Chapter 5

 One Forty Two saw them long before they saw him or the car. They had turned of the headlights to their motorcycles before they got to close, but his camera eye could see them. Four people of four bikes, though they were to far away for him to see any details. They were moving fast, and in his general direction.

One Forty Two stopped pushing the car, and walked in front of the side door that was facing the unknown group. He stood, feet planted in the dirt, just half foot away from the door, and stared intently into the darkness.

Behind him one of the car doors opened and hit in the back.

“Why are stopped?” Ikarid asked harshly.

“You told if there was something wrong,” One Forty Two replied blankly. “That I am not to get you until it has passed.” He continued staring off in the desert, without giving Ikarid a glance.

Ikarid mumble something herself before leaving her guard to do his business and shutting the door.

Kate and her group slowed down to a crawl, then hopped off their bikes and walked towards the car in the dim moonlight.

“What’s the plan?” Jonathan whispered as they approached.

“The usual,” Kate responded with a blank command.

Jonathan nodded quietly and fell behind the group. The others continued their path to their soon to be “sneak” attack victim.

One Forty Two watched as one of the group members fell behind the others. They got closer, and took out their weapons, two electro guns and a large energy beam.

They were almost on him now, and One Forty Two began charging his weapons, took out his dagger, gritted his teeth and prepared for a fight.

The two people from behind Kate jumped out at him with animal like metal claws on the inside of their hands, attached to their fingers like brass knuckles. One Forty Two raised his metal arm up defend against one and felt his skin on his other arm slice open as the other attacker ran their hand down his upper arm.

One Forty Two let out a scream, a signal for Kate to take her leadership role as a Boarder Control Commander.

“You are trespassing in- F**k!”

One Forty Two kicked the attacker at his natural arm in the knee, effectively breaking the persons leg. The Boarder Patrolee screamed in pain and fell to the ground as One Forty Two turned his attention to the attacker on his other arm. He pulled his arm back as far away as he could from the person hanging onto it and smacked them in the face with the side of his farearm. As they let go in shock, pulled his arm back a second time and smack them in the stomach. He turned back to the person on and kicked them in the face.

It happened in a second, kate didn’t even get to process how to react before it ended.

“Stop it or I’ll shoot!” Kate said with her eye in her guns sight.

One Forty Two turned to the source of the voice, raising his hadn at the same time to disguise the fact that he was actually aiming his weapon. As he actually came to face her, his hand straightened out and aimed at her, shooting her in an instant. A blob of electro gel smacked into her chest and transferred its electricity to her body. She fell on the ground and laid there moaning in pain. One Forty Two looked down at his handy work and turned back to the car. He had his hands on the door handle, ready to open it and ask for medical assistance from Alistair, when Jonathan came from the side with his sythe.

He reached down with his sythe and pressed it against One Forty Two’s leg, One Forty Two’s head turned to face him as soon as he did and Jonathan’s eyes widened. He hesitaed pressing the button that would send an electric shock up One Forty Two’s body, giving One Forty Two the perfect opportunity to attack him.

One Forty Two swiped at the mans face with the dagger on his arm. Jonathan snapped out of his shock with the attempt at his life and jumped back out of harms way. One Forty Two moved quickly, swiping again at the man’s arm and again at his face. Jonathan jumped back and back again, before a successful attempt to slice open his stomach sent him tripping over his own feet and falling to the ground.

One Forty Two looked down at him, and Jonathan stared back at him silently, dumbstruck. One Forty Two opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Stop it,” Kate screamed. She was standing in the same place One Forty Two had left her with her hands in the air. “Let us go. You can pass through tribal territitories, just leave us alone.”

One Forty Two turned back to face her, then back at the bleeding man on the ground at his feet. Jonathan looked at him with the same awe struck eyes fom before.

He nodded at the man, then turned back to nod at the woman, making sure to keep his lips sealed the entire time.

Kate grabbed her brother while the person One Forty Two knocked out with his arm helped the person with the broken leg. He watched them walk away slowly, until the reached their motor cycles and medical equipment. The injured, now in slightly better shape than before, piled onto the bikes with those who were better off, leaving two bikes empty.

One Forty Two opened the car door and slid in next to Alistair, bending far down with his knees almost in his face from the low ceiling.

“One Forty Two!” Alistair yelled when he saw One Forty Two’s wounds.

