S2, 08 Liberating the Camp (GC) (July 19, 2015)

Corresponding text underneath each picture.

**12th July 2095: Present Day**

My hat drooped under the weight of the rain water that was gathering on it, as I, Tracks, Eris and her team, comprising of Caesar, the twins Keira and Kaira and Basher, crouched behind a low wall in the torrential downpour.

We were on Earth, on the outskirts of a GI holding facility in Eastern Europe. The facility was currently being used as a quarantine zone, housing the poor souls from around the solar system who had suddenly begun to display Collective-like powers and had been locked up by the Imperium. The Imperium had no idea what was going on and even though Eris and I had worked out the truth and told Mr. Grey, they wouldn’t believe it.

But we couldn’t just let the GI lock them up and hide them away. They were innocent people who didn’t know what was happening to them any more than the GI did. The Imperium was telling people that it was a plague that the Collective had brought with them, however, the truth was that Azgoth’s forces had been randomly activating people’s seeds – the part of the brain that allowed the Collective to access their powers. We didn’t know why for certain, but it appeared to be totally random and therefore purely to sow chaos among the civilian population of the system.

Eris had come up with a plan, albeit a pretty simple one, to rescue the prisoners and to get them the help that they needed, rather than keeping them cooped up in cages like animals.

So now here we were, crouched behind a wall, out of sight of the compound’s watch towers, preparing to break in. A little way back in the forest, we had spotted the edge of what appeared to be a mass grave, but not wanting to examine it any closer, had gone around it.

Eris: “Ready?” she asked, using her weird powers to project her voice directly into our minds. It was very handy, seems how we were trying to be quiet, but it was still a very strange sensation. We all nodded in reply. “GO!”

We leapt up and charged around the corner towards the towering compound entrance gates. The gates were situated between two watch towers and as we ran, one of the spotlights found us. I squinted in the bright light, but just moments later the light was extinguished, as was the second one before it had even seen us, as Eris used her powers to blow the bulbs. She then extended her arms and with an ear-piercing screech the gates buckled. She twisted her hands around and with an almighty crash, the gates were wrenched off of their hinges and casually tossed aside with a clatter.

Alarms started to sound throughout the facility as we made our way into the compound. As we did, the twins headed off in one direction, Basher and Caesar in another, Eris a third and then Tracks and myself a fourth.

The idea was simply, to as quickly as possible work around the facility and free as many prisoners as we could and deal with any security as we came to it.

The facility itself was all very open. There were no walls as such, only bars and metal framework, so everybody was exposed to the elements. Once inside the main four ‘walls’, each of which had a watch tower on its corner, there were rows upon rows of, essentially, cages and there were two levels, the top one accessible via stairs and catwalks above the ground.

Tracks and I charged towards the nearest row and straight away began shooting off the cage locks.

Tank: “Everybody go! Get out now!” I shouted as we freed the first few prisoners. “Wait outside the compound!”

Woman: “Thank you! Thank you so much!” one woman sobbed as she emerged from her cell and ran for it.

We pushed on, ignoring the wailing siren and the pounding rain and opened up the next batch of cages.

Tank: “Wait with the others outside the compound!” I told them as they emerged, confused from captivity.

Suddenly gunfire rang out and I instinctively flinched at the sound. Looking around I saw two Imperium soldiers charging up the aisle towards us. Both Tracks and I opened fire and killed them both before they got too close, but then from behind us we heard more gunfire and screaming. We turned around to find another handful of soldiers facing away from us, shooting down the prisoners as they tried to flee.

Tank: “No!” I shot back at them. I didn’t care if I was shooting them in the back - They were shooting unarmed, venerable civilians in the back.

One fell and the others turned to see us running at them. One shot at Tracks but did nothing and then Tracks grabbed him by the neck and tossed him away like a rag doll. I punched another in the face and we began to fight hand to hand as Tracks grabbed the third and rammed him into a still occupied cage.

The occupant screamed in terror as the door caved in and Tracks hauled the soldier back out and slammed him onto the ground with a terrible *crack*! I doubled over as the soldier I was fighting punched me in the stomach.

Tracks shot once and the soldier collapsed into the cell’s doorway.

Tank: “You’re free.” I wheezed to the occupant, who was cowering at the far side, before stumbling away to continuing unlocking cages.

I could hear guns going off, accompanied by screams, from other areas of the compound, but for now, our aisle was free of fighting. We managed to release everybody from this row and so headed around the end of it to begin on the next aisle along.

