Young Writers Society

Annie

I raised my head again.

Coden, calm down...they mean us - I whimpered when my shoulder seared - us no harm.

He was still uneasy. He stood rigidly beside me, ready to attack at any instant.

Coden, I know these people, all but this one, this Mishca. They will help us.

"You're sure?"

I could tell he wasn't any calmer. This would be fun...I rolled my eyes, laying back down.

Yes, now put that sword away before I have to disarm you myself...which wouldn't be good for either of us.

Mishca

"That's right. We talked earlier," I agreed, holding my empty hands out in front of me as I took another step forward. Coden lowered his swords a little but remained in a defensive position in front of the dragon.

"Your friend's hurt pretty badly," I noted, stepping just a little closer. The whole room held their breath as Coden stiffened. "What's her name?"

"Annie," he replied.

"Okay well why don't you tell me what happened while I take a look at her? See if I can help her?" Coden frowned and then he nodded, allowing only me to pass him.

"We were fighting one of them," he said, breathing heavily. I wondered how he could still be standing. What amazing spirit these people had!

"Do you want to sit down? I can bring you a chair and you can sit in front of her if you still feel the need to guard her but you shouldn't; you're amongst friends."

Annie

Coden hesitated, looking at me worriedly.

I'll be fine. You rest.

I winced when Mishca began studying my wounds. I bit back a pained growl, grinding my teeth together.

Mishca, right? I asked the girl, touching her mind.

"Yes?"

Would it be easier for you if I turned into a human?

Sirens blared, and information surged into Axel's comunication equipment. Slowly he made for the hangar, never breaking stride as a flood of personnel streemed past him. The turrets had been reprogrammed, and were no firing at random, killing dozens of guards and staff.

All this chaos over Renegade.

His men had failed him.

"Cut off all power to Sector D," Axel ordered, his voice ringing throughout the entire compound. "Technology personnel are to then revert everything back to standard function."

He watched as a large segment of the virtual HQ in his eyepiece blackened. He continued toward the hangar, backup power allowing him inside. The sparse lighting of the reserve power illuminated a steaming scene of destruction; Renegade's crusade had decimated the hangar. All the idle mechs had been destroyed, which meant that the only ones that had avoided destruction were the dozen or so left either in field or under repair.

Axel left the hangar, the information in his eyepiece shifted. A small, pulsating orange dot – peeling away from HQ – entered his vission. It was heading for an older base, abondoned early in the war.

Renegade had forgotten to remove the tracking device.

Three units were left in field, patroling the outer edges of the compound.

"Units S-2, S-3, and R-9, pursue Renegade at a distance," Axel ordered. "If the tracking device remains in tact, follow him to the abandoned base, then surround him. If he discovers the device, attack and destroy him immidaitely before you lose him."

Axel had found his way back to his office. He sat with perfect posture and laced his fingers, watching as a set of three red dots surged after the fleeing orange one.

(I was kind of hoping Axel would be extremely pissed about what happen. I'm a little disappointed with his reaction, lol. An interesting tidbit of information, the word decimate comes from ancient Roman punishments. The Roman empire was such a strict nation revolts were common with civilians and military personnel. When disciplining soldiers, they would take groups of ten men and kill one person in each group. This act was called "decimation." Therefore, the context in which you used this word is incorrect. If you don't believe me, look it up. It'll say something like, "To kill every one in ten." I learned that one in night school.)

Renegade landed in the old military installation. The place had been abandoned for years. The roof had caved in long ago and the foliage had almost completely overrun the base. It was as though the trees themselves had taken over the base.

He landed beside one of the old security towers similar to the one back in the base he had just left. Once out of his mech he did a quick scan of the area with his eyes. Everything seemed quiet, almost too quiet.

Renegade walked around his mech, letting his hand drag across the side of it. He didn't like it, it seemed almost too easy for him to escape. If Axel really did want him dead so badly it would have been much harder to get out of the base.

As his hand ran across HK-47's leg it came across something. Renegade knew everything about his mech, from the metal plating to the base skeletal frame. What he found was not supposed to be on his mech. It was a small rectangular device that blinked with a red light. "A tracking bug," Renegade said.

