You'd think that by now, every Eagle nation military, civilian, child, and drone would possibly support this "victory." Sadly, I hate to be the bearer of the bad news that would follow poor William and me, as there was never a victory.
The aftermath of the battle was collected with deprived and wounded Eagle soldiers as they gathered themselves along with their comrades alongside their armaments. William still assisted the wounded and the battle-worn soldiers, aiding them to safety at the bunker's entrance. Unbeknownst to William, it had possibly attracted one of the most dangerous enemies of the Eagle Nation.
Upon closer inspection, a dead drone's camera lens zoomed in on William as it aided the Eagle soldiers. Now imagine a room filled with screens, monitors, and consoles alongside the consoles and monitors. It also had highly advanced technological screens on each station for its users to fulfill much-needed roles. A screen had its image projected to the lens as if it were spying and trying to get a closer inspection of William.
"Extraordinary…" one of the ladies in uniform exclaimed as she studied the screen closer to monitor William's movement and frame.
"What seems so interesting about that drone, lady Qiang?" the secretary questioned as she turned, confused.
Lady Qiang, frustrated, sat right on the secretary's desk, which had the screen showing William, to which she grabbed the secretary by her hair, "Look at the markings etched onto the drone's chest plate and boosters; what does it state!?"
The secretary struggled to get ahold of herself while Lady Qiang's grip tightened onto her hair, "P-please my lady- it-it says T-01!"
"MARVELOUS!" Lady Qiang states as she flings the secretary onto the floor with the others tending to the secretary, "Another one of the Origin drones of the "Regulars" has been found." She then stares at the image on the screen as it freezes on William, to which she caresses the drone's image, "It's okay…soon you'll be with the rest of your kind…"
The rest of the staff then remarks, "Your orders, my lady?"
To which she responded with a harsh tone, "Deploy the T-03, and make sure that the origin drone gets destroyed."
Lena and I were let out of our cell to assist with the cleanup. As we ascended onto the elevator to the ground level where the bunker's entrance was, we both spotted William still aiding the soldiers and medics alike. We were both in tears as we ran up to hug him. "WILLIAM!!" William caught us in his arms and embraced us, reassuring us that he withstood no damage.
"Y-you're not hurt at all!?" Lena cried as she studied William while observing the armor plating and frames. I couldn't find words to express how sorry and grateful I was to see him still alive. There were no words, just a sad nod with a good pat on the shoulder as William, Lena, and I rubbed our heads among each other's.
Our short reunion was cut short by a call for attention, to which the Eagle soldiers all responded with their full attention and stopped what they were tending to, except the medics. Behind a group of soldiers stood a tall male, possibly in his late 40s, and next to him was Colonel Thul. As the man walked past the soldiers, he saluted each one of them, with them returning the salute as per tradition and respect. He then stopped at me, Lena, and William, to which each of us saluted him after he saluted us.
"Carry on…" He commanded everyone to return to whatever they were doing. He then turned to Lena, William, and me, to which he observed William. "So, this is the one, hmm?"
"Yes, Commander.", Colonel Thul replied in response to the commander's question.
"Indeed…" the commander and Thul exchanged looks, then he commanded, "Place him under custody."
"WH-you can't just?" Lean, and I tried to question the command before we were apprehended by soldiers again, "He-he didn't do anything wrong!!"
More soldiers appeared from the bunker, fully armed and geared, and pointed their rifles at other soldiers involved with William. Everyone now knew too much and had to be silenced somehow.
One of the soldiers William saved earlier by pushing him out of the rocket's trajectory shook his head in disbelief, then walked up to block the other soldier, pointing the rifle at William while stating, "You want him? You're going to have to go through me."
Upon hearing his resolve, the medic, who had gone through many that William had saved, stood up, and she declared, "Me too as well…"
By now, many soldiers William had saved and assisted stood their ground. They were not going to budge. They held their hands together, forming a shield around William, me, and Lena.
The first soldier William saved limped to his feet as he stood up slowly and proclaimed, "He's an Eagle, and Eagles need protection from other birds of prey! If you want to place the drone under custody, you might as well place the rest of us!" As he declared, he joined the shield formed to protect William.