All of a sudden there was a mighty explosion and the nearest watch tower was taken out. It smashed down, thankfully outside of the enclosure, in a terrible crash of metal and from behind it emerged Eris, hovering in mid-air, her hands glowing with some sort of red energy. As I watched she turned her attention to the row of cages nearest to her and with a single swipe of her hand, the entire row of doors went flying.

Tank: “Bloody hell!” I muttered aloud and Tracks whirred in agreement. I knew she was powerful and I knew that she was the archmage’s sister, but I’d never imagined her capable of doing anything like that!

Eris: “You are all free! Go and join the others waiting outside the camp!” she shouted with increased volume to the prisoners who were cautiously emerging from their cells, wondering what was going on.

Eris drifted away and I turned my attention back to the task at hand.

We continued alternately freeing prisoners and fighting off guards for some time, working our way methodically up and down the aisles making sure nobody was missed.

Suddenly there came the sound of another explosion, followed swiftly by a great crash and Basher flew out of one of the cages to our right, trailing smoke and landed with a groan on his back in the mud. Following him came a towering Imperium Juggernaut, a rocket launcher in his hand. He raised the weapon again, aiming down at Eris’s friend, but Tracks charged in to help out and tackled the Juggernaut aside, giving Basher time to get up.

I let the pair of them handle the Juggernaut while I continued to open the cells up.

I reached the end of the row and jogged across the ever-soggier ground, through the mud to the next row of cages. I heard a cry from above me and looking up saw one of the twins, I wasn’t sure which was which to be perfectly honest, flipping over a soldier and then slit his throat. He collapsed on the catwalk and she began to open the cages up on the level above me.

I shot the locks off of the nearest few cells and told the newly freed prisoners the same as I’d told everybody else.

Voice: “Freeze!”

I turned and saw a group of guards standing between the people I had just freed and the exit. The prisoners stopped in their tracks, not knowing what to do. I didn’t really know what to do either; I couldn’t shoot at the soldiers because the civilians were in the way, but I knew if I did nothing, the soldiers would probably open fire!

However, suddenly, the soldiers started dropping like flies. Those who didn’t looked around in confusion and panic.

Soldier: “There!” one of them shouted and pointed up at one of the watch towers. He was then felled but I followed where he’d pointed and saw Caesar up in the tower with a silenced sniper rifle, picking off targets from a distance.

The prisoners had scattered which wasn’t good, but at least they were out of the way now and I fired back at the guards who had started shooting in Caesar’s general direction.

 The soldiers didn’t know where to focus their attacks and consequently, were easily taken out.

Just as the last one fell, one of the loose prisoners ran past, her arms over her head, screaming.

Tank: “Go that way! Get out and join the others!” I shouted at her, squinting as a wave of rain lashed over my face.

I wiped my face on my drenched sleeve and turned to continue opening cages, only to find Eris walking steadily towards me from the other end of the aisle. Her arms were spread wide apart, her palms out and as she did so, the cage doors that she passed on both sides, all crumpled and fell from their hinges.

Tank: “Remind me again why you needed any of us here at all?” I shouted sarcastically over a loud rumble of thunder – the first we’d heard, as she reached me.

She smirked playfully and replied,

Eris: “I enjoy the company.”

Tank: “How many are left?”

Eris: “Just two rows I believe. Basher and Tracks are working on the ground level of one and Kiera and Kaira are taking the upper level of the same.”

I nodded.

Tank: “And Caesar’s up there in the tower, leaving us to finish the last row.”

Eris nodded and the sky lit up with lightning.

Eris: “If we….”

She stopped abruptly, seeing something behind me and I whirled around, guns at the ready. Another squad of soldiers was heading towards us. They began firing at us but then Eris chanted in her own language;

Eris: “Eris'e ame’r enkaa ret!”

and suddenly all of the enemy’s guns flew from their grasp and flew high into the air to goodness knows where.

Several of the soldiers stumbled as their guns were wrenched away, but those who didn’t quickly recovered and simply ran at us.

I shot down two before they were on us and then the brawling began. Somebody wrenched my hat away and I spun and punched the soldier I assumed was the perpetrator in the face. Eris kept up a steady stream of chanting and as far as I could see, not a single soldier actually touching her. They were swatted away like flies before they got the chance.

The ground beneath our feet was slowly turning to pure mud amid both the hammering rain and all of our stomping feet.

