Chapter 35: War-Robots
The next day, protesters were already on their business when the sun came out. There were people demanding for the government to do its job right, saying that it was its negligence that allowed the hacker girl to get away and were now in verge of a war.
The president was still being a mute, without saying anything regarding the prospects of the war. He's been quiet for ten days now. He hasn't even allowed for the media to show how the search was going, so the discomfort in the people could only increase.
There wasn't happening anything serious when Charlotte blinked awake. She could hear people shouting and demanding things, but she didn't understand what exactly it was being said. She went out of her room as her stomach was calling for her to swallow pills to ease the state it was in.
<I… ate too much yesterday…>
Going to the kitchen to find some pills to quench its shouting, she saw Gut sitting in the living room, watching the TV that was being used for the first time since arriving at this place. She had thought it was there only for appearance's sake and nothing more. After swallowing an indigestion pill, she sat beside him.
"What's happening?" she said as she focused her eyes on what was being broadcasted.
There was a man rambling about how the affair in the streets was faring, the thing that was showcased was all about other municipalities and not Gercy.
"More people than it was initially thought are participating on it." He answered while showcasing a worried look. "Right now, it's close to two million all over Gercia."
"Two, million? Woa, that's a lot, isn't it?" Opening her eyes wide, she shared the same look.
"That just shows how unhappy the people are about the current president not doing anything for almost two weeks."
"Though I'm glad for that, it's really a sad thing if it wasn't related to me, huh."
"Anyway, we need to be at the port around ten in the evening, so we still have ten hours before we have to start moving. Get everything ready."
"Yes, sir!" She saluted like a soldier, a soldier that was sprawled on a couch.
Gut could only shake his head, she was acting childish again. Whenever she was worried she acted that way, it was her own particular way to cope with the ensuing situation.
"Today no one is delivering food, so we need to eat outside."
"Ah, don't worry, I'll prepare something." He gave him a pumps up.
"When?"
"…Soon?"
She stopped moving with her thumb still on the air, she looked away, she didn't have any methods to sound convincing so she gave up on trying to do that.
*****
The day came and went in the blink of an eye. When it was close to four in the afternoon, they started hearing explosions in the distance every five or so minutes. The protest in the city had been gaining force with the hours' passage.
At first, there were sounds that could only be discerned if one was careful enough, being dumbed down by the noise of the populace. An hour ago, the explosions started being bigger, destroying things on its wake and its sound increasing in consequence.
At the moment, a bang was the least of the problems for the people outside. The government had released some riot tanks at first to guard important places of the city. At some point though, the people became so enraged the riot tanks were overran by them. Five minutes ago, for the first time in the country's history, the government allowed the militia to take control of the situation, allowing the sortie of war-robots just to pacify the commotion.
"This is hell…" Was all Charlotte could say when she saw what was happening in the street below.
She could see the protesters running around with torches, bats and all kind of blunt weapons, destroying vehicles and light posts on their way. There were some who had fire weapons but they were shot down first by the police, of course, the police had used sedative to pacify them.
On the part of the city where the war-robots were, the situation was relatively calmer. Those robots were independent units which just did what they were assigned. In this case, to pacify people who were deemed the most dangerous. The normal lethal weapons that they carried had been changed to a non-lethal rifle-like gun that shot the sedatives. After pacifying the most dangerous ones, the war-robots continued with everyone who offered any kind of resistance on its perimeter. Until the point that there were no more protesters where the machines were, it was a post war sight with tens to hundreds of people laying around.
There were in total six of these machines all over the city, so it wasn't much of a problem to the protesters that were outside of its range at the moment. The problem was that in the direction of the private port Kent had told them to meet up was one of the six.
Going back to the couch, Charlotte asked Gut what was wrong as he had a grim expression, and he explained the problem of the machine. She had been looking at the protest going on in the street for half an hour.
"Why is it there?" She asked after hearing him.
That was a private location and was quite far from the troublesome zones.
"I believe there was a leak of the plan." He said as his frown deepened.
"W-what do we do, then?" Charlotte said with worry in her voice.
If they let this chance go, then they would need to wait until the war breaks out. And if it didn't, then they would need to create some other chance to part.
"I suggest we go. If we see it is not possible to part, we come back as quietly as possible."
"What if, and it's only an if, we get caught?"
"We will not be caught." He said with a serious voice.
Charlotte had never heard him so serious.
"… Ok, but we must stay safe!"
She couldn't say nor do anything that was against his orders. She said she was going to follow his instructions, so she couldn't complain.
"Get ready to part, we are leaving as soon as you are ready." He then started walking to his room, to get his things ready.
"Alright."
She still had to change and put on her disguise. All the other things were packed long ago.
They departed from the apartment soon after. She had left a small gift on her room for the time when he comes back. He had helped her a lot, and now that they were parting, he would only take her to Paversia, and after that, his job with her would come to an end.
She wasn't discouraged, though. From what she could discern, he worked for that James, so it would be possible to see each other again.
They parted promptly after getting things ready, he was carrying a backpack and she her bag. They arrived to some streets away from where the war-robot was standing guard. He wanted to see how things fared, and if the weather was good enough, then they would move forward.
