The body armor of the three soldiers glistened against the light of the ship’s sensors, exposed under the soft glow of the night. The capital was busy as ever, air and ground traffic joined together in a calculated network of movement. Various towers and glass panel structures had turned the city into the biggest megapolis in the galaxy, a manmade anomaly among the stars. Tyrium—the empiric city that had been brought back to life by Padromo III.
Every aspiring businessman and schemer found themselves in the capital sooner or later. It had been easier getting into the heart of Kybernan Magnus before Padromo’s governorship, thanks to the lack of discipline of the previous rulers. Smuggling operations and breaches of the planet’s orbit were the first cases that the governor had dealt with. Ensuring and at the same time exploiting the safety of his own citizens. Progress cannot exist without sacrifice, he often told himself. The line between morality and his relentless ambition stood thin, and he felt no remorse in overstepping it. The great strategic minds of his bloodline were interlinked, and they grew with each next person in the family.
As the governor’s son stood on top of one of his buildings, his mind was occupied with the origin of such mental capacity. He scoffed. The old fool was exceptionally proud of the security system he had invented, going as far as offering it to other planets. Troy had sneaked his way into Kybernan without even a bug being alerted of it, and while waiting for his partners to be dropped off, he truly wondered if his father was just a rich crook, or his mind was naturally sharper in that trajectory of the family’s intellectual capacities.
“Troy, we’re ready when you are.” The redhead behind him spoke. She was dropped off from a stolen ship along with another man—two of Troy’s best. He’d been forming a group of like-minded individuals since his first day on Medusa. After spending two years in prison, he had made a fair amount of connections— his own EAGLE group. They called themselves “The Resistance” and their numbers grew with each passing day. Initially, Troy had thought that he could topple his father’s government by himself, but the idea proved to be rather flawed. The man had eyes everywhere.
“Alright, put your helmets on.” Troy commanded.
Their helmets consisted of two orange globes and a thin mouthpiece with a tiny hole in the middle, just enough to breathe. The trio resembled a group of steel-suited flies, now crouching on top of the facility. The redhead who was called Phoebe took a pen out of her back pocket and clicked twice, activating a red beam. She glanced at Troy, nodding before incising a circle on the roof. The smell of melted metal was shielded by their helmets. They stilled in silence.
“On three…” Troy said, holding a stun grenade in his hand. “One… two… three!” Phoebe stomped on the circular mark she’d made, exposing the office to the cold of the night. Troy had thrown the grenade along with the falling chunk, and a loud bang followed seconds later. It was time to move. He jumped down first, landing on his feet with his pistol drawn. The workers had stumbled to the ground, covering their eyes and ears, coughing. Most of them wailed in pain.
“Hugh, tie them up and put them against the wall. If someone resists, shoot them.” Troy spoke through the helmet and helped Phoebe to her feet.
They stood on both sides of the door, waiting for any intruders while Hugh was finishing up with the hostages. They certainly hadn’t made that much noise. After Hugh was done, he rushed forward and kicked the door down, scanning the perimeter. There was a long corridor with two offices on each side. Troy signaled with two fingers, and they separated, leaving the office at the end of the passage for last. He entered the room to his left and was met by four workers with their hands held high. One of them rushed towards a red button behind an old prop monitor and was shot in the knee before he could reach it, causing him to collapse to the ground. The others screamed.
“Put your hands on your backs and turn around!” Troy shouted. “Walk backward to the sound of my voice! Don’t try any funny shit unless you want to end up like your friend over there!” He held thick cables in his hand and tied the wrists of the personnel one by one. He kicked them to the ground and put them against the wall before walking over to the crippled man and shooting him in the head. A man could never be too safe.
The trio regrouped in front of the fourth office and waited in silence. No movement was detected on their sensors, and they continued towards the elevators. Troy was disappointed. He’d expected more resistance from his father’s people, more heart, even though they were ordinary workers. He itched with excitement at the notion of facing off with Padromo’s so proclaimed prestigious security group. Eagles? More like pigeons, he thought.
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do.” Troy began. “You two are going to take the elevators and go down to the first floor. Then, you’re going to use the microchips I gave you to shut them down. Once you’re there, I want you to take as many hostages as you can. Find something to seal the entrance with… Oh, and show no mercy to the brave ones.”
“But how are you going to get down?” Phoebe asked, stepping closer to him.
“I’ll use one of those big ropes.”
“Why are we shutting the elevators down?” Hugh asked.
“The building has no stairs and when we take over the first room, we’ll have them trapped right in the middle. Like a bunch of rats! I can’t believe the governor hasn’t considered such a scenario,” Troy answered, tying the thick rope around himself.
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Hugh and Phoebe got in the elevators, separating, and Troy was now alone on the highest floor of the facility. He could’ve gone down to the first floor with his team and completed the operation in the fastest way possible, but he wanted to leave a message. Let his father know that this time he would not allow himself to be sidelined or shunned. Troy’s wish was to show him that he would go after him relentlessly and wouldn’t stop until one of them was in the grave. He wanted his father to know fear, and after tonight, he was sure the old man would.