Somebody took a swing at me and caught my arm. I stumbled forwards before kicking another man in the back of the knee. He fell to his other knee and I punched him in the head, making him topple with a *splat* into the mud. A brightly coloured blast of some kind of energy flew past me and struck a soldier I couldn’t see, as I swung the butt of one of my pistols into another man’s face.

We fought on, with Eris and I side by side, for a couple more minutes. When we had finished, we were both caked in mud and surrounded by either unconscious or dead bodies, sprawled in the dirt.

Panting, I looked to Eris who was like-wise out of breath, although not nearly as much. She smirked and I chuckled slightly before facing the sky to let to rain wash some of the splattered muck from my face.

Eris: “Come on; let’s go free the last of the prisoners.”

I nodded in agreement and after snatching my hat out of the mud, together we set off towards the last row of cages.

It only took us a little while to release the last of the prisoners as we didn’t encounter any more resistance and when we had done so, Eris sent a mental message to everybody, calling us back to the gates. As the mental message didn’t work on Tracks, I had to go and find him, but that only took a minute or so.

The two of us headed back to the gates to join the others and when we got there, they had already rounded up the newly freed prisoners and Eris had begun talking to them.

Eris: “…and I am sorry for what has been done to you. However, because you cannot control your powers, unfortunately we cannot simply let you go back to your lives. That would be exactly what Azgoth was trying to do in the first place. BUT, I do have an offer for you.”

Eris: “I will train you. Nothing major – just the basics. But it will be enough for you to be able to control your new abilities. However, to do this, you will need to come with us to Etrion, where we are currently based, and become a part of my army.”

At mention of this, a ripple of murmuring went throughout the gathered.

Eris: “We are opposed to Azgoth and everything that he is doing. The war which he is waging on your system is unjust and must be brought to an end. He must be stopped, but I cannot do this alone. We already have a small amount of men, but nothing like the army he has. However, with all of you on our side, even though we will still be massively outnumbered and outmatched, we will at least stand a better chance. I cannot tell you exactly what you will end up doing because I do not know yet. Only time will tell.”

Eris: “However, as I said; if you chose to decline this offer, we cannot simply let you go back to your lives as they were. If you chose not to join us in our fight against tyranny and injustice, then you will be allowed to return to your families, but you will be put under constant surveillance, to ensure that you do not go out of control and that your powers do not consume you.”

Again, murmurings and mutterings rippled throughout Eris’s audience. I glanced back at the compound, just to check we were still alone, as she spoke and a bolt of lightning lit up the whole area.

Eris: “It is your choice. But I’m afraid I cannot give you any time to make it. You must chose now.”

One of the twins, Keira, I think, walked off and stopped a short distance away and looked back at us all.

Eris: “If you chose to accept my offer of training and to join my army, please go and stand with Keira.” Eris indicated to the blonde who stood with her arms folded across her chest and silently I was pleased that I had guessed correctly at which twin she was.

Eris: “If you chose to return to your lives but with constant supervision, please remain where you stand. Make your choices.”

A fair deal of talking struck up as people quickly considered their options and slowly people started to move. Not everybody, but a good deal of people headed over to join Kaira. More followed, presumably simply being sheep and following the others, not wanting to seem like the odd ones out. However, after a couple of minutes, the majority of the freed were stood with Kaira and only a couple of handfuls remained stood before Eris.

Eris: “Very well. Those of you stood here, you may return to your lives, but be warned, if ever your powers grow to wild or you fail to keep them in check, we will kill you. You cannot be allowed to become a threat to those around you because you have denied training. Do you understand?”

There was a quiet chorus of ‘yes’s and one man even changed his mind and went to stand with Kaira’s group.

Eris: “Good. Then leave this place and may your lives be long and fruitful. “

Eris walked away from the smaller of the groups and the rest of our gang followed her over to Kaira’s group.

Eris: “To those of you who have decided to accept. Thank you.” she smiled at them. “Your training will begin as soon as we return to Etrion.” Eris turned to the rest of us.

Eris: “Are we finished here?”

I nodded and glanced around the others.

Caesar: “I think so.”

Eris: “Good. Then we leave immediately.”

**BONUS PICTURES:**

An original, unedited picture of the gang all together.

The jail cells set.

The set for Eris in the fires.

An alternative picture from the fight.

Another alternative picture of Tank and Eris together.

One of my first attempts at forced perspective; the watch tower with the tiny forest in the distance.

As my series is going to be jumping around though time, I will include a date on each episode and add it to the timeline at the end of each episode so that you can follow it.

TIMELINE