Thaqib made his way through the congested traffic that ran around the outskirts of the city in a giant ring. He’d made quick time and he could see the bridge that ran over his neighborhood rising up in the distance, connecting to the road he now ran alongside. Luckily, he’d scoped this area out before and knew the fastest route to get back. Large billboards were erected all along the highway. He’d been this way before with Jazib, scoping out new targets to hit. He wondered now about Jazib, he was probably wondering where he’d been.

Thaqib found a service-way that lead under the road and quickly ducked inside the neon lit tunnel.

When he emerged from the other side of the highway, it was only a short run and he’d be back home. Something was different though. He stopped to investigate. Hovering above his neighborhood, a helicopter was circling. He watched swarms of Mako traveling high up over the city, their single eyes dotting the sky like red stars.

Plumes of smoke still wafted up from the Order’s temple. Thaqib wondered if they’d evacuated the market district that lay on top of the hideout before they’d flattened it with their bombs. He climbed a cement barrier to the path that led on the other side. Where the market had been he saw a dark spot in the midst of the city, the only area not lit by lights.

As he came closer to his neighborhood and the residential areas, he heard the loud noise of shouting. He was shocked to see fires burning through the streets and people roaming about in groups chanting and attacking police vehicles. Thaqib quickly climbed up a wall onto the roof of a small shop and peered down into the streets. He saw B.C.P.D. riot police marching. Boomers stood watching on the street corners and roves of youths and residents stood in the streets, blocking them off with whatever they could tear from the streets around them.

He felt a dangerous tension in the air, that at any moment those Boomers and police would let loose on the crowd. He realized he had to get to the shredder quickly before something went down and blocked his path to the canal where it was hidden.

He realized the only way to get down to it was through the street where the protesters were gathered. It was going to be dangerous but he hoped the police would be too busy dealing with them to notice what he was up to. He climbed down into the street and suddenly coughed. There was a white mist drifting in the street. He noticed the other people all wore cloth and masks over their faces. Tear gas, he thought. There must have already been an engagement.

Thaqib pulled up his own mask, the white smirk spread across it. He kept his head down and stuck to the edge of the street, walking around angry people yelling at the police and throwing trash. Mako buzzed by, he heard the flickering of their camera lenses, focusing in on the crowd, documenting who was there for later punishment. Something bad must have happened for all these people to risk being out here in the streets like this.

Among the crowd he noticed a familiar face—it was Malik, and next to him—Samir. He quickly made to duck away but they turned before he could and saw him. Thaqib groaned, he was done with these two, twice already he’d dealt with them. They quickly dashed over to him and Thaqib was surprised to see something different about their manner. “Yo, Thaqib,” Malik said.

“Yeah, what is it?” Thaqib said, looking around, trying to make it clear that he didn’t want to talk to them.

“You hear about what happened? They bombed the market! We were on our way there to meet Slick just before it happened. I think he was in there when it blew up.”

“Huh?” Thaqib said, shocked. Samir stood close by, Thaqib noticed he had a look of despair upon his face. “Is he OK?”

“I don’t think so, we can’t get in. The place is destroyed, man. We were lucky—we were almost caught in there too.”

“Damn,” Thaqib replied bringing a hand to his forehead.

“Yo—about what went down with us—I’m sorry, I see what you were fighting for now. Babylon—this can’t go on—you were right.”

Thaqib looked up in surprise. Malik held his hand out, Thaqib grabbed it and shook. “Forget about it. We’re all good.”

Malik smiled through the pain. “We’re gonna join the crowd, stir up some trouble with the Babs, they gotta pay for what they’ve done. You wanna join us?”

“Nothin’ I’d like more,” Thaqib replied, “But I’m in the middle of something—I can’t right now.”

Malik sensed something was wrong. “You all good? You need help with anything?”

“Nah—just something I gotta do, I’m all good,”

“Alright,” Malik said. “Catch you later then.”

“Yeah,” Thaqib replied. Malik turned and made his way back to the crowd. Samir stood a minute and then lunged in and grabbed him. Thaqib was confused for a moment and the realized he was hugging him. Samir looked him in the eye and nodded then ran off. Thaqib watched them go, he smiled, glad to be on good terms with them again, despite the tragedy that had enabled it.

He made his way down the edge of the street, doing his best to hide in the shadows and when he needed to walk in the open, made sure to look as inconspicuous as possible. Finally he reached an alley that led toward his neighborhood, and the canal that passed by it, connecting to the harbour.