Gut chose a building tall enough for them to somehow see the robot in the distance. Entering the building was a joke, and Charlotte couldn't help but be reminded that they were, in fact, criminals.
He stood in front of the four stories tall building for around half a minute before going to its entrance and making a little magic trick of his, it opened. He then strode on as if he owned it all, giving some glances at the clerks and greeting some other guests.
Once they were on the crown, they closed its door to prevent unwanted eyes. Charlotte had followed along, without muttering a word but still deriding him in her head.
<He's a thief, a full-fledged thief!>
There wasn't much she could say about it, seeing his acting and demeanor.
"Here we will stay until it is close to the allocated time." Putting his weight on the meter and a half high rampart, he observed the street.
"Really, you're more of a burglar than a hitman." She followed suit and tried to do the same.
She had to stand on her toes to be able to see anything, so putting the wall under her armpits, she propelled herself.
"And you are more of a kid than a woman."
"Hush it, I can't help my height, can I? It has its perks, you know?"
"Yeah, like passing as a minor when it is convenient."
"Yep." She nodded in acknowledgment.
She wasn't about to get herself in a fight with him, not over something so trifling. She had had all her life to get used to her point of view, and she liked it quite a bit. Though sometimes she envied tall women, it was only because they were models and not the stature.
It was half past seven when they arrived and not a fly went by until it was past nine. They had to wait for so long, Charlotte was playing in her console while sitting in a corner of the roof. Gut stayed the same, though, always vigilant of the peasants coming and going.
At nine thirteen, he saw how two individuals made their way to the guarding giant. It was almost four meters tall, with cords and feelers going out of its frame. It was standing on three appendages one meter long that guaranteed its stability, on each of its outer edges were four rims that allowed for swift action in case it was needed. Over the stabilizers was a platform that could be changed depending on the situation. The one fitted for today's endeavor had a big frame on its exterior to prevent any damage to its internal structure. It could be accommodated to almost all angles, covering the needed places almost instantly.
The hardest impact it could sustain was the equivalent of a shot from a heavy tank. Over the armored part were four extremities, each holding a tranquilizing gun specially made for this kind of situation. Charlotte wasn't that much interested on it, so she didn't ask anything regarding its overall capabilities to Gut.
When he saw the individuals going to the war-robot, he threw a pebble at Charlotte, who made a surprised sound but kept quiet after that. Looking at him, she saw he was motioning for her to come and see what was happening.
Standing on her tips once again. She saw the two men looking at it from what she could guess was almost fifty meters away of the machine, the robot pointing its weapon in their general direction. The men tried to circumvent the giant by taking another street but the giant thing kept its sight on them, pointing one of its weapons at them when they approached again. It was a warning sign that appeared as if it didn't allow a third attempt.
The men got the message and decided to back off for the moment. They went in to a building near them and entered in the same fashion Gut had done before.
"What to do?" She asked, not feeling good at the situation.
To enter the port, they would need another route. The hangar only had one entry by land and that robot was guarding it without allowing anyone to get closer than fifty meters, apparently. They didn't know if there were secret passages or subterranean roads to get away from its attention.
"Can you hack it?" Gut finally said after some deliberation, taking out a laptop from his luggage.
"Hack it? What do you take me for? Yes, I think I do it but I need the correct tools, though." She said a little proud and pushing out her chest, taking the gadget from his hand afterwards.
She had never done it before, though she believed it was no much difficult than getting into Necox.
"The tools are?" He raised an eyebrow at her flamboyant attitude.
"For starters, I'd need a pretty potent antenna and a good terminal to see if it's receiving any signal and work from there, if it isn't then I'd need a direct connection…" She finished with her flamboyant attitude completely gone.
If they could get a direct connection, then others could as well and work on it. There wouldn't be any problem and the useless piece of junk would be a decoration to the street.
"An antenna…" He sat down after saying that.
Charlotte noticed him having an idea so she kept her mouth shut. He rolled up his black pants to his mid thighs and started touching his lower thigh. After a while of playing with himself, a compartment opened in his calf. Operating it some more, he detached all his right leg. Charlotte looked at this act with a raised brow. She didn't know how much of a modified human he was. For what she knew, only his eyes and his arms were somehow cyberized, but if she took this and overlapped with the rest, then that mean that both his arms and eyes were one hundred percent replaced.
<Or maybe, all his body?> She speculated at last.
After fumbling with his leg a little more, he looked at her.
"This can work as a receiver. If you need a sender, then tell me, I can provide it but it truly is a hassle." He touched his remaining appendage.
"… Just be ready to take it off then, if it's communicating, I'd need both to get in."
"Alright." He nodded in comprehension.
She connected his foot-antenna to the laptop on hand. After some tingling and clicks, she looked back at him.
"There's a signal alright, but not of instructions but of information. Regardless, I can get into his system, though more risky."
The antenna of his foot was pretty good and could catch almost all signals in the air. All she had to do was to see what signal corresponded to what, and interpret its meaning. She only took some minutes or so to arrive at the correct one.
"That is worrying, there is still time, we can wait and see if there is any other way before trying it."
"Alright."
After she nodded, Gut got up on his remaining foot and continued looking at the street. There was still some time left until it was ten, and the boat was parting at eleven.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone