2400 AD

Callum and the team waited for Gideon on Nelson Mandela Drive, a couple of blocks from the target. The team was anxious. They wanted this gauntlet to end quickly and without bloodshed.

The night was quiet and freezing cold. Only the warehouse had lights. The moment Gideon arrived, he beckoned Callum to his side. Behind Callum marched Indranil Lakshit.

“Lakshit, I called Callum, go back to your position.”

Indranil smiled half-heartedly. “This is not possible, Commander. Callum and I have a gentleman’s agreement that is binding on both parties and may not be broken.”

Gideon’s eyes grew wide. “Callum, what shit is this?”

“It’s true, Commander. I protect him.”

“You protect him. I see. I don’t want to hear another word. Lakshit, you stay behind Callum and don’t do anything stupid.”

“I understand, Commander. Thanking you dearly indeed, Commander.”

“Terces,” Gideon whispered into the helmet’s microphone. “Terces report; what do you see?”

Terces and his Androids had surrounded the street on all sides. “There is activity inside the target. The occupants carry atomizers. There are four people upstairs at each window. Downstairs there are six with weapons guarding each window and entry point. There are three children in a room upstairs. Two people are in the kitchen, cooking it seems. Another in the toilet.”

“What are our chances of getting to the kids without causing a scene?” Gideon asked.

“I’ve run several rescue alternatives and all come up with negative values I’m afraid.”

“We need a distraction. Any ideas?” Gideon asked.

Indranil answered immediately. “We can simulate a siren. A loud siren. That should get some of them out of the house but not all of them.”

A voice called out. “Gideon!”

Gideon’s worst nightmare had just materialized, and it wasn’t Suiderland.

He stood face to face with his archrival. Suiderland’s muscle man. A hulking, chemically infused Android with repair scars all over his body. He stood out amongst all the other Androids because he was the only bald one.

“Krakat!”

Krakat bore an evil grin across his face.

Gideon punched his communicator. “Suiderland, I told you, touch those children and you’re a dead man.”

“We’re here to put a stop to this madness and that’s exactly what we intend doing,” Suiderland said.

“Give us a chance to get those children out,” Gideon said.

“Let me tell you something about those so called kids, Ingram. They’re frequency runners. They are the ones causing all the havoc. They have to die.”

Krakat, upon hearing this, turned and signaled to his men to surround the warehouse. Four men stepped forward and Krakat issued orders to infiltrate the target and take out as many people as possible, including the children.

The Androids stormed the grounds and suddenly the night was filled with laser power and conventional bullet weapons.

“Suiderland, no!” Gideon exclaimed. He raised his laser and aimed it at Suiderland’s troops across the road, then fired.

The Xenocon troops never saw it coming.

The blast of air pounded them, killing eight instantly. The moment they fell, eight more materialized. Suiderland was replenishing his force as they fell.

Gideon called out to Terces to attack the troops on the other side of the road, but Suiderland’s men had already started firing upon them. Several fell, but most managed to storm across the road and begin hand to hand combat.