he could ignore it. But still he moved slowly.

They followed a dirt road that took them through blocks of city buildings, most of them damaged to some extent. Burning vehicles lay on the sides of the road, the work of the defending warrior elves against the mechanized forces of the Avonians and the River Republic.

And then, there was a bizarre burning husk which embedded itself into the side of a building. Larger than the rest of the vehicles. He could see the wings of it sprawled open on either side of its coal-black body. Buried underneath a generous amount of rubble, his eyes widened in fear as he saw the dead body of a dragon, “Woah…” Eli let words of astonishment slip out as he saw the burning husk of the dragon.

Up close, he was able to see that it was just like the other Synths that the Avonians fielded. More machine than it was animal. But what separated this one from all the others was that Dragons – of course – didn’t exist. He felt sick looking at it. It was so unnatural, even the organic parts of the animal looked alien. Precisely because it was.

From the skies above he saw a squadron of dragons swoop down below carrying a metal device which they dropped over the city. They flew away at a surprising speed despite their size, easily able to beat even the swiftest of birds – perhaps even a helicopter – as it flew in the air. They dwarfed everything else in the skies, and almost everything on the ground. The metal devices fell the ground and exploded as the Dragons flew away, unharmed. Bombs.

It was of course the very same Synths that had been used in the attack on the Nexus, except this time Eli could see them up-close with a dead Dragon on its back right in front of him. His breath was literally taken with a mixture of fear, astonishment, and disbelief striking him in his heart. What power did the Avonians possess that they could not only tame a creature like this, but also modify it into little more than a machine of war? And if this is what they were using as an air force, he shuddered to think that he may not have even scratched the surface of the terrifying tools of war that the Avonians had in their arsenal.

But Otaes didn’t seem scared in the same way as he was. She kept her posture as she led him past the corpse of the dragon and further into the warzone. He tried to imagine what it would be like for her to watch her city get torn apart by these… monsters. Not even weapons. Eli knew that the Coalition had weapons of mass destruction, but he never saw something so absolutely cruel. The only image that came up in his mind was the nuclear destruction of Seoul. Badger must’ve felt the same way that Otaes had, seeing their home get torn apart by a force so unstoppable. And yet, Otaes kept going strong.

But as they marched through the warzone, Otaes stopped. Frozen in her tracks. Her ears twitched as she looked up. Hearing something. Quickly she turned to Eli.

“Hide.”

He was confused, but he watched as Otaes darted into an open door that led into a heavily damaged building on their left. He didn't even have time to react before she felt the weight of her tugging at his uniform, dragging him inside. He wondered what she could have possibly heard that warranted such caution, but then he heard it.

A rumble shook the air. Like footsteps, but massive. Marching. Both he and Otaes watched the open door and the broken window leading to the outside. And then it appeared. Four metal legs dug themselves into the dirt path outside. Each step that it took was powerful enough that it shook Eli’s insides. The four legs led up above to a large metal head.

Eli’s first thought was that it was a Behemoth of all things, except this one was a lot smaller. It was about thirty or forty feet tall. On its face was a large gun flanked by a smaller machine gun that sat on its bulbous metal head, while a red eye scanned down the streets below. Like a Behemoth, it had a red searchlight but only one. It sat just above its weapons, and it cast a bright red light - destroying shadows everywhere that its ruby red gaze touched. Eli retreated further into the ruins of the building to avoid detection. His mind flashed back to The Nexus, the Behemoths. Was this thing just as strong?

“Sentry,” Otaes pointed at it from the shadows of the rubble. Eli was speechless but Otaes told him further, “Stay out of the red light and you won’t be spotted by it. But they almost never use them alone, whenever there’s a Sentry, there’s always-"

Otaes didn’t finish her sentence, the Avonians finished it for her. Four wheeled armored vehicles – the most normal thing Eli’s seen so far – flanked the Sentry. They had turrets with guns attached to them that reminded Eli of the light vehicles that both the Coalition and POA deployed. There were two vehicles, from one an elf dressed in a distinct green uniform and what looked like old-fashioned tankers' equipment poked out of a hatch on the turret. Keeping an eye outside.

“The trucks guard the Sentries?” Eli asked. Otaes nodded, “How do we take a Sentry down then?”

“Explosives. Normally you need something to get past its shield first, but a hit to its rear where the engine is should do the trick. Either way my explosive-tipped arrows can’t penetrate their armor. Don't suppose you brought some kind of Earthling anti-armor weapon to deal with it, right?”

Eli shook his head, “So, we stay here?”