William looked in disbelief; the nation he had once sworn to protect was now split in two, as some sought to preserve the country and those who fought to protect the few like William. Before anybody could continue, there was an explosion between both groups. To everyone's astonishment, the smoke cleared, and above the base hovered a lone drone. Panic ensued, and some Eagle soldiers gathered for a counter-offense measure. Except for those shielding William, Lena, and I, they guided us out of the base and made a run for it.
After what appeared to be hours of running, the group, exhausted, rested, and gathered. I went around and offered what little water my canteen had to the ones who could use the canteen. Some thanked me but would tell me to give it to those needing it more. I couldn't believe it; we've now become fugitives. How would I explain this to my fiancé? I then sat next to William. At this point, Lena was too tired and collapsed on the gravel on the ground, using her lab coat as a blanket.
"Rough day, huh?" William asked me as he fidgeted with his fingers.
"Yea…could be worse…" I replied as I exchanged Lena's lab coat with my jacket and folded her lab coat into a makeshift pillow instead.
"Will I ever see my wife and daughter again, Specialist?" William asked as he moved his feet to get more comfortable.
I didn't have an answer; I was more worried about my fiancé. They'd probably use her as bait to get me, if anything.
Before we'd thought we could catch a break, the lone drone was suddenly hovering above us. William stood up in defiance, thinking it was a drone sent by the Eagles defending the base. To which the lone drone threw a name tag covered in blood down at us.
William, the other soldiers, and I gathered around the name tag "THUL." I became furious. Thul and I went way back when I had joined. I was going to open fire at the drone, to which William stopped me and told me to find a place to hide along with everyone else while William bought us time to escape. I was going to complain and rebut his plans, but William insisted that we had no time and none of us could combat a drone with our conditions the way we were.
With no other choice, the other soldiers and I agreed as we gathered our wounded and went south to escape the crossfire. "Make sure you get them, William," I said as I helped Lena carry another wounded soldier away.
William nodded as he stared up at the drone. The drone stared down at William. Etched on the chest plate of the hovering drone was T-03.
"You must think you're exceptional…" the T-03 relayed in its female voice, "I don't believe you'll last long, so consider yourself lucky as I'll introduce myself to you, as I'm pleasured to meet one of the last remaining originals. I am San, the 3rd regular of the first division of drones!" She intimidatingly declared as her elbows fired up boosters.
Then it was on. As we ran away as fast as we could, William could not match the T-03's speed, and her flight made it impossible for William to catch up. She accelerated away from William to avoid the attack whenever William jumped onto the laser platform. She eventually caught William off guard as William could not fly or hover. She launched one of her boosted gauntlets onto William's torso to the ground, causing a crater on the floor. Here, she would dive-bomb onto William and continuously keep her assault on William. When Williams' laser blades finally appeared to defend him, it surprised San as she now kept her distance to avoid the blades.
The fighting continued as we watched from the hill close by to avoid being caught in the battle. William was having difficulties as San and her quick-boosted bullet punches hit his laser shield from multiple angles. William responded by removing his halo to become his crosshairs again to fire. As William prepped his Overdrive mode, so did San, as she had a halo, but hers worked differently as she clenched her fists together in the form of a puppet mimicking a dragon's mouth. Suddenly, San's boosters on her back extended to reveal wings that shot out air, allowing her to hover and boost her speed.
If you glanced at the battlefield as it stood now, it was like an eagle was fighting against a dragon's head as they clashed as the light drew and erupted. Then they clashed in the middle, as San's gauntlets and William's laser blades locked in a deadlock.
"Humans will never look at us as being one of them. Ultimately, we're just weapons bred and built for destruction to do the humans and their bidding." San said as she shoved more onto William.
Then, it was as if the ultimatum of the match had been decided, and the world wanted the chaos to stop. Something flew by both drones and destroyed their deadlock and a second, and then came a third, a fourth, and a fifth, but the sixth stopped the fight as it was six times larger than those shots that came before. San and William reverted to their original forms as William fell back on the ground as San hovered to see who was attacking them in the middle of their fight.
"Let me guess… it's the Bitch that never fights fair…" San angrily murmurs.
On a lone hill stood a lone drone, a lone drone carrying a tri compensator minigun with wings, each feather being a cannon of a barrel with heat barrels. Etched onto its air chest, boosters read: T-06 with its other cannon sticking out of the ground.