A black four-wheeler sped along a large passageway, flanked on two sides by a motorcade of white police cars. Just as they shot under an overpass, four all-black armoured vans blasted straight through the steel walls above, landing onto the road with the other cars in hot pursuit.

  The smaller police cars immediately began trying to push the larger vans, though their efforts were shrugged off. Within the foremost van were an organised group of people in full black tactical gear. All eyes turned to a grizzled man in the centre.

  "Central cannot obtain the location of the Library. Find the data, destroy it and regroup."

  "Anderson. Are you sure she's ready?"

  The older man paused.

  "She has to be."

  The van shuddered. Swinging open the doors, those closest to the front began to jump out, gripping onto the lorry as they shuffled to the roof. The other three vans were keeping the small cars busy bullying them out of the way to the truck.

  Within the furthest ahead of the police cars sat two identical men. One held his hand to a device attached just above his ear.

  "Insurgents attacking Government Transport on Line A397. Requesting reinforcement."

  Through the front of his windshield they saw one of the vans steer to be directly ahead of them. They opened the door and one of the insurgents threw out a device that lashed out a long sharp-toothed wire across the road. They tried to slow down but their tires were punctured causing them to steer around into a wall.

  With the cars sorted, a group of insurgents climbed onto the roof of the truck. It was still swerving, trying to throw them off.

  One of the men crouched and pulled a pipe from the thermal tank strapped to his back.

  A puff of smoke enveloped him. When it cleared, another man stood in his place, burner already hissing as it began to sear through the roof.

  "Tunnel ahead!"

  The truck was heading straight for a small tunnel as the vans were forced to fall back and follow behind. Not succumbing to the pressure, the man carefully cut a circular hole which the group then used to enter just before the truck entered the tunnel. Within the large cargo bed was a collection of men identical to the earlier police officers, who began a brawl with the entering insurgents. One woman slipped past the fight to a code-locked door, behind it was a computer drive which she connected a small device with a clamp onto. It completed some calculations on its screen before saying "EXTRACT". The lady picked up the drive and placed it in a tailored case for it. She held her hand above her ear on a similar device to what the police had.

  "Data acquired!"

  The others had incapacitated the guards within the hold and were now just waiting for the truck to exit the tunnel. Anderson heard the message from within his van, which was the first following the truck. The group gave a quiet celebration. Anderson held his hand to the same device.

  "Objective Complete. Gather all units and return to the Library."

  As he finished the truck had finally left the tunnel allowing the insurgents to make their way back to the roof. Surrounding them, though, were four large drones with a blue camera at their front.

  "INSURGENTS, SURRENDER AND YOU CAN BE REASSIMILATED."

  Ignoring the order, Anderson's van pulled up to the left of the truck as one of the others pulled to the right and the last remaining held behind. Members jumped from the cargo bay back to their vehicles.

  "RESISTANCE CHOSEN, CALCULATING INSURGENT UNITS."

  Scanning over the insurgents as they were quickly pulling back to their vans, most of the insurgents were covered in blue whilst few had red covering them.

  "MAJORITY CIU, NON-LETHAL REQUIRED."

  The drones started shooting taser-like strikes at the group, two were hit and fell immediately but were helped within the vans by those around them. Within the van a small rocket launcher was given to Anderson, who was walking to the front of the van. Those inside it split making a clear lane between him and the back.

  "Joan, you're in command. She's to take our closest seeker - no more risk is needed."

  A lady going over the people making it back into the van looked up to say "Understood."

  He then took a breath and charged through the van as the back doors were opened.

  A puff of black smoke, interrupted by a grapple attaching to the back roof of the van, pulled up by the tension revealed a young woman holding the same launcher staring up close to the drone above them.

  "Sup."

  Seeing her red outline the blue camera switched to red as it charged to shoot something, but she shot the rocket before it could finish, causing it to explode as she landed on the roof of the van

  "Iris! You were told to take out one! Return so we can leave!"

  There were only four people left on the roof of the truck but Iris saw that as less people congregated there the fire from the drones was becoming more combined - they were going to be hit if she didn't do something.

  She chucked down the launcher which the crew at the open side-doors caught, then taking the grapple off from being connected to the van below, she shot it towards another drone that was atop the right van, ignoring Joan's calls she took out a knife that was at her side and struck it into the drone, pulling it out as she felt it losing balance barely landing on the other van below as it fell out of sight.

  Two people left. Seeing one of the people atop the truck was hit with the taser she once again grappled over, her device breaking on its third attempt but she made it safely. As she helped pull them to the edge with the other remaining people they mumbled.

  "Iris, you shouldn't be up here."

  Then there was a screaming howl of a jet in the air. All the insurgents looked up quickly and seemed to rush with more urgency.

  "Get out of there, Iris! Hunter!" Joan was calling again, more frantically this time.

  Iris now seemed to understand the severity but rather than jumping down first she helped the others throw the stunned insurgent to the van for the others to catch and bring in.

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  "LOOKOUT!"

  One of the insurgents had placed themselves between Iris and a highly modified seeker. The beast saw them frozen. On its scanner the red covering over Iris was hidden by the other insurgent's blue.

  "ORIGINAL DIU BLOCKED. REROUTING..."