He reached to disable it, then stopped. Axel would have sent pilots after him by now. He knew how Axel thought, he would have ordered the pilots to kill Renegade if he discovered and destroyed the device. No, he wouldn't destroy it. Mech units were on their way, and they knew where he was. But they don't yet know that Renegade knew they were coming. He still had the element of surprise. He went looking for the base's main control system to see if it was still functional after all these years. If it was, he would reactivate the base's turrets. After that he would make his way to the armory to see why kind of weapons were left behind by his predecessors.

(OK, if the main group of characters from the magic's side came across the abandoned military installation, maybe they could work out some sort of allegiance with Renegade, hmm?)

Hmm. Might be interesting. Maybe he could give Mishca's identity away in exchange for joining their side or maybe he pretends to still be on Mishca's side and says he's been sent to help her? Either way, it's a good idea but it's going to be hard to get the group there with the two injured people.

Mishca

"Yeah, human would be better," I replied, trying not to stare as her shape shifted before my eyes. So this was magic. I had never witnessed it so close up and I felt my spine tingle with anticipation. Wonder. It was beautiful. These were the secrets, the powers that they kept from my kind, that they would not use to aid us. It was magic like this that I was denied when they first diagnosed me. It was people like these who believed that death was natural. Or death of my kind at least. Death of those who did not have the magic.

I ignored the thoughts going through my head and smiled gently before sitting beside the girl. I soaked a piece of cloth in a bucket of water one of the others brought me and carefully dabbed at her wounds, cleansing each in turn before taking a small bottle from a pouch at my belt.

"What's that?" Coden asked.

"Herbal mixture. Good for healing."

"Technological medicine?" Annie gasped.

"No. My own remedy," I lied.

Annie

I sat still, trembling as she tended to my wounds. She had a good heart, at least, and her touch was gentle...it didn't hurt at all, until she started applying that medicine.

"Ow, damn it!" I hissed sharply at the first wound.

Coden moved to defend me.

"Don't...it just burns!"

I bit my tongue from then on, trying not to cry out.

I also hoped that I wasn't starting something. In my humanoid form, I was pretty. Red hair, green eyes, pale complexion...

Yet, my human emotions were more welcome than my dragon ones. In human form, I could admire the beauty of humans as if it were natural. I couldn't help but look at Coden the most. Even rugged and wounded, he was somewhat cute.

I shook my head. What are you thinking, Annie? He's a human, and I'm...

I sighed, ignoring more pain. A dragon.

(Excerpt from Axel's chara bio:

Personality: Cold. Calculating. No-nonsense. Unshakable, composed, skilled and intelligent.

You shouldn't expect him to get pissed, like, ever. Or even change emotions for that matter.)

Axel watched motionlessly as the three red dots slowly converged upon the abandoned base and took positions around it. When he was satisifed that nothing was going to change, he changed the frequency of his speaker with a flick of the finger.

"This is Axel," he said into speaker. "Requesting reinforcements."

Pause. Then: "Request granted. Did you collect the AI data?"

"Yes."

"Very well. Groups AA through EE are on standby."

"Send them all."

Another pause. "Very well. Expect them in about three hours."

The three hours coincided almost perfectly with the six he had granted his enemies earlier. Axel laced his fingers and waited.

(Point taken. Also, don't have the reinforcements show up until sometime after the other characters find Renegade.)

After rerouting the power conducts in the instillation's power module Renegade was able to turn on the base using 50% of its original electricity. He kept such unnecessary systems such as the lighting and air conditioning off so he wouldn't attract anymore attention to himself than was needed. He did, however, return power to the turret system, the security system to open the doors to the armory, cameras and the radar system.

Renegade was surprised to see that the Radar was of the S-VMP variety, a radar system that detected both mechanical and magical presences. The military instillation wasn't as old as he thought. Three red dots appeared on the screen in a triangular formation around the base. From the looks of their radar signatures they were mechanical, therefore they must have been the mechs Axel sent after him. Renegade knew all too well how Axel operated. Renegade was too good a pilot to be bested by only three mechs and Axel knew it, they were only a diversion to keep Renegade occupied until a much larger force was sent to intercept him.

Something else appeared on the radar. It was picking up magical signatures of people about eight or nine miles away from the base. The dots on the screen were too close together it was difficult to tell how many there were, they must have been hiding inside a cave or an old farm house. Four, five, possibly six people were in the group. What interested Renegade the most, though, was one particular signature within the group. It wasn't magical in anyway. Whatever it was, it was mechanical.

Whatever their reason for being there, if those people came to the base it may lead to more trouble. Then again, if Renegade could somehow convince them to fight with him his chances of survival would increase. Either way, it was something to keep in mind as he left the radar to access another terminal and check out the instillation's schematics to find any secret escape routes.

(Come on, guys. Don't give up on this storybook. It was just starting to get good!)

*I'm kinda outta commision at the moment...WHERE IS EVERYONE??????)

I'm here. Just thinking that the current plan is a touch impossible. The group aren't going to be moving anywhere with two badly injured patients so maybe Renegade should come to them?

(Hmm... I think I've got something in mind. I'm going to post it tomorrow, though.)

(There's not much I can do at this point other than wait. Up to you guys.)

In less than half an hour Renegade had figured out his plan. In the old schematics of the building he found that there was an underground tunnel used to transport supplies and weapons via an underground train system. There was an entrance to it about half a mile away from where he had seen the group of magic users on the radar.

He took all the human sized weapons and ammo from the armory he could fit into both of HK-47's leg compartments. He also took some mech ammo from the armory that was compatible with his mech's weapons, along with some new weapons all together. He had brought energy back to the turret system and they were now operational. He also opened the main hangar door and locked all the other entrances into the base.

His plan was simple, he would deactivate the tracking bug on his mech before escaping into the underground tunnels. Once inside he would seal the entrance from within. At this time the enemy would move in. Renegade left the main hangar open so they would all come in through one entrance. At this point Renegade will activate the turrets remotely from his mech. By the time the enemy got through all the turrets, that is, if they lived through it, they will believe Renegade to be still hiding somewhere in the base. When they finally realize he had escaped, Renegade would be far, far away from here.

Once Renegade felt he had enough weapons and ammo he retrieved a screwdriver from one of the old maintenance stations. He drove the tool under the tracking device and pried it off his mech. It bounced on the floor a few times before Renegade smashed it to pieces with his foot. Phase one of his plan was complete, now on to phase two...


Fifteen minutes later...

The sounds of gunshots and explosions were heard in the distance. Coden heard it first. He got up and made his way to the door.

"Coden, where are you going?" Annie asked.

"I just need some fresh air, I'll be right back." He stepped out the front door of the house and strained his ears. The explosions were coming from the north-west. He could make out the outline of an old building of some sort. He turned to go back into the house and tell everyone but stopped when he saw something that made his heart sink. A rusty red mech was parked not too far from the building. "Everyone! We need to get out of-"

*click*

Coden froze as he felt something press against the back of his head. "Turn slowly, no sudden movements," he heard a voice tell him. He did what he was told. Coden turned to face a man, the man was holding a gun to to his head.

Garrick and the others heard Coden and rushed out of the house. The only one that didn't come was Annie, who was still injured and lying in bed. Renegade didn't take his eyes off his hostage when he said, "Take one step closer and I'll pull the trigger!"

Garrick held out his hand and motioned everyone to stay away. "You can't kill us all, not even with your mech."

"I didn't come here looking for a fight," Renegade told him.

"Then what do you want?"

"Can you hear that?" Renegade asked.

Garrick opened his mouth to say something then stopped when he heard what Coden had heard. "A battle?" he asked.

"A diversion," Renegade told him. "A team of enemy mechs are attacking an old military instillation they think I'm hiding in. It's only a matter of time before they find out I'm not there. Pretty soon, a much larger force of mechs will arrive to take me down."

"What does that have to do with us?" Seara asked.

"They will search these lands looking for me. If you stay here, they will find you and kill you. You cannot win against a force of their number. You're looking at about twenty or more mechs."

"So what do you want?" Garrick asked.

Renegade eased off his trigger finger and put the gun back into its shoulder holster. "To negotiate."