The New Resistance (The NEW Trilogy Book 1)

by Vee Bosse

  “Whattup?” asked the man who looked to be in his twenties, emerging out into the street in front of them. “Security perimeters are easy as shit to get around, as long as no one is there and you have a few minutes.”

  This person looked to be straight out of a late 20th century action movie, carrying machine guns, throwing knifes, and multitudes of edged weapons in harnesses all around. At the same time, he wore a spiffy blue suit that a basketball coach might have sported on game day. “The name’s Bob Gouda. Are you guys here to kill the guy that’s fucked up my town too?” Milli and Laran glanced at each other, while Sabrina continued to intently stare down the new potential hostile.

  “What did you just do to that house?” Laran asked in curiosity.

  “It’s not my house. People went chicken shit and left the city into the hands of some loser. So, I’m gonna kill him.” Sabrina leapt forward suddenly, seemingly interested in fulfilling the mission they had travelled to San Antonio to complete.

  “Please confirm the whereabouts of this hostile. We will fulfill our mission objective to eliminate this unknown.” Bob swung the vintage AK-47 over his shoulder, next to the impressive vintage weapon collection on his back.

  “Just follow me.” The adept vigilante stepped into his large hovercar that resembled a classic green S.U.V., ushering the rest into the passenger seats. The three followed suit as Sabrina made her way into the front passenger’s seat, while Laran and Milli remained close in the back. Bob took out his tablet device, and started his car with a quick fingerprint scanning. “Aren’t you going to turn on autopilot?” Laran asked, while Bob scoffed and manually drove on his own accord.

  “We’re going to meet my friend that’s waiting downtown. It’s honestly kind of nice you guys showed up, it will be sweet to get this shit done.” Milli and Laran looked on, doing their best to keep from feeling uneasy about their new ally who was extremely intense.

  “Our group has decided to stop Jayce and his lackeys in our cities. Our goals seem the same, so yeah. We’ll do this,” Laran said, while Milli decidedly nodded in approval. Bob blasted the hovercar at extreme speeds, taking time to enjoy the rare opportunity of abandoned interstates and highways to joyride. Laran and Milli held on tight, admittedly happy to have a thrill that was similar to their dangerous encounters in the Eastern Latitude.

  “Scanning for excessive heat signatures,” declared Sabrina, observing the buildings downtown to see if any heat signatures could indicate where their new enemy was hiding.

  “I already know where he is. Adaman has kept his eye on the location for a couple weeks. We’re close to it now.” Bob performed his version of ‘hover drifting’ as the car flew to a halt next to the downtown’s historical Alamo Monument. Once there, they all proceeded into a park area covered with overgrown trees while another person who looked to be in his lower thirties emerged from a grove, wearing a black uniform similar to what a security guard would wear. “So, who are these people?”

  “Adaman, these three randomly showed up out of nowhere to take this guy down. The hell kind of luck is that?” Sabrina, Milli, and Laran stood aloft, while Laran nodded at Adaman to signal that Bob was dead on.

  “Sweet, I’m down,” Bob’s ally declared as he adjusted his glasses. He picked up his own AK-47 to begin the grueling battle to take back Texas.

  Meanwhile, in the skyscraper above them: “Listen Jerome, you don’t go into a level five android battle without Supreme Takeover! Damnit, how many times have I told you that?!” Julius Lengstein’s short and pudgy friend Jerome stared absent-mindedly at the enormous hologram projector that had become the standard replacement decades ago, superseding simple television screens. Julius, the rickety and overly-slender nerd with glasses large enough to spot distant planets picked up his 3-D gaming tablet, and activated his holographic augmented reality gaming console.

  “In what perverse manner do you think your inferior suggestions hold any sway in light of my golden acumen? Why else would our fearless leader, the over-talented Jayce Wolfgain make me the #7 Agent? Please Jerome, sit back, and shut up!” Jerome locked his hands together in silent defeat after his silent suggestion was met with derision, sitting in the chair that Julius took careful measures to ensure was closer to the ground than his large leather gaming chair. “This is my scoring opportunity! It’s time!! I will link into this android’s optical mechanism, and what you will see on my hologram projector is from her viewpoint. Pick up your controller, Jerome, you’ll be my back up! Take control of Bob and Adaman’s functions!”

