Chapter 13: Retribution
Brakagi knew what happened, and despite that, his enhanced rate of reaction still struggled to process and react in real time. The slash to his torso wasn't a major wound, but it will certainly hinder his movements for a little while until the nanotechnology enhancements finished their duty.
However, the initial slash wasn't the only attacks coming out from the leader. After the slash across the body, the leader closes in the distance with another few quick steps before spinning and kicking Brakagi away with his thick heavy boots. It felt like Brakagi was hit by a train and he flew back at an even faster speed before crashing down onto the ground.
'What the hell.....' Brakagi struggled to sit up as he checked the timer again, he will only have to hang on for another ten minutes or so according to their original plan, but he would have to figure out the secret behind the leader's strange powers if he is to survive for that long. Otherwise, his great plan of revenge on the galactic government would end rather tragically prematurely.
'You will deal with the elite kill squads.' Jozzor explained, bringing up the classified files of the procedures each of the elite kill squad members onto a hologram back on the Rock when they were still planning this infiltration mission, 'so it's worth explaining what they are capable of.'
'Both of us underwent enhancements, and it's the standard type of enhancements with physiological procedures followed by nanotechnology enhancements.' Jozzor said, 'they also underwent this procedure earlier in their training cycle, but that is only the base stats.'
'Do all of the enhanced have similar base level of power and athleticism?' Brakagi asked.
'It will be somewhere within the same ball park.' Jozzor nodded, 'I will be surprised if someone that is enhanced to the same level is outrageously faster than us to the point that we can't fight back.'
'Ok.' Brakagi said, bringing up his right arm and the ring of Instability around his wrist, 'in the worst case scenario, I will just have to disrupt their nanotechnology enhancements from a distance.'
'They will also wear specially designed protective clothing that looked like normal wear, and carry specially designed weapons or gears that are also highly individualized.' Jozzor said, 'they excel in trickery in combat, and they are capable of taking down squadrons of normal beings all by themselves. So when you do see them, you need to take them down by surprise quickly and early with your artifacts, or avoid their combat strategies.'
'If you play their game, leader, I am not certain how likely you will win.'
Jozzor...you are right. Brakagi thought as he stood back up onto the feet, however, this memory of his only reinforces the fact that something fishy is certainly going on here with the leader's speed. Brakagi couldn't really figure out what the catch is, and he will need some time for it.
Turning his wrist and activating the artifact, Brakagi attempted to get a system level look at the being in front of him, however, as the mapping of the leader's physiology, his enhancements and his weapons became visible, he also appeared in front of Brakagi and kicked him high up in the air before following up with another horizontal kick on Brakagi's chin which almost causes Brakagi to black out.
As Brakagi slammed head first into the ground, blood began to drip out of his mouth.
'What's the matter, Brakagi?' The leader taunted, 'I thought you are here to start a fight?'
'That was never the...'
'WHAT?!' He interrupted Brakagi's response, 'I couldn't hear you, maybe because you are too weak to speak up?'
What a fucking bully. Brakagi thought as anger welled inside of him. As expected of the GBI abusing their power and the immunity they have from the galactic government. However, this is actually a great chance to get a closer look at the leader's systems, as long as Brakagi can keep him talking.
'You will pay for what you have done.' Finally, those words came out of Brakagi, and as he looked on at the leader's frantic laughter after hearing that, the artifact is activated, and Brakagi looked onto the human in front of him.
'Me? I haven't done anything...not yet.' He said before kicking Brakagi in the back like a football, 'you ain't worth my attention! You ain't worth nothing! I only deal with human targets. You Rockies are nothing but raccoons that are culled without any second thought! You think you can change the paradigm of power? You think you can usurp the ones on top?'
'Here's the truth for ya,' The leader squatted down and gripped onto Brakagi's chin as both of them got a much closer look at each other, 'you can't do shit.'
Brakagi wanted to scream, he wanted to rage, he wanted to rise up and disintegrate the leader's body, but he couldn't do any of that. He is seeing nothing out of the ordinary using the system level vision his artifact has granted him. He is just a human with extra levels of enhancements and some special gear.
Brakagi turned his hand around to face the leader before he attempted to overload certain parts of the system, but instead the leader spotted that very movement and stomped onto his forearm, causing it to turn away and burn.
