Arcadia: When the worlds collide

Chapter six: The battle of Arcadia

!Warning: Spoilers from 'Glow in the dark' music video in the later parts!

!You have been warned!

Izzy blinked a few times to reassure herself that she isn't dreaming, but the picture didn't change. Her friend from Earth was still there, surrounded by robots and a few Artificials.

Crap, Izzy thought to herself. What the hell am I supposed to do?!"

"Another stranger!" one of the people standing around Terri shouted when he noticed Izzy.

"Well, that settles it," she said and tightened the grip on her gun once again, and got ready for a possible fight. "Hey, Terri!" she shouted and before anyone could do anything, she dashed towards Terri and grabbed her by the hand. "Come on! We gotta get out of here!" With that, she pushed the nearest robot away and started running away.

"Who-who are you?!" Terri asked when Izzy dragged her into one of the narrow passageways lining up the streets.

"The one who taught you the rules of this game," Izzy answered. "I'll explain everything when we get to some sort of safety."

"You won't be safe anywhere," they heard a robotic voice say. "You can't run from the law. Not you, the embodiment of chaos in this perfect world!"

"Holy shit," Izzy cursed quietly and started running again, with Terri closely behind. "So our dear self aware server got here too, eh?"

"It looks... like it..." mumbled Terri, barely catching her breath. She wasn't used to this kind of running, especially when her life was on the line. Izzy looked around and then pointed to a few boxes stacked up at the end of an alleyway.

"There," she said simply. "It would be easier to run from the robots. And drones are easier to deal with."

"You're gonna kill me with this."

"Better than if S4Y gets ya," Izzy said, already on top of the building, reaching down to help her friend climb up as well. Terri looked her as if she was joking, but something on Izzy's face, or rather to say mask, told her that she was very much serious.

"I hope you are ready to run?" Izzy asked. Terri nodded with a grin.

"Ready to run, or even better, to ride with u." Izzy smiled. She got the reference Terri made, and that little thing was all she needed to regain her stability, at least for that moment. She started running towards the edge, then jumping and landing on a ladder leading to another building, which she started climbing up. Terri took a deep breath, and then followed her friend on the rooftops of dark Arcadia. The power still wasn't restored, meaning that S4Y didn't got every rebel yet.

Soon, Terri got pretty used to jumping, and now was almost enjoying it. She didn't know where Izzy was taking her, and could only hope that it's someplace safe.

"Don't worry. I have a nice place we can hide at until stuff calms down," Izzy reassured her friend, as if she was reading her mind. "Do you remember the rules I told you about Arcadia? My version," she asked when she stopped at the edge of a building and stared down.

"Be careful of anything connected to S4Y, don't believe everything you read on the net, and try to find the resistance as fast as you can," Terri recited with a smile when she got at the ground.

"Correct," Izzy muttered. "Also, we're screwed. The whole Arcadia is screwed now. Most likely."

"What do you-?" Terri stopped in a middle of the sentence as she looked down as well seeing crowds of Arcadians, both the resistance and the Artificials.

And more than that, S4Y mechs. A lot of them.

"Eli, what is this?" Terri asked, sounding concerned.

"This," Izzy paused a moment before continuing, "This is the battle where the fate of Arcadia will be decided, it looks like."
"Well, what the heck are we waiting for?!" To Izzy's surprise, Terri decided to take action. "Let's go!"

"Terri, you're not an anime protagonist, remember?! You could get killed in there!"

"How can you be sure that I'm not?" Terri asked with a smile on her face. "And aren't you the one who knows it here? Who should be fighting for the freedom of Arcadia in the first place?"

"I guess you're right," Izzy sighed. "Let's go and make someone's day worse."

|...|

"Careful, Mute!" someone shouted. Mute turned around just in time to see an upcoming S4Y drone, and barely dodged shots that the drone was firing on him. He quickly aimed and let the arrow go, finding it's mark right in a middle of the drone.

"We can't hold this!" Per called from somewhere. "Where the hell's Apoc?!" Mute hated to admit it, but Per was right. He was getting tired, and even though Izzy healed him earlier, was not in a shape to fight. S4Y had much more people on their side, too, with much better equipment. The odds we're not good for them.

Then, Mute realized everyone stopped fighting and was looking in the same direction.

"What's going on? I can't see," he signed towards Val, who was standing next to him.

"Apoc and Ghostis. They're... they're fighting," Val answered, looking worried.

"Mute? Val?" They both turned around, seeing Izzy and someone else getting to the trough the crowd. "Everyone okay?"

"Yep," confirmed Val, and Mute just nodded.

"Good," Izzy said. "What now?"

"We'll have to wait and hope that Apoc-" Val was interrupted by a loud noise, the screams and shouting of Arcadians.

But Izzy realized something. The side that was cheering was the Artificials.

Does that mean that-

"Oh crap," was the only thing she managed to say, before the hell got loose.

|...|

Ghostis almost happily watched the panic that started spreading out between members of resistance, after he struck Apoc down.

Not even he could entirely believe the fact that he defeated him that easily. He even tried to check Apoc's pulse, if he really was dead.

"Get them. I want them, alive at best," he said and pointed towards Chris, Benjamin and Per, who were standing close to each other, searching for an escape route. A few robots started running their way, all three remaining members of the band turned around and disappeared from Ghostis' line of sight really quickly.

They will take care of them, Ghostis thought and turned to the crowd, still frozen in place.

"This is how any of you "rebels" will end up," he said, looking around. "But I give you one chance, the last one you're ever gonna get from me. I'm willing to forget your mistake. Join me, and together, we'll make our city perfect!" Not one of the rebels moved nor said anything. They were all just looking at each other, as if waiting for someone else to do it.

"We're not giving up!" someone called from the back. Crowd started mumbling in agreement to the brave person's words.

"Fine then," Ghostis turned to a few robots by his side. "Get rid of them. All. Then search their things and trace any relatives or friends they have. Then get them as well."

"Stop, now!" a voice echoed through the whole place, causing the crowd to turn at whoever was shouting. Whoever was stupid enough to try and stop Ghostis' plan.