Otaes looked up observing their surroundings. The abandoned building that they took shelter in had halls leading further through the block and deeper into the Eastern quarter. Signs of life were recent, it was clear that the residents fled in a hurry, leaving behind plenty of their belongings as they shuffled out of the door. She pointed up to a hole in the ceiling that led up to the higher floors of the building above, “We’ll go through the buildings. My home isn’t too far, Temetet should be there.”

“What makes you think he hasn’t run away yet?” Eli asked her.

“He's training to be a Kitchi. I told him to run if he senses danger, but I know him. He'll definitely have stuck around somewhere, trying to be me again...” she muttered the last part.

“You’ve practiced this?”

“This isn’t the first time we’ve been attacked by the Avonians. Temetet was only a child then, and I was barely an adult. But we made it through. If it’s anything like last time, we’ll find him in my home. But we should hurry.”

“After you.”

They hurried down the dark hall, past doors leading into silent homes. Eli limped behind Otaes, his eyes absently observed the environment. Dust had been scattered into the air, and every step that the Sentry outside took sent even more dirt and debris flying up into suspension. He saw a door on his left open slightly, and felt the eyes of an elf inside on him. Before he could look closer, the door shut abruptly, “Guess this place wasn’t as abandoned as I thought?” Eli said to nobody in particular.

A haunting call emerged from the Sentry outside, farther away now than it had been. It was the same foghorn used by the Behemoths during the attack on the Nexus, though it was a lighter tone and not nearly as deep. Though it was just as frightening, as it echoed over the warzone that the Eastern Quarter had become.

They briefly stepped outside to cross the street, before diving back into another apartment block. The Elves designed their apartments in a fashion that a interior hallway connected all sides of the buildings outer walls, creating a interior network of halls that spanned several buildings. He could see tables in plenty of the halls, silverware, toys, even furniture. Common living spaces between the residents. The next building they entered had plenty of the residents inside, at first they seemed relieved to see Otaes. Even happy. They called out to her, “It’s the Mirage’s daughter, she’s here!” They would say. But their voices would freeze and their eyes locked when they saw Eli trailing behind her. They weren’t sure what to make of him. The Human in a city of Elves.

But then as they continued down the hall, approaching a door that would’ve taken them to the next building, Otaes stopped once more. Her Elven ears twitched. Eli grabbed the Pulser, knowing that she heard something that she didn’t like. Her Elven ears able to pick up sounds he would’ve otherwise never heard, “Soldiers are sweeping through there,” she whispered. Taking a few steps back, “We have to go the other way.” She said as she turned around down the opposing side of the hall.

With Eli limping his way at the lead, they came to a central common room in the building which lay empty. Doors lined the walls, leading into the rooms of the residents – some of which were open. Left abandoned by fleeing residents. Two halls led into the common room, one leading to an open door which is exactly where they had came from and the other closed with the soldiers immediately behind. Eli heard the sound of heavy footsteps in front of them, and his heart dropped when he saw that through the hallway exit, they were headed to, there were more soldiers.

“Damn it!” Eli spat, stopping in his tracks so abruptly that Otaes butted into him from behind. They looked back to the closed door, which had been swung open by yet even more soldiers. Both of their paths blocked.

“Hey! Put your hands up! Put your hands up, now!” One of the soldiers screamed out once he spotted them, both groups of soldiers raised their guns at Eli and Otaes.

“ELI HURRY!” Otaes grabbed Eli by the straps on his vest, pulling him into an open door that got them away from the Common Room. He heard the voices of the soldiers trailing behind them, yelling for them to stop.

They surveyed the room. A bedroom by the looks of it, it’s occupants nowhere to be seen. There was an open window leading to the street outside and the opposing building. Otaes pointed to it, “Get through, I’ll block the door!” she ordered, moving the left-behind furniture to barricade the door while Eli tried to move his injured body through the open window. The sound of knocking and banging came from behind the door, the soldiers behind trying to kick it down. It budged, buckled, and nearly broke under the pressure of their boots, but the barricade held firm. Eli struggled to get through the window, his leg screamed out to him in pain, and the space through the gaps in the window were hardly large enough for his body and equipment to fit through. Even worse, it was clear that the outside world wasn’t safe either. Just down the road, Eli heard the familiar sounds of thumping and the mechanical groans that signaled the approach of a Sentry. Red light flooded the darkened streets off to his side. It was coming…

Eli shakily looked behind him, to see Otaes still trying to hold the door back from the brutal assault of the Avonian soldiers. But just as he was about to call out to her, the door swung open with a force so strong that it threw Otaes back. An explosive device. Eli shielded himself from the flurry of glass that would’ve been thrown into his face otherwise.