'That's is the magic trick you have been using?' The leader said, looking down at the ring of Instability, 'sorry, but I am not interested.'
No.....this is no use. Brakagi thought, without understanding why the leader is so much faster, Brakagi won't be able to exploit the weakness and the opening, and now the leader has caught onto the fact that he will have to let his palm face him directly as a condition for artifact usage, he will avoid it from now on.
Brakagi's emotion rampaged inside of his mind, but it is useless. He know that he needed to stay calm, but how could he in all this frustration. The leader looked just like his subordinates with the enhancements, and yet how is he so much faster?
Wait...is the reasons Brakagi couldn't see any difference in his body because...the leader is not moving fast right now?
To truly see if there is any difference, Brakagi will have to activate his artifacts and see him while he is in movement. This realization gives him a spark of hope, and Brakagi struggled before he struggled to push himself up off the ground, shaking away the leader's feet on his arms.
'You stubborn Rocky...' The leader let go of Brakagi's arm and instead stepped onto his back, but Brakagi used this chance to spin around and grab onto the back of his legs and rolling with his body's momentum as he slammed his knee onto the ground. The leader dropped onto his knee as a result, and Brakagi gave him a sucker punch which was blocked before hopping backwards and regaining some distance.
Now, he has his artifacts activated and ready to see what the leader is going to do.
When making physical contacts, Brakagi is able to instantly distort and destabilize the system he is in contact with, however, he can also use his artifact from range, though it will take some time to start up and channel, as the process of destabilization becomes less automatic. He could attack the leader from afar, though he will need to manage the time he will take to process the system level vision of the leader and catch him out before he is able to close the distance between them and deal yet another devastating blow to his body.
It's a game of speed, and Brakagi is fed up with losing again.
The leader stood tall, then, he prepared for yet another attack. Brakagi locked onto the leader with his full concentration when he suddenly saw something weird. The system level mapping that came as a sub-ability from his artifacts is often overlaid over what he sees in reality, almost like an augmented reality goggle, and yet the mapping is moving towards him while the figure of the leader in reality is still standing still.
Brakagi blinked quick and hard and tried to figure out what is happening as he dodged to the side prematurely. The leader dashed passed him, missing his attacks, and the figure of the leader finally caught up to his mapping.
Hold on a second. Brakagi now experienced a light bulb moment in his mind, are the things happening the way he thinks it is?
The leader was surprised by the fact that Brakagi is able to avoid him, so he prepared and charged forward for another attack. Yet again, the figure of him is left behind, but the mapping of him gives away his location, and this time, Brakagi avoided the charge once more to the side. He tried to counter attack with a strike, but it just misses the mark and scraped the leader on his arm.
Looking down at a piece of fabric in his claws, Brakagi looked up again to see the leader, and strangely so, there is no sign of any damage to his clothing.
That confirms it. Brakagi chuckled underneath his breath as he pretended to have been caught out and baited the leader for a third attack. Third times the charm, but in this case, the charm goes to Brakagi instead of the leader.
As the mapping of the leader charged forward once more, Brakagi first side stepped to the left before leaping forward into the body of the leader, activating his artifact instantly after making physical contact. His hand felt a solid hit onto the leader's body, despite his eyes still lying to him. The leader looked like he was still standing far away from him, but that is only a hologram.
The real leader is right in front of him, and he just took an artifact to the stomach.
A pair of shock bolts were fired off and dug deep into Brakagi's back as he made a successful hit onto the leader. The hologram still stood back, but the real leader groaned as the invisibility technology revealed itself, or rather the nanosized drones covering his entire body began to fade away and drip down onto the floor like sweat.
'Shame.' The leader said with a grin before punching Brakagi in the stomach and knocking him onto the floor, 'I will have to replace the drones now.'
Shit! Brakagi wanted to scream, but the shock bolts and the punch have rendered him unable to move. He thought he has taken out the leader, but instead, he only destablized the layer of nanosized drones that enabled him to go invisible... As a group of agents approached and prepared to take him away, the figure of another rockie appeared through time and space and dashed in front of him.
It is Jozzor.
'I got it.' He said firmly before placing a hand on Brakagi, 'next time, bitches!'