  Round 1

  BEGIN

  Julius: First, I’m going to use a false flag tactic to ensure those two human invaders don’t get startled. Hurry, you pudgy bag of lard! Get ready!

  Jerome: Yes, King Daddy!

  MILLI: Sabrina? The hell is wrong all the sudden? Bob and Adaman aren’t moving at all! Sabrina, are you okay?

  Julius: Turn the projector volume down! Okay, here we go. No, damn it! Do not trigger them into action when the swordsman and the archer are quite obviously going to use physical melees! She’s likely a powerful archer, and that one has a remarkable sword! Good, hold Adaman and Bob idle on standby until they reach the rally point. I’m almost done tapping into that Sabrina android.

  Jerome: Oh, okay. I’m going to use sword play, vintage style when it’s time to play!

  LARAN: Sabrina must be going through a quick update, or something. It’s fine. So, I’m guessing you guys will need those machine guns. Are we going in with just swords and arrows?

  Julius: Now, begin! It appears as though this android has a Hubris-style solidifying sword, so I will simply use dual wield from each of her arms. Holy Shit! She has an acid sequence?! Jackpot, she is likely the strongest android I have ever seen emerge from that disgusting continent! This will be amazing, Jerome! Don’t screw it up!!

  MILLI: Shit Laran, this was a trap! They’re attacking! Sabrina, the hell is wrong with you?!

  LARAN: Stay behind me! I’ll take care of it!

  Julius: Oh, yes! This is playing out perfectly! Give it another minute, and then my new android, Sabrina, will come at them with some fully-powered sequences!

  Jerome: Yep! I got it!!

  Meanwhile, the scene shifts to the actual location of the ensuing battle. Sabrina stood in dead, catatonic silence as Milli and Laran desperately continued to dodge the bullets that Adaman and Bob where obediently launching their way. “Wait, where did they go?”

  Several minutes later after Milli and Laran disappeared from their holographic sights, Julius and Jerome were suddenly rocked by a massive explosion in their private gaming skyscraper. Julius reeled in anger when his connection with Sabrina’s optical components went black, causing him to storm out from his chair. “You insolent, dumb piece of...aghhhhh!! You used their rocket sequence on accident, didn’t you!?” Jerome hobbled out of his chair, arms extended apologetically in an attempt to appease his verbally abusive senior.

  “N-No, boss! I swear, I had just decided to use gunfighting instead of swordplay! Please, don’t demote me to senior assistant private again!” Julius adjusted his enormous glasses in dismay, looking as though he was ready to slap his slow friend.

  “Jerome, enough! You’re fired!” All of the sudden, another blast shook their building causing their eyes grew wide in disbelief when they saw Laran and Milli standing in the enormous gash in the building’s side. “That reprehensible sunlight! How did you find my secret lair!?”

  Laran quickly drew Shibiki, while Milli had already been poised with her bow and arrows drawn and ready; her heat-seeking exploder arrow did the trick in leading them both to Julius’ lair. “We got a lot of information from those reports when we docked from our friend’s ship. The JT&T Center? This place was never a secret from the very beginning” Laran declared, while Milli aimed a fresh arrow directly at Julius to speak her mind as well.

  “Sabrina was acting strange from the moment we got to this city, as though all of her humanity had completel
y disappeared. We figured the reports that some kind of tech genius had taken over San Antonio were true at that point, but we never thought that Sabrina would lose control of herself like she has. You’re really, really annoying.”

  Julius swallowed down his panic to instead show off an arrogant and truly geeky smile. “Ga...gya! Hahaha!! Jerome! Here’s your chance to be promoted back to my senior assistant. Kill them now! Activate your Junior Mech Suit!” Jerome smiled at the thought of regaining his elite status, as he pulled out a mercury-metallic glove.

  “I’ll finally get to test this suit that you gave me, King Daddy! Let’s play!” Jerome put on the glove, and it almost magically sprung to life; the exosuit that revealed itself from the transforming glove turned the little guy into an intriguing little metallic puffball. “Here I go!!!” Milli and Laran were astonished to see rocket boots lift him off of the ground, letting him efficiently hover-glide their way.