He ducked into the alley, suddenly he sensed someone was behind him, following him. “Thaqib?” he heard a voice call. He turned quickly and saw a familiar face.

“Jazib!?” he yelled in surprise. They met and shook hands in their signature style.

“Where have you been?” Jazib asked, “Thought you got caught in the attack! Damn, can’t believe what went down.”

“I been on a crazy ride man, it’s too much to get into now.”

“I know! B.C.P.D. leveled the whole North Side Market district! Bombed the place to dust! Killed hundreds of people man!”

“Yeah I heard. Can’t believe they didn’t evacuate it,” Thaqib replied.

“Evacuate it? Why?”

“They were after the Order. They had a hideout under the market.” Thaqib replied.

“The Order? That terrorist group?” Jazib asked.

“They weren’t terrorists. Cops must have tried to catch them by surprise and didn’t warn the people up top.” Thaqib felt rage burning in him, his fists clenching. “They’ll pay for what they’ve done!”

“The people aren’t happy. I’m worried some bad stuff is about to go down,” Jazib said, looking back to the street where the crowd was growing louder. “But where have you been, what are you doing around here? I came to find you and your place was locked down by the cops! Where’s Rast? Is he OK?”

“That’s what I’m doin’ back here, the cops got Rast, they’ve taken him to Hexagon. I’m going to break him out. I came to get the shredder.”

“You’re gonna break Rast out of Hexagon? Have you gone nuts? That place is a fortress!” Jazib yelled.

“A lot’s changed in the last couple of days. I can get him out if I can just get there.”

“Man, you can’t do it alone. My shredder’s with yours, I’ll come with you.”

“It’s too risky. I can handle it,” Thaqib replied.

Jazib put a hand on his shoulder, “I care about Rast too, let me help you with this, we’re bros right?”

Thaqib could see Jazib was serious. They’d run plenty of missions together and if there was anyone he would bring on a mission like this it would be him. There was no one he trusted more. “OK, let’s get the shredders.”

Jazib smiled and they quickly made their way down the alley to the canal.

As they made it out of the alley, Thaqib saw the bridge that rose over his neighborhood, blocking out the sky, and then something else which alarmed him. A perimeter of B.C.P.D. vehicles and agents had formed, walling off the neighborhood, blocking their path to the canal.

“Damn!” Jazib yelled, “How are we gonna get the shredders now?”

“What are they doing here!?” Thaqib replied in frustration. “We gotta create a distraction, give us an opening to grab the shredders.”

“There’s gotta be thirty cops down there!” Jazib replied. “What kind of distraction are we gonna make?”

Thaqib thought about it. He suddenly realized the street lights were all out. Nearby he heard a bunch of motors roaring. “Yo, looks like the power’s been cut to the neighborhood.”

“Yeah you’re right,” Jazib replied.

“You hear that sound?” Thaqib asked.

“Yeah, they got generators running.”

“What if we hot-wire ‘em to explode? Should give us a few minutes to hide near the shredders, when they go off, we make a run for ‘em, maybe it’ll distract the cops long enough for us to tear up out of here.”

“It could work,” Jazib said. “Lets go find them.”

They crept along the far wall where the bridge met the ground. The cops stood around surveying the area whilst Mako hovered about. Thankfully Thaqib didn’t see any Boomers around. Up on the far side of the street they found what they were looking for. A large transport vehicle stood motionless, next to it a series of large generators were chugging gas, black wires threading from them like veins, supplying power to floodlights scattered about the police cordon.

“Yo there it is!” Thaqib said, “And looks like no one’s watching it!”

They quickly made their way around the chain-link fence surrounding the backyard of one of the shacks, all of which were now dark and empty. Thaqib wondered where the occupants were and guessed some of them must be a part of that protest. Thaqib looked down the street to his own shack and realized why the cops were there. The shack was surrounded with red tape, stacks of boxes were littered all around it, floodlights surrounded its perimeter lighting the shack up like some exhibit in a city park. He realized there was no way he was ever going home.

They made it to the vehicle and Thaqib crept along to the generators. “Yo keep an eye out while I switch these up.” Jazib nodded, creeping around the side of the truck. Thaqib got to work. He knew how to work generators all too well, most people did that lived out here without official power. If you didn’t know how to run one then you ran the risk of freezing and having no lights. He found the power regulator and modified it to start increasing the power output over time. He bypassed the safety catch to prevent the generator from cutting out when it started running hot. “Yo! We’re good to go!” he called out to Jazib. “We got ten minutes before this thing sparks up and pops.”

