Toka-Ace #1: The Re-Emergence
Chapter 9

They had us surrounded. They all looked at each other as though sharing some unspoken understanding.

“Who are you guys?” I demanded. “Why are you after me? I know that you’re a part of a group called Tovlin.”

It was the Nissan driver, the seemingly old man who spoke, but he did not answer my question. “Come with us Troy Haden.” The Nissan driver said. “If you do not, we shall lessen our measures of restraint.”

The thought of giving in, made me sick. I dreaded the coldness I felt from this pack of men. I dreaded not knowing what they wanted from me. What were they going to do to me? I should have listened to Katherine. I was overwhelmed and now it was going to cost me my life. My anxiety turned my thoughts into a swirling cluster of useless energy.

I was frozen. My assailants watched me intensely. Andrew was similarly frozen.

“Surrender now.” The Nissan driver’s booming command cut through my thoughts. “Revert back to your true form and lay face down on the ground so that we may take you into custody.”

I looked at my hands. My jet-black hands. A plan had formed in my mind but it was fragile. I swallowed my anxiety.

That’s right, I was still transformed. Then I had another thought, a wild, desperate one. Was the reason that these guys not attacked because I was transformed? Was it possible this transformation somehow tipped the odds in my favor? Katherine said that I had some sort of power.

I began calculating what this meant for me. It was my one possible out and it helped to keep the anxious thoughts from overtaking me. I didn’t have to give up hope; there was still a chance for me to escape. I just had to time everything right…

“Trust me Andrew. Just follow my lead.” I whispered. Andrew nodded.

“I’ll go with you.” I said. “Just let Andrew go first. I’m your target there’s no need to attack him.”

Andrew looked at me, puzzled.

“Trust me, I’ll be right behind you.” I said.

The men looked at each other.

“Very well,” the men agreed. “That one may go.”

Andrew was stubborn. I pushed him. “Go on. Just trust me.” Andrew left the circle and the construction site.

“We’ve granted your friend safe passage.” one of the men said. “Now, you will give in.”

Slowly I dropped to one knee. I placed my hands behind my head. “I am surrendering,” I announced loudly. I placed my other knee on the ground.

“Revert back to your true form.” the van driver said from behind me.

“I’m not sure how to do that,” I said.

The men looked at each other. They were satisfied that I was not going to run.

The Nissan’s passenger walked towards me.

That’s right, I thought, just a little closer.

He walked until he was right upon me. The passenger reached for my wrist.

In a flash, I grabbed his wrist tightly, swung my other arm and caught him right on the ankles. The blow swept him off his feet. He hit the ground with a thud. I leapt up and used his body as a spring board to give myself a running head start. I ran towards the spot that the passenger had been standing before he went to grab me.

I ran as fast as I could. The driver moved to cut me off. I faked to my left, the driver lunged and I made a running back style jump cut to my right. That little maneuver worked like a charm.

I pumped my legs, seeing the street ahead of me. I had zero interest in looking back.

Then I felt a sudden, sharp and intense pain squarely in the middle of my back. The pain caused me to stagger and fall. It caught me off guard.

I looked back. My mind was racing again. The men hadn’t given chase, but one of the men had his arm raised. Had he shot me? My back burned with the pain.

I pushed myself up off the ground. I groaned with the effort. I couldn’t see a gun. What had he shot me with?

Their skin started to flicker like an analog TV with bad reception. The five men disappeared leaving in their place something that I couldn’t believe.

Androids. They had oval heads with two small eyes that looked like glass. Their torso was a burgundy red and armored like knights of old. Their right arms ended in hands edged with small saw blades, light blue and glowing. The left arms had lasers on their wrists.

Five androids. Of course, that’s why Andrew and I couldn’t beat those guys! That’s why my punches had no effect. They were androids the whole time.

The android that had fired on me had smoke sizzling from the laser on its wrist. Two others had exploded into motion! They were coming at me, saws screaming, laser barrels growing.

Lasers were fired. Tsseewww! Tsseewww!

I leapt to the side to avoid the shots. The ground where I had been seconds before burned and sizzled.

The two androids closed on me. One of them swung its saw at me. I ducked under the blade. I leapt back. The other android was a fast flash of movement-it had circled around to my left trying to out flank me.

It drove its saw at me, aiming to plunge the rapid spinning blade to cut into my torso. I fell onto my back. The pain of my burn was newly agitated, it was like falling on glass. “Aaaahhhh!”

I caught the arm just behind the saw. The blade was spinning inches from my face. The other android was leveling his laser at me. The laser barrel glowed red. The android fired.

I swept the android’s feet from it. I turned my body and rolled out from underneath its grip. This all happened in a second.

Then there was an explosion that blinded me and knocked me back. I hit the ground. It took me a moment to realize what happened. The droid’s head rolled over and came to a stop right in front of me.

Four androids remained one of them killed by friendly fire. The four aimed their wrist lasers at me and fired in unison. Tssseeeewwwww! The air burned with four streams of laser fire.

I ran, remembering the hot pain in my back. Thinking quickly, I plowed into the door of an unfinished house, knocking the door off of its hinges. But I was safe inside.

No, I wasn’t safe, I reminded myself. I needed a way out. The inside of the house smelled strongly of saw dust and paint. There was a stairwell that led to an upstairs ahead of me. The kitchen was to my right and the living room to my left. Outlets had yet to have their face put on and the wooden banister needed to have a finish applied.

I went to my right into the kitchen. I hoped that maybe there was a side door I could slip out of. Slowly, I looked around. The kitchen had an unfinished island counter, with cabinets all around save for the spaces that were set aside for a stove, a refrigerator and a dishwasher.

I heard footsteps coming in the front door. It was the androids, the buzzing of their deadly plasma saws slowed to a whir. They were looking for me, working together in their eerie silence.

I tried not to make a noise. Then eureka! I saw it, a side door! The footsteps had receded. Still, I wanted to be careful not make a sound.

Inching along in the darkness step by patient step I made my way to the door. Then I heard the footsteps getting louder and closer. With each closing step, my heart pounded faster. I consciously pushed my composure against the tide of panic. However, there was no time to plan. I was fast. My plan now was to open the door and run back to Katherine.

I could hear the steps and the whirring of the saws right outside the kitchen.

Forget stealth. I threw the door open and ran outside. My heightened reflexes were the only thing that saved me from what happened after that.

I opened the door and I dodged, hugging the door frame. “WHOA!” I yelped. The twin laser beams narrowly missed my head. I stumbled back in the house.

A neat hole burned through a cabinet door. Smoke slithered through the air. To make matters worse, two of the androids were in the kitchen. They were going around either side of the island counter. Both of them had their lasers trained on me and their saws sped up, buzzing loudly.

There was no way out but over. I turned quickly, and ripped two cabinet doors off their hinges and threw one at each of the androids. They fired a quick shot and the doors exploded in midair.

I used the diversion to make my escape. I jumped on top of the island and dove for a window followed by scorching hot laser fire. Like a gymnast, I tumbled gracefully to the ground. Two of the androids raced around the house and began firing their lasers at me. The ground exploded at my feet. Rocks and dirt were sent flying into the air. Reflexively, I threw my arm up to shield my eyes. I turned to run, but by this time the androids came out of the house and blocked my escape route.

The laser fire stopped and I was being rushed from either side by the androids who had their saws spinning and screaming to slice into me. I looked quickly, tentatively to my left, then anxiously to my right.

The two closed in a flash. Their attacks were so fast. They sliced at me and the glow from their blades left a trail of light in the air for a moment after every swing. They sliced and swung and I constantly had to jump and duck and watch out for the next attack. I was frustrated being restricted to mere defense. I could barely dodge. A swing of the saw narrowly missed my head and I glanced as a few strands of my silver hair fell to the ground. I jumped back and turned.

“Aaaaaaahhhhh!!” I screamed in agony. I stumbled back and brought my hand to my chest. Then I looked down to the wound, mortified. Blood had seeped into my keikogi. It was seeping through my fingers and dripping to the ground. A gash had been cut into my chest. My hand trembled as I struggled to comprehend the horror of my blood, my blood leaving my body.

The saw-wielding android drew its arm back for another strike. For a moment things seemed to go in slow motion, then I kicked into another gear.

In a flash, in a desperate moment fueled by nothing but rage and adrenaline, I was able to seize the arm of the android before the saw could spill more of my blood. I grabbed it by its mechanical elbow. I pulled it as hard as I could aiming the blade at the neck of the other droid.

The deadly blade sliced and tore into the droid, cutting into wires, sending sparks flying. The droid jerked and twitched wildly as the blade cut into it. Finally it stopped moving and it sagged being held up by its fellow droid.

Two down. I was breathing heavily. The android let its destroyed partner fall to the ground.

Three androids remained. Two on one side, one on the other.

I had to restrain my excitement at taking down one of the androids because a) three androids were still fully functional, and b) I was fading.

I knew that if I didn’t win or escape now, I wasn’t going to.

Out of the five androids, I had beaten one. Another was accidently killed by a shot meant for me. I didn’t like my odds. Basically they were the poachers, and I was an exhausted, crazed animal on its last legs. There was no realistic way that I was going to win.

I ran away from the two androids. One of them was in my path. It plunged its’ saw at me. I ducked and slid underneath the attack. I staggered to my feet, feeling weaker than I expected.

As I ran, I tried to block out the pain, tried to keep the fatigue from affecting my mind.

I had to replace my way back to the street with the murderous androids on my tail.

I ran through the unfinished houses. I breathed hard, pushing my body to the limits. I stopped in front of a house. The ground seemed to spin. My heart was going at a machine guns pace. I was confused and losing blood. Where do I go?

I entered into another house. I staggered up the stairs and hid in a closet. It was vain to believe that they would not replace me here. I just need a moment of rest. Still I hoped. Maybe I had lost them. Maybe they would think that I had escaped and they would give up in their pursuit of me.

My back still ached from the burn. The wound from my chest was bleeding although not as much. I was weak and tired. I leaned against the wall. Minutes passed. Maybe, just maybe, they had moved on. After a little while longer I relaxed a little. The closet had the same sawdust smell as the rest of the house. No there was something different. Something in the smell that I could not quite put my finger on.

Actually, it was getting hot…

I gasped and scrambled from the closet as fast as I could. Thick black smoke had risen to the ceiling of the bedroom.

I threw open the door but was blocked by a wall of flames. I staggered back and choked on the smoke. The air was sweltering and wavy.

The cut and the burn caused me pain, but inhaling the smoke seemed to do more. It made my very muscles sting. My body ached. With my last bit of strength I leapt out of the window. For a moment the fresh air brought relief. The ground rushed up at me and I blacked out for a moment.

I came to and rolled over to my back. I saw the house engulfed in flames. Several other houses were burning too. I understood. They had been burning the unfinished homes one by one hoping to flush me out. Now they had me beat.

The three androids surrounded me. “It’s over.”

From nowhere there came a bright flash of light. One of the androids fell. Two more quick flashes and the other two dropped.

Moments later, Katherine was standing over me. She was holding a strange-looking rifle-like weapon. “Are you ready to listen to me now?”