  Round 2

  BEGIN

  “Since their ridiculous explosion damaged my virtual connection machines, I’ll just get to work on this!” Julius took control of one of the thousands of drones that he had deployed across the city. He went into virtual vision mode, commanding it to scope out the status of his three androids below the building. They indeed had frozen in place, taking the form of three human statues. “I’ll need to activate my portable game set at once to regain control of that she-android. She will be useful against these invaders!”

  “J...Julius!” The ultra-nerd turned around to see Laran and Milli standing over a fallen Jerome, while Shibiki was pressed firmly against his exposed neck.

  “You weak...imbecile!!” Without warning, and with a look of contempt and disgust on his face, Julius pulled out his tablet. He pressed a menacing red button, causing a dreadful shriek of pain to echo across the room.

  “Wait, we don’t want to hurt anybody...what are you doing!?” Laran yelled, realizing that the exosuit that Jerome had put on was now tightening around him.

  “Julius...it hurts!!” Milli suddenly drew an arrow, pointing it right at #7 in an effort to force him to stop the crushing sequence. “Ahhh!! It hurts!!Ple,”

  To Milli and Laran’s horror, they suddenly witnessed a mass of spikes shoot out from Jerome’s exosuit. He had put up so little a fight after launching at both of them, they couldn’t help but feel sorry for even using him as leverage against Julius. But their plan had completely backfired, and Jerome was now only a discarded and slain pawn.

  “Once I began the sequence, there was no stopping it. When I intentionally built that function into the slow one’s exosuit, I knew that once I had made my decision...well, it was tempting not to use it many times before.” Milli suddenly decided that she had heard enough, and she and Laran leapt away from the pitiful sight behind them.

  “You fucking pig! Who the hell do you think you ARE!?” Milli had completely fallen into a spell of justice-based rage, while Laran somehow was able to keep completely calm and inexpressive. Not even slightly taken aback from their aggression, Julius took a moment to glance over to his fallen pawn behind them.

  “Girl, let me ask you something. Are you trolling me right now??” Milli threw Julius a look of confusion and annoyance.

  “Trolling? What are you talking about?” Suddenly, Laran finally let a smile appear on his face.

  “That term is so many decades out of date, but you can call it that if you want. We won’t let you have this city, nor will we let Jayce Wolfgain have any city.” To this, Julius once again adjusted his enormous glasses.

  “My pawn’s exosuit is nothing compared to mine. Neither of you will succeed at scouring away even a single iota of my HP.” Suddenly, Julius tapped a few buttons on his tablet device which led to the activation of another metallic suit that seemed to harbor many more gadgets than Jerome’s had. “I have studied the classic gaming consoles of the Vintage Era, and transformed San Antonio into a tribute of those classic gaming styles. Traps, bosses, and alarming sights to behold...there will be no final round for you two. Allow me to introduce your first bosses while I take to below to regain control of my new favorite android pawn.”

  “We won’t let you take Sabrina for your own!” Milli said, poising her bow even tighter to test the strength of his exosuit.

  “Just try and stop me. This game is stacked in my favor! After all, I am the ultimate boss here, but you imbecilic failures likely won’t even make it out of this round to fight me.” It was with more button pressing that the nerd suddenly forced the entire structure of his skyscraper to buckle directly above them all, while hundreds of rockets suddenly ignited all along one side of the massive building. Julius had set up the JT&T center to be able topple towards any side that he chose, and he chose to let it fall on the side opposite of his precious android pawns.

  It was a rare event that his lair had ever been exposed to the sun, and in response, Julius commanded his exosuit to cover his eyes with shades to fight it off. Milli and Laran gazed in astonishment, witnessing a chunk of abandoned San Antonio getting crushed underneath the skyscraper, causing a massive cloud of dust to erupt beside them. “Yes, this skyscraper is of no use to me now. I will now take control of my new pawns manually to replace the pudgy midget that you just defeated. Here are your new opponents, levelled up for increased difficulty! Ga ha ha!!” Julius’ rocket boots were then activated, as he proceeded to hover above them with a terribly confident smile refusing to subside.

  “I wonder how fast you can fly away, you scrawny little fuck?” Milli was done with it all, and her acid tip arrow had been propelled Julius’ way for full effect.