“Ah… Thaqib?” he heard Jazib say, coming back around the corner of the vehicle.

“What is it?” Thaqib asked noticing a strange look upon Jazib’s face. His stomach dropped when he saw what troubled him. A Boomer walked around the side of the vehicle behind Jazib. Thaqib realized their plan was about to go up in smoke, and if he failed, Rast would be stuck in that prison. No, he wasn’t going to let that happen. He grabbed the rod from his back, extended it, the electric ends crackled. “Jazib, get back, I’ll handle this.”

“It’s a Boomer! What do you mean you’ll handle it!?” Jazib replied.

“I realized a few things over the last couple of days. Seems like I should have been takin’ Rast’s lessons more seriously.”

The Boomer approached. “Citizen, stay where you are and await apprehension.”

“Nah, don’t think I will,” Thaqib replied. He remembered Judah’s teachings and prepared himself to engage the Boomer. He lunged toward it, fainting a strike the way he’d learned with Judah, the Boomer responded, attempting to grab him, Thaqib turned and slid under the boomer’s arm, swinging behind it then leaping up and landing a blow from the staff down upon its head. He flicked the E.M.P. upon his staff and sent a pulse into the Boomer, dropping it like a doll to the ground.

“How did you—” Jazib began, staring in shock at the crumpled body.

“Let’s go before it gets back up!” Thaqib yelled. They quickly ran, making it back to the chain link fence. Suddenly they heard the piercing sound of a horn. Thaqib turned to see the Boomer getting back to its feet, letting loose a distress beacon. Suddenly he heard the yelling of the police, and Mako drones flying to the scene.

“We’re done for!” Jazib yelled.

“No!” Thaqib said, he couldn’t believe their plan was about to fail. Then, catching them both off guard, the generator exploded, sending the boomer flying backward into the vehicle. The vehicle caught fire and exploded too, creating a echoing bang that bounced off the concrete roof of the bridge. Thaqib and Jazib were stunned. A wall of flame spread out over the street where they had just been. Thaqib recovered from the shock. “Come, on!” he yelled to Jazib, and they quickly made their way back along the wall toward the canal.

The plan had worked as intended, when they got back to where the road block had been, the way was now clear. He saw the agents running to the scene of the explosion, yelling for fire extinguishers. They made it to the edge of the canal. Suddenly a Mako dropped down from the bridge above.

WOOOP

Its beacon cut the air. Two more Mako were alerted and came at them. Thaqib and Jazib quickly crawled down to the bank and threw off the corrugated iron sheets which sheltered their shredders.

Thaqib leapt onto his shredder, the Mako screaming quickly after him. Jazib did the same, sliding quickly over the barrier and landing with a thud right into the chair of his olive-green craft.

“Let’s tear it up!” Thaqib yelled, flicking the ignition, the engine roared to life, ripping up the water. Jazib let his engine rip in response, sending water spraying up into the approaching Mako. The cops heard the sound of the engines, quickly turning and unleashing a barrage of laser fire toward them. Thaqib uncapped the throttle and pushed it into gear, sending his shredder tearing along the canal, leaving the lasers to burst harmlessly in his wake. Jazib did the same and shot across the water right behind him. They heard the Mako whirring loudly in approach. Thaqib slammed the accelerator as they sped along the canal, up ahead the canal disappeared into a narrow tunnel Thaqib lay down low and zipped through the mouth of it, the cement inches away from his face. Jazib did the same just as a Mako reached him and charged its tasers. Jazib slipped into the tunnel and the Mako slammed into the cement and exploded.

In moments they were through the tunnel and back into the open. Before them lay the exit to the harbour. Jazib sped up along side Thaqib, a wide grin across his face. Thaqib smiled, it was good to be back on a mission. He pointed to the harbour and they ripped toward it.

As they hit the more turbulent waters of the harbour they decreased speed. “Alright, we made it!” Thaqib said. “Now we gotta reach Hexagon. You all good?” he asked Jazib.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” Jazib replied.

Thaqib spied a long row of pylons running from the mainland to Hexagon through the harbour. Their massive steel frames made him think of giant machines sent from another planet. Long wires ran to the prison camp to carry power. If they could dart under the pylons, maybe they could approach without being noticed. “Lets ride under the pylons!” Thaqib yelled. Jazib looked to them and understood what he meant, nodded and gave him a gesture to lead the way.