Troy had secured the rope to a thick pole in the empty office and slid it through the doorway, closing the door so it would be trapped against the corner. He stood at the back of the room where the elevators were and rushed towards the large windows, jumping and breaking through them feet first. He flew down the skyscraper and flipped midair before breaking through another window panel, landing inside the middle section of the building. A million tiny shards of glass flooded the luxurious carpets of the floor, and the workers rushed to their feet, running to the elevators. Troy was once again faster than them and shot two men down on the spot before they could press the buttons. He knew very well that the elevators were no longer functioning, but he had to show his father’s people that there was no room for disobedience with him.
“Everybody down on the ground, now!” He shouted. “Put your hands behind your back where I can see them!” Troy walked around with the rope following him as if it were a live snake pet, scanning the workers for any hidden weapons. After all of them were lying on the ground, Troy began killing them one by one, a bullet for each. He could hear the trembling in their voices as they cried out in panic, knowing they were next in line. In other circumstances, he would’ve tied them up and let them live, but as he was gunning them down, he didn’t take them for human beings. They were simply pawns who had supported the machine which had cost him two years of his life, and they needed to be dealt with.
When he made it to the last remaining person, he crouched down. He was a young, sickly-looking man and his tears had formed a tiny pond on the carpet. Troy grabbed a handful of his hair and forced him to look at him, forcing the tip of his gun into his mouth. The man cried out.
“You listen to me, and you listen to me well. I want you to convey a message to your little saviors when they eventually come around.” Troy began, smirking as he watched the man struggle to breathe. “You tell them that Troy has arrived and he’s here to stay for good this time.”
Back on the first floor, Phoebe and Hugh had gathered the hostages into one of the storage rooms and had found two boards to seal the main entrance with. They waited until Troy made his way back to them and proceeded to drill it shut. The three of them took their positions, hiding in different spots.
“They’ve probably heard all the noise by now. Should I call Jakobi?” Hugh asked.
“No, not yet. We’re going to wipe out the first squad, then you’ll give him the signal,” Troy answered, reloading his gun. He carried a Beretta 93R with all the available modifications in the galaxy, which made it a trusted friend in combat.
“Let’s crush those posers, boys!” Phoebe added from behind a pillar.
They waited in silence with their weapons ready. The sensors in their helmets had detected the movement of the squad a block away, and they knew exactly when they’d bust through the door. Three crosshairs stood pointed, anticipating their arrival. Troy and Hugh switched positions.
“They’re here,” Troy whispered. “Activate your filters.”
Loud strikes followed. The EAGLE squad was hitting the door with what sounded like a big metal hammer, systematic in their approach. Boom… Boom… Boom… And on the fourth strike, the main door crumbled, pieces of glass and metal flew around. The trio stood hidden, because they knew stun grenades would follow, and soon enough the place was swallowed in a white mist. Two rows of soldiers began penetrating the area in a formation resembling ants, unbeknownst to the flytrap they were walking into. The trio waited patiently until the squad passed them and was left with their backs exposed. They were not affected by the grenade thanks to their filters and could see the Eagles clearly as day.
How easy, Troy thought, and then he ordered his comrades to shoot. The Eagles were too late to turn around and were shot dead before they had the chance to retaliate, bodies piling up in a bloody stew.
“Troy, there are three more squads nearby and an aircraft shielding them. We should get out of here!” Phoebe warned, then put a bullet in one of the dead men—a message.
“Yeah, call Jakobi up and get me a hostage from that storage room. Now!” Troy was getting out of there one way or the other. He’d come prepared this time.
Hugh brought a young woman out of the storage with her hands tied behind her back, shoving her forward. She had a terrified look on her face, and the dampness of her tears had ruined her makeup. Troy approached her.
“Look, nothing’s going to happen to you if you oblige. Just don’t try anything if you don’t want me to shoot you,” he said. “Alright, let’s move out! I want eyes on both perimeters, I’ll lead. We leave with the hostage.”
The four of them walked out on the street and were met by what looked like at least three troops and a large battle aircraft hovering above them. They held their fire at the sight of the young woman, tightly gripped by Troy. Their helmets kept their identity hidden, and they faced off with the High State’s soldiers like the ancient Spartans.
“Let the hostage go and drop your weapons! This is an order!” One of the Eagles shouted.
“We will do no such thing!” Troy roared. “A ship will arrive to pick us up and we’ll take the woman with us. If you interfere, she will die,” he felt their hesitation. “Oh, and if you’re thinking about taking the risk, I’d like to also let you know that if we don’t walk out of here alive, all the hostages back in there will be blown to pieces. I have the detonator here in my pocket.” Troy knew his bluff would hold. The soldiers took a collective step back, opening space for The Resistance.
They could hear the whirring of the spaceship they had stolen descend toward them with its hatch already open. Troy let Hugh and Phoebe jump in first, then he began walking backward with the hostage, not letting the High State out of his sight. He kept his weapon pointed at them until they were unreachable, high in the air. Troy freed the woman out of his grasp and shot her in the back of the head, watching as she fell toward the earth. No witnesses. The hatch closed.