  Just as Iris was covered the Hunter struck the last on the roof beside them. They barely saw the black dust that took position of their friend before it was taken by the wind. The roaring craft was already miles in the sky. Empty gear flung from the roof and was lost to the road. Iris now felt herself being picked up by the person that had just protected her from a similar fate, his brow so low it nearly covered his eyes. She was thrown over to the van where the other insurgents collected her. Followed quickly by the one that threw her.

  With the last of the group taken they closed the van doors and the seekers tesla became a more subtle annoyance. Iris couldn't face up from the ground as the smoke covered her again.

  "I knew she wasn't. You shouldn't have brought her here."

  Emerging from the smoke Anderson had his two hands clasped.

  "Nobody is ready until they take that chance."

  He looked up to see the reflection from Joan's eyes.

  "You know you can't blame her for the Hunter."

  She let her head rest behind her as she gave a quiet sigh.

  "Who can we."

  The truck stopped resisting and continued down another tunnel as the vans around it split through separate exits. Despite the immense infrastructure network intertwined in the metropolis - all the roads were quiet.

  The insurgents were quietly anticipating the break. A pinging noise came from one of the tablets as its user looked up to Anderson.

  "Seeker 50 Meters rear."

  The insurgents at the back parted as a woman held out the same launcher used earlier. The back was opened again with a rocker quickly firing at their company.

  "DO NOT RESI-"

  The right side of the Seeker disintegrated as it took a harsh dive downwards crashing into pieces. The door was quickly closed after, with the insurgents taking their planned places once more. Looking ahead now, another tunnel was seen.

  Anderson spoke up again, with his finger to his device.

  "Final stretch now. Scramble your routes in the underground and rendezvous at the library."

  The tablet used to track the Seeker had a map of road networks surrounding them, A green dot over their current vehicle and two others in a darker tone showing themselves on a lower road level. The user was cautiously watching.

  A flurry of red flashes took their face as they turned up just as the loud pinging commenced. A soft howling in the air.

  "HUNT-"

  The tyrant of the sky was already just slightly higher than the van to its right side. From its two wings, long sharp blades extended and it rolled perfectly horizontal. The driver's blue outline was clear to it.

  Anderson was facing ahead to the driver as he heard the start of the warning. A blade cracked through the right side of the front, blood covering its blade as it passed the driver during its glide across the van. The word not even finished.

  The Hunter blasted itself back into the air with a roar as the van was suddenly flung upwards and rolled still at a high speed. The view of the tunnel obscured by the road as the two separated sections of the van collapsed to the ground.

  Ringing.

  Anderson stirred as it faded. Two voices were speaking but he couldn't make them out yet. His torso felt off. Disjointed. Then the calls became clearer. His name.

  "Anderson!"

  His vision began to come. Blurry at first. He was being shook.

  "Anderson wake up goddammit!"

  A lady was in front of him, her hands on his shoulders.

  He finally moved his head, first slightly with a groan, then up to the woman.

  "Joan."

  "Don't move you idiot."

  She had a tablet in her hands, cracks covering its screen with red seeping into the gaps.

  As her features became clearer he could see the dirt and cuts across her own face.

  Iris' voice was still calling his name as it wept.

  "Anderson..."

  With his vision clear so was the destruction around him. Warped metal and dead friends. Now going to speak again, he felt his throat was burning.

  "The data.."

  On the tablet, Joan had navigated to an application that now showed a basic outline of a human with the device above their ear. She reached to Anderson's ear and pressed a button to it.

  "We're looking - think of yourself for a moment!"

  As she went back to the tablet they both heard a call outside.

  "Grunts on their way!"

  Joan's posture worsened as she tapped frantically on the screen.

  "Dammit, dammit!"

  Anderson took a breath as he heard the quiet sirens enter earshot. His lungs were strained for every syllable.

  "No time... for us... both..."

  His eyes were looking down now, away from Joan's gaze, though he noticed those cries had quietened. He looked up to the tablet - even upside down to him he saw the loading bar.

  Template deletion.

  Black smoke enveloped him as Joan cried out for Anderson. Though she was greeted with Iris again who was immediately pinned under the same pressure as he had been under. She let out a scream of pain as a voice in her head spoke.

  "I will not let a kid sacrifice themselves for an old soul like mine. This is your chapter Iris."

  Looking at her tablet Joan saw the deletion bar appear. She went to reach her hand to the device of Iris' ear, but she slowly pulled her hand back over her mouth as she cried. Then it was over. There was only Iris.

  Still in her new agony Iris cried out to Joan. "How could you!? After everything he's done for us!?"

  Joan hardened herself now to complete the process. She ignored the cries as the upload progressed. The sirens from earlier were now extremely close. Just as it finished and she was greeted with a number pad she heard two shots from outside. Hesitating for a moment her eyes watered once more as she frantically rushed the code.

  A loud shot.

  Joan fell immediately. Her eyes staring blankly to the floor. Though the process was complete.

  On the tablet's screen was a large single text.

  "TRANSFERRING..."

  As Iris cried out for Joan she cursed at the two figures just out of the wreckage. The two men identical to those same units from earlier. Her vision was slowly filled with dark blue hexagons as she hit the floor infront of her in frustration.

  Then as the blue took all her vision, she could no longer feel or hear.