“What?” One Forty Two asked with bewilderment. He looked down to where Alistair was looking, his still bleeding arm. “Oh,” he said with realization. Suddenly the pain his mind blocked out flashback to him. “I feel.. dizzy.” He stammered.

“Hey!” Ikarid yelled, “Is he going to be OK? We have a mission to complete, if you think you’re going to ruin this for me then-”

“What?” One Forty Two said wearily, the rush of adrenaline and desire to comlete his mission drained from his body.

“He should be fine.” Alistair interrupted. He was working fast, the tools sticking outside his chasis moving rapidly as he figured out which should be put back and which were going to be useful.

Once he got the proper tools, he walked closer to One Forty Two and began cleaning his arm.

Ikarid turned her attention from the working robot to the stunned boy.

“What was out there?” Ikarid asked. “I heard voices, who were they?”

“What?” One Forty Two asked again, completely dazed and confused.

“He’s tired,” Alistair said, turning somewhat towards Ikarid while still doing his work. “He’s been up most of the night, he’s lost a lot of blood.

“I need to know if there coming back, what hey want, who they are!” Ikarid said frustratedly.

“If they’re coming back, I would rather have One Forty Two not bled to death, then know who they and be completely defenseless.” Alsitair said quietly

Ikarid shut her mouth and crossed her arm. She watched with a pout as the robot stitchd One Forty Two’s arm and wrapped it in guaz. The boy fell asleep, leaving the two higher ups virtually alone in the quiet car.

“Who d you think it was?” Ikarid asked. “You’ve been out here before.”

“Tribals.” Alistair responded simply. “We are probably in there territory. That tends to upset them, especially when intruders come from the mountains.”

“What do they got against the mountains?”

Alistair looked at Ikarid with his head tilted and his lens covers squinted, body language that conveyed the message of ‘Are you stupid?’ “Us” he told her blankly, before going back to work.

“You f*****g let them go?” Ikarid screamed. It was mid day in the middle of the desert. Ikarid stood with Alistiar at her feet an One Forty Two standing in front of her. She was screaming at the latter. “Who the f**k were they, were did they come from?”

Alistair flinched at every screamed word, knowing what Ikarid had done in the past when she was this mad and knowing full well she wasn’t going to make an exception for One Forty Two.

One Forty Two stood frozen in front of her looking down his feet as she screamed at him.

“Are they coming back, are they bringing more?” She continued. “You don’t f*****g know, do you? Did you even think about it?”

“I thought I gave them a fair enough warning.” One Forty Two said so quietly that she could just barely hear him.

“A fair f*****g warning ain’t gonna mean s**t! Now they know four people can’t take you, so what? The send 5, 10, a whole f*****g group after us. We are supposed to be inconspicuous. We are not supposed to announce to the Outsiders: ‘We’re here. We’re dangerous. Come and stop us, we’re fair game.”

“How are supposed to inconspicuous while rolling around the desert in this car?”

“We were supposed to go fast,” Ikarid began as she shived her face in his face and gave him a scowl. “We were supposed to ride through the nearly empty desert faster than anyone who could catch us and we were supposed to kill anyone who caught up!”

One Forty Two cringed at his mistake, but made an effort not to move yell she screamed at him.

“I think it was an honest mistake…” Alistair said through the chaos.

Ikarid shot him a sharp look. “They must’ve slowed your brain down to the speed of a f*****g dirt eater, because apparently, you don’t think at all.”

Alistair looked back down at the dirt with the remark and took a ew steps backwards to distance himself from the scene before he tried to make anything worse again.

“What do have to f*****g say for yourself?” Ikarid asked, turning back to One Forty Two.

“I, I just-” One Forty Two started before letting out a blood curdling scream. He fell to the ground as an electric current ran up his body from his legs to his eyeballs. When it ended, he lay in a piled on the floor, curled into a ball, moaning in pain.

Ikarid looked down at him with the flat, black remote in her hand. On the slick screen was a keyboard and places to input exactly how high of an electric shock she wanted to give him and for how long.

“One Forty Two!” Alistair yelled as he lurched towards his friend.

“Oh stop it,” Ikarid said, putting her foot out in front of the robot. “You know he’s fine.”

One Forty Two sat up shakily, and looked up at Ikarid.

“Stand up,” she commanded. “Now tell me where you saw them leave the motorcycles.”