In the smoke-filled doorway, stood a squad of soldiers with their guns trained on Otaes and on Eli. A Shock Trooper stood in the midst of the squad, with it’s large shotgun in tow, and at the head of the team of soldiers was another soldier who looked as if he’d been modified, wearing another cold iron mask through which small holes had been drilled out for eyes to peer at them – glowing a cold red. Another Synth no doubt, but it looked like it was leading the squad, as it gave hand signals for the other soldiers to enter the room and secure it.

“Hands up! Now!” The modified Squad Leader shouted to the two. His voice was – like the Shock Trooper – mechanized. Garbled through computer vocalizations. Though unlike the Shock Trooper, he wore lighter armor and was far more… human. The Squad Leader’s voice still carried an emotional weight to it that barked orders to Otaes and Eli to raise their hands. They complied, outnumbered…

“Unit Victor-31, sector perimeter not-secure. Eyes on two, one warrior female and a unknown human male. Possible Ostralander soldier. Over,” The Squad Leader garbled through his radio as the other soldiers rushed out to grab Otaes and Eli to restrain them.

An elven soldier kept his gun pointed up to Eli, grabbing Eli’s arms to pull him back from out of the window. But subtly, Eli heard Otaes calling out to him.

“Eli… Eli? Run! Go!” Otaes whispered to him, but the Squad Leader held out his gun to her.

“You! Stop talking!”

"We're just lost and I'm trying to find my brother-"

"I don't care, Savage, shut up!"

But it didn’t matter, if Otaes had a plan – Eli was willing to trust that she’d follow through. Mustering all of his strength, Eli stood up, pushing the other soldier off of him. The other’s – distracted – pulled their attention to Eli on the cusp of shooting him and killing their target.

But then Otaes reached up, holding something in her fingers. Suddenly she threw it down. The entire room exploded in a loud flash of light, a massive bang, and then cloudy smoke that the more human soldiers and Eli coughed on. It stung his eyes, burning them. His fist instinctively punched the soldier next to him, ridding himself of his captor, before his eyes turned to the window ahead. He coughed violently, before he took one step… then another. And then he jumped, catapulting himself through the window. He landed with a heavy crash ontop of broken glass and the dirt outside. The footsteps of the Sentry were loud. He heard it right over him, but couldn’t see anything. Forcing himself onto his feet, he ran to cross to the next building over. Just as he heard the sound of a gun being powered-up. He pulled his eyes open, and he saw a closed door ahead of him. Neither knowing, nor caring, where it led to, he used all his physical power to knock the building down. The Sentry down the road fired it’s cannon, and around him his world shook. The walls buckled, the ceiling caved in.

Behind him.

He was locked away from the street, surrounded by dust and crumbling building materials. Isolated in darkness. He had been knocked down on his stomach, laying flat. The blast of the Sentry’s main cannon may have saved him from being crushed underneath the rubble of the building’s entrance. He heard the roar of the Sentry’s warning call from behind the rubble. Eli coughed up a fit. But then he abruptly paused when he heard gunshots across the street. The picture of Otaes formed in his mind. He closed his eyes, sighing.

Shakily he stood up, his injured leg threatening to buckle underneath the weight of his body. And he felt something warm trickling down his leg.

'Oh for the love of...' The wound had predictably opened back up after the minor kerfuffle. The wound wasn't even the biggest of his worries right now. He felt a weight bearing down on him, a nervous sweat. The gunfire from behind him could mean anything. Eli was scared to know what, alone out in a alien city on his own. With an army right outside ready hunting him down.

He felt his body, the E-gun was gone. He must’ve dropped it.

“Damn it,” Eli cursed out, his eyes squeezed shut as his back pressed against the wall. He had nothing now.

But he gathered himself. Looking through the dark corridor that he found himself inside of. Slowly, one tentative and painful footstep at a time, he walked through. He had to keep moving. Holding out hope that everything would turn out alright. But that hope slipped through his fingers by the moment, the gunfire behind him ceased and that monster outside was close. The sentry... it knew he was here. At least with the Behemoths, the sheer size of those things meant that he would probably have gone unnoticed to its massive scale. Hiding from a Behemoth was easy. But from a sentry? Hunting him? He shuddered to think about the idea of facing off against it. He made a mental note to stay far away from them, he couldn't fight a sentry - that's for sure. Not in this state either. He’d be surrounded soon enough.

He crawled up a flight of stairs with the thought that getting off of the ground floor would be a good idea. Each time his injured foot was planted on the stone steps a wave of pain was sent screaming up his leg. It was getting worse, for sure. But all he could do was grit his teeth and bear it. He'd deal with the injury later when he got somewhere safe.