  “Look out!” Laran suddenly yelled, as they both jumped backwards to dodge the four figures that suddenly had dropped out of the sky in front of them. Their weight caused cracks to appear in the floor below them as they jump-landed, as Milli noticed her acid arrow had been kicked down by one of the figures for deflection.

  “I took control of these ones that had recently come stumbling into my city, looking for all of you. Now they will get their chance at a duel, as my automated pawns. Enjoy!” Laran gritted his teeth in frustration as Julius suddenly blasted away towards Sabrina, unable to pursue him in the face of their new opponents. One of the figures stepped forward ahead of the rest, with her metallic glider wings sending chills down their spines as they immediately recognized who was now standing before them.

  “Is that...Misty? Blue Misty?” Laran asked as Milli’s eyes grew wide in disbelief. “I remember, you were the one got us off Haven Island and took us to Mary Hubris. So, you came back for an actual fight.” Blue Misty didn’t respond, she only gazed at them without even a trace of acknowledgement. Her metallic blue eyes suddenly seemed to spark, as the other three figures jumped forward next to her. Laran and Milli recognized them as well, but shock and awe hit them like a vast carpet bombing.

  “It...it can’t be! Laran, it’s, them!” The figures of their three fellow rebels now stood before them alongside Blue Misty: Dane Wilder, Thomin Kasper, and Dee King. They were as robotic and automated as Blue Misty had become, and had shown no signs of being human whatsoever.

  Laran stepped forward, almost as though he was unable to decide on what to do. “But...how?!” Before they could gather their bombarded thoughts for even another second, Blue Misty raised her arms in unison towards Milli and Laran, declaring that she would now activate her own assimilation sequence to subdue the husband and wife as pawns for Julius. “Assimilation sequence. I imagine Misty used that on our guys before jumping over here to fight us.” Laran declared, as Milli drew another arrow that appeared even more menacing than her acid tipped set.

  “My scattering electric shot will take care of them. Laran, go after Julius!”

  Laran smiled and nodded at Milli confidently. “I believe in you, do what you have to. Not that it matters anyway since Julius has taken control of them, but maybe it does matter.” Blue Misty suddenly sent the small electronic cubes on their way towards Milli and Laran, which upon c
ontact would have attached to them, turning them both into androids all the same. Yet, this android lacked emotion, even as she scoped in on Milli who was now standing alone. Laran had seemingly disappeared in the blink of an eye, and the other assimilation cube appeared to have been sliced in half by Laran’s Shibiki.

  “I’m taking on all of you alone, make no mistake. I don’t give a shit if you aren’t the same Blue Misty that turned our dead friends into machines, but you’ll pay for it, either way.” Blue Misty seemed to ignore Milli’s words as the android’s head zoomed around, scoping to locate where Laran had disappeared to. “Talking to myself, I guess.” Milli’s next arrow had been labelled ‘Electric Multiplier Arrow’, and she sent it on its way to take down the slow and unresponsive androids before her.

  Round 3

  BEGIN

  Julius hovered downward towards Sabrina, Adaman, and Bob to regain control of them once more. He stood with his mouth wide open, admiring the sight of Sabrina; she was helpless to stop him from taking control of her indefinitely. He suddenly turned around to gaze on his two androids that he now considered inferior compared to the likes of Sabrina. Without hesitation, he hooked his tablet device up to a small port in the back of their heads, and with the pressing of a few buttons, they both began to spark wildly out of control. “They will now serve their purposes in my impressive parts collection. Perhaps even become part of an amazing giant android! But, nothing can compare to...Sabrina!”

  He turned around to plug into Sabrina, ignoring the battle that Laran and Milli were now locked in above. “Damn those fools for interrupting my virtual reality. I hate nothing more than to be subjected to this damned sun. It’s so...repulsive. Wait...YOU!!” It was Julius who suddenly felt something attempt to pierce through his exosuit from behind.

  “Shibiki is able to use shadows for my own favor. I can even teleport into a nearby shadow.” Laran’s dark sword was magnificent, yet Julius’ exosuit was frighteningly sturdy. He tried with all of his might to bring a quick end to Julius, yet before his cracking armor gave way, the nerd rocketed forward to escape Laran’s reach.