The tank's arrival caught everyone off guard. As the commandos were planning their next move, we were staring at the war machine in disbelief. How did the Perseids smuggle this thing on board???
The tank was moving fairly quickly, as for its immense size. The cockpit was small, round and seemed disproportional to the large body. Its treads were a bit dirty but looked strong. I doubt that anyone was in the cockpit, as the tank can be controlled remotely, even by an AI. Seeing as HISS was likely hacked, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case.
Suddenly, the tank vanished. It seemed as it was never there. Were we hallucinating?
- Where did the tank go? - I asked.
- It's still there; there seems to be a colour-copying holographic cloak over the tank covering up its location - one of the commandos ran past us. He was wearing a fully navy blue set of armor. Every piece of it seemed bulletproof. The commando's helmet covered up his entire face, replacing it with a black visor.
All four commandos were equiped with shock guns, long-range weapons capable of shooting electric impulses. The rogue androids were no match for them. We soon discovered the details of the commandos plan: they will take care of the giant army of robots, clearing a path for us to disarm the automated tank.
- Go! - another commando told us.
We ran towards the tank, which isn't a think you'd normally do, but the circumstances were anything but normal. In a move that nobody was surprised by, the tank opened fire from its smaller barrels. The hellish onslaught of bullets forced us to hide behind a "flying" car that was presumably redirected from the living area. We watched in horror as the car's windows shattered and the bullets were now whistling above our heads.
- Wait, won't this thing explode in a bit? - Claudius realised.
- Oh no - Arika jumped away from the car, so did we. It promptly exploded, sending numerous scraps into the air in a cloud of smoke.
Now, in addition to the robots attempting to escape from the commandos, groups of people running away, thinking that war had broken out. Many of them hid behind buildings do avoid the bullets raining down on them, unaware that only we were the targets.
- We can't hurt innocent civilians! We need to redirect the onslausht away from them! - Sebastian exclaimed.
- But how?! - I replied, jumping away from the next wave of bullets.
- By running in the opposite direction to everyone else - Sebastian turned back and the others soon followed him. I was briefly disoriented but soon joined the rest.
The trick was working, as many people were saved from the assault. However, we were still in grave danger. Without knowing the tank's location, we had no way to disarm it, not mentioning the fact that we'd be blown to bits if we tried.
- I have an idea, but I'm not sure if it will work - Arika informed us as we hid behind the café we were in a few hours ago.
She pulled a camera out of her utility belt. It was a thermal camera. As she looked around the area, she smiled.
- Why are you so happy? - I wondered.
- I got 'em. They're to the right of that escalator - Arika pointed to an escalator ahead of us. It was clearly the right location, as another wave of bullets emerged from there. It nearly hit us, destroying the front of the now empty café.
Then, the tank fired a missile from its big barrel. I heard the missile's distinct noise and warned the others about it. We ran away as far as we could and then the missile hit, turning the café into a pile of rubble. Luckily, no people were inside of the café when the missile struck, however, two rogue bots were fried in the impact, which was also good for us. Not many robots were able to get near us, thanks to the commandos defense. This gave us time to think.
- Since we know where the tank is, how do we sneak up to it without being blown to smithereens? - Claudius asked.
- Maybe we could use a laser blaster to destroy the barrels? - Amber proposed.
- Excuse me, from where would you get a blaster? - Arika questioned.
- I could beat up the armed bot over there - Amber pointed to said robot.
- You sure? He's quite tough - I noted.
- I have a plan, trust me - Amber hissed back.
- Okay, go then - Sebastian shrugged.
Amber snuck up on the robot and jumped on him while he was distracted by his comrades being wrecked by the commandos. Amber knocked him over from behind and punched the android's monitor, unallowing it to aim. Now, it was firing randomly, so Amber quickly came back to us.
- Now we pick him up and bring him to the tank. He ought to do some damage - she added.
Arika and Claudius grabbed the robot and I held onto its gun hand, making sure that the android won't shoot either. We finally reached the best position for aiming and I let go. The bot started frantically shooting, accidentally wrecking several other bots along the way before finally hitting the tank. It was hit several times and eventually retaliated. The robot was obviously destroyed, but his final shot managed to blow up the big barrel, along with a few small ones. Only two seemed to remain, enough for us to protect ourselves against them using the shield Arika and I got from the Prison.
The commandos noticed our progress and joined us. Their shots managed to break the holographic cloak, which glitched a few times before ultimately giving in, fully exposing the tank. Upon getting closer to the machine, we noticed a hatch atop the cockpit. The commandos pried it open, as it was safer for them to do it than us. Out of the tank emerged Vlad & Bruise. This meant that the tank had manual control.
The two Russians tried to fight, but were no match for the commandos and were quickly captured. We chose to enter the cockpit and see what's going on in there while the commandos hold back the rogue androids and enemy agents. We slipped through the hatch and darkness awaited us.
The first thing we noticed about the inside was how utterly small it was. So small that we couldn't fit our whole team in it. We decided that Arika, Claudius and I will go in there while Sebastian and Amber assist us from above if needed. The cockpit was basically a gray box with a control panel and bullet storage inside. There were tiny rectangular windows, but they were far too small to be called "windows" in my opinion. All of a sudden, Arika noticed something suspicious at the corner of her eye.
- Wait, there's a white thing behind the panel next to you. Can you grab it? - Arika asked me. With so little space, we had to sit inside the cockpit to fit and moving around was barely possible, so we stayed in one place. I noticed the object and pulled it out.
As it turned out, it was a note. A note with an encrypted message.
ns216.73.216.33da2
and then Add to home screen.