When he reached the top of the stairs, his eyes were blinded partially by the sunlight beaming through a hole in the ceiling. The outside skies above grew hazier, gunfire and smoke filled the skies. It felt apocalyptic, and to think he was in the middle of it all. His biggest fear – that he wouldn’t return to Misfit. Isolated so far away from them. He had nothing to fight them with.

The room he was inside of as a temporary refuge was bombed out. The ceiling had caved in from a bombshell that tore through the room allowing sunlight to flow in. Rubble covered the floors. What windows there were had their glass blown out. Chairs, tables, and furniture turned over on their side, the owners having fled. Hopefully.

Eli winced more as he limped his way through the room. He forced himself to look for anything of use. He had no way out. Other than to keep moving through the building and hoping an exit would magically appear, or that Otaes was still somehow alive. He needed to find her again, but how? The street was undoubtedly flooded with soldiers, all of them looking for him and Otaes – if she was even still alive. After everything Eli’s seen in these past few days, he might as well start trying to conjure a door into existence. How does magic work around here? Maybe if he thought about hard enough he could just open a portal and get the hell out of dodge. If he was in a world full of giant cyborg murder dragons, half-robot soldiers, warrior elves, and magic, teleportation didn’t seem so far-fetched.

A sharp pain shot up his leg and thigh reminding him of his situation once more. Slowly he waltzed over to the opening in the ceiling. Looking out to the street below. They were empty. But then, he heard someone outside call his name.

“Eli! Eli! Up here!”

On the roof of the building across, a figure waved out to him. It was Otaes. His eyes widened, “Otaes?” He called out to her, “How did you get up there?”

“I'm quick! What can I say?" Otaes shrugged before getting back on topic, "I’m sorry for the trouble, but listen, I need you to try and stay out of sight! Soldiers are swarming the entire quarter!”

“You’re going alone?”

“They’re looking for me and I have to move fast. They know that there's a human around here now, but if you keep your head down then they might pass you for a civilian. If they don’t see that you are human, that is.”

“Gee, won’t you save me?” Eli half-joked.

“We’ll see,” Otaes retorted, “I’ll try to keep an eye on you. Just try to find Temetet from where you are. He should be around here… somewhere. He’ll be wearing a mask like mine. You'll know him when you see him. I have to find Archer.”

“Archer?” Eli asked. Otaes was about to explain but something grabbed her attention. She turned back to see what, briefly disappearing from Eli’s vision for a moment before she turned back to him, “I have to go, I may have been spotted! Remember, find Temetet. Don’t come looking for me, I’ll find you!”

Eli was about to protest but she faded from view as she ran back, “Wait!”

His words fell on deaf ears.

Turning back to his own situation, he sighed to himself.

“Who the hell is Archer?”

>>>[Verifying...]

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==The Revolutionary Department Of Intelligence==

==[WEAPONS OF THE COLD WAR]==

Name: IASW-38 Walker I (Tripod Variant) IASW-38G Walker II (Quadruped Variant)

Type: Autonomous Sentry (Mobile Autonomous Assault Platform)

Country of Origin: The Greater Avonian Empire

Information: The IASW-38 “Walker” is a Sentry developed during the latter stages of the Kiote War. Equipped with a powerful 30mm Autocannon that can fire high-explosive shells, and the terrifying FLY-9z Anti-Matter Heat Cannon capable of vaporizing all targets with a single devastating blast of a highly charged Ekron pulse, the Walker has proven to be among the most deadly weapons in the Avonian Arsenal. Not only does it pack a extremely deadly punch, but the Walker - especially the four legged Walker II - are extremely maneuverable, even in dense urban or mountainous environments.

Able to perform feats of maneuverability such as climbing walls and walking along rooftops thanks to their lightweight Superalloy construction, Sentries fill in the gap between their larger cousins - the Behemoths - and mechanized armored vehicles.

Developed as a answer to the shortcomings of the Behemoths (Their overwhelming size, high cost, inability to operate in dense urban environments without significant damage to infrastructure or the legs, and struggling to climb mountainous terrain), Sentries have become the default “Tank” of the Imperial Armed Forces. Sentries are usually deployed on the frontlines as the core element of a mechanized or armored fighting unit to lead infantry into battle and to defeat entrenched enemies. The FLY-9z cannon allows them to vaporize walls, and advanced “Hearing” technologies gives the Sentry the ability to detect sound coming from withing buildings. Sentries are also fully-autonomous, with no pilot or controller. Instead, they are powered by an Magitech "Soul" (though with the rise of computer processing, magic is slowly fading out to be replaced by a judgement AI) that directs the Sentry’s movements and have given them an almost “living” feel to them. Cementing their position as the top predators of the battlefield’s food chain.

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