Battle of Chicago

The **Battle of Chicago** was a major battle between the Polity and the Union.

## Prelude to Battle

Prior to the Battle of the Chicago, the gen:LOCK program's pilot's Holons were upgraded at RTASA in accordance with the specifications made by Cameron MacCloud.

## Battle

The battle begins with the Union's push for a bid over control of Chicago. A Behemoth and other Union forces are spotted, along with Nemesis. When Polity forces engage the Union forces, Nemesis begins destroying their infantry and vehicles. Hence, the Polity then deploys the gen:LOCK team to act as a counter and distraction for Nemesis. The Polity also begins the intercontinental test-fire of the Hammer System to destroy the Behemoth supporting the Union air and ground forces.

Julian Chase and the team arrive at a construction area just short of the main battlefield in Chicago. The gen:LOCK team destroys a Union patrol in the area while Chase taunts Nemesis through the gen:LOCK network. After a minute, Nemesis is spotted rapidly reaching the team due to his new upgrades. A fight quickly ensues, and the team soon realizes that Nemesis can predict their moves through the network, so they utilize Mindshare to gain the advantage. But before they can wholly merge and finish him off, the network warns them that their Uptime has almost run out. While most of the team downloads back into their bodies, Chase deliberately exceeds Uptime in order to hold Nemesis off, sacrificing his own body in the process.

With Chase now trapped in his Holon, he battles Nemesis on his own while his team disengages safety-locks for the gen:LOCK system so they can re-upload. In the Mindscape, Nemesis taunts Chase, asking him how he thinks he will beat him when he has his mind. Julian then proceeds to strike Nemesis in the face in Mindscape, providing memories and images to Nemesis, causing Nemesis eyes to blink from red to blue and causing a noticeable change in the intensity of his red eyes. This, however, works against him as Nemesis uses this new information to target his team, as he also had received the location of exactly where their actual bodies were. He proceeds to use his Nanotech to trap Julian under a tower structure and goes after his team.

Though during this timespan, the Polity detects Nemesis approaching them and uploads Leon August into the Holon intended for Rob Sinclair. When the team sees Nemesis, they fire their transport's rockets, doing nothing to Nemesis as it charges them. Just before Nemesis could destroy the craft, Leon, along with Jodie Brennan and Miranda Worth in their Striders, intercepts the black Holon. Nemesis charges Leon, taking out his Holon's right arm and taking away its only weapon. But before Nemesis could destroy Leon, Miranda moves in between them, opens her cockpit, and reveals herself, calling out Julian's name and asking why he was doing this. Nemesis reaches out to Miranda, but then spasms wildly and is assaulted by Julian.

The rest of the team's Holons arrive and with the use of Mindshare, defeat Nemesis. Julian then makes the hard choice of destroying Nemesis or capturing it to see if they can make Nemesis and himself whole again. However, in Mindshare, Nemesis touches Chase's face, telling him he is just a copy of more copies, in which then Julian sighs and destroys Nemesis. Around the same time as Nemesis' destruction, the Hammer System destroys the Behemoth attacking Chicago and Polity forces sweep out the rest of the Union forces remaining in Chicago.

## Aftermath

Raquel Marin notes this battle as a turning point for the Polity, completely resisting the Union advance in Chicago.
After the dust settles, the gen:LOCK team strikes a deal with the Anvil's commander; while they won't be stationed at the Anvil, they'll maintain a strong connection with them by having Miguel Garza as an "engineering liaison".