Then, he slung shot the two of them away from the station towards the ship that they hid in the asteroid belt out of the GBI headquarters. In their place, tens of shock bolts dug deep onto the ground.
'Shit.' The leader looked back only to see nothing left, 'this morning has only become stranger.'
'Sir?' one of the squad members waited for his instruction, but the leader simply twirled his fingers and told everyone to pack up. He will have some work to do after this.
This strange power of the Rockies...he has had some suspicion that such items already exists in circulation around the galaxy, and that just confirmed it. The strange battles up in Olympus Prime...and now at the GBI headquarters.
This is a new age in galactic history, and it appeared that the GBI is woefully out of touch with reality.
'Jozzor...' Brakagi said as he inhaled and pulled out the pair of shock bolts from his back. Some fur also came out with it, but it was a fair price to pay for what they have gotten, 'have you verified the file?'
'Yes.' He said, plugging the physical copy into the decryption unit from the Rocky agency that they had on the ship, 'the encryption on the physical unit is a lot easier to crack than the one in that room....and....here. we. go.....'
A hologram appeared, and the files detailing the plans to infiltrate the head of the Rocky government is shown on a grand timeline as the first thing they both saw. The line started from the appearance of Brakagi on the galactic stage and finished with him kicked out of the settled regions, with each point in the timeline linking over to its own files.
'Get this to the agency.' Brakagi said, turning around, 'I don't care to look at this, but the people will know.'
'Yes they will...' Jozzor said excitedly as the two Rockies linked arms briefly, 'let's go home...president.'
'You know this is not going to happen this soon.' Brakagi said, though not disliking his new title.
'You will be surprised, president.'
The ship that they tucked away in an asteroid was slung shot back into the Rocky system before any search and capture ships from the GBI headquarters was able to spot them. Jozzor needed some rest after performing such a long distance sling shot, so Brakagi took over the piloting duty to take them both home.
After they have returned into the base, Jozzor was able to force himself up as he went ahead and returned both a copy of the file they have obtained from the GBI headquarters and the decryption unit to his contact in the Rocky agency. Now, all they have to do is wait.
The agency will first review the integrity of the files before performing some de-scrambling of the details, verifying the events against their own timeline, perform an internal investigation or two before releasing it out to the governmental and private media. The files pointed to the GBI cooperating with some paid off operatives in the Rocky's own intelligence agency and the current presidential party with the objective of removing Brakagi from office by assassination or by force. The entire operation is covert and almost succeeded until a close aide of Brakagi's made a deal to keep him alive but imprisoned far away instead. The pivot in the operation also allowed the state media to spin out a much better story despite the doubts from more privately owned media outlets.
This is an absolute bombshell, and the single biggest scandal in Rocky history. All of a sudden, this is on every single headline, and everyone is talking about it. The news anchors, the sports analysts, the celebrities, the moms and the dads are all talking about it.
The Rockies are independent, headstrong and stubborn. The last thing they wanted is the intervention of the GBI in their internal politics, or even one of their own selling out. The state media took this chance to quickly shift the blame of their participation in the scandal by now singing praises of Brakagi and his sacrifice for the people. And with that, the sentiment of bringing Brakagi back raged on throughout the entire Rocky settlement.
#BringbackBrakagi reaches the top of the trending topic, and the current governing party can do nothing but censor those posts the moment they saw it. But soon, the posts become way too many to deal with, and worse yet, those in charge of information control also refused to work for the current governing party.
And they were not alone.
This news shook the current governing party to the core, and the current president only made an initial statement about these false accusations and attack on his character before being booed off stage by the reporters and retrieving into his hide out, hoping that things will pass if he could just wait it out. The worst case scenario would be that he will have to come out and address it if things have gone really bad, like an armed rebellion or something. However, he wasn't even able to wait until that point.
At mere days after his public address, one of his security chiefs approached him at dinner one night and drew a gun on him.
'Traitor!' He declared, as a video streams his action on the Rocky internet for all to see, 'you never had the interests of the Rockies at heart. You only care about yourself.'
'What do you mean?! I....I paid you well! What are you doing?! Guards! Guards!'
'You are just like a human.'
The security chief turned assassin was immediately taken down by the personal aide of the now dead president, but his patriotic actions alone stirred the raging fire of the Rocky people, and the protests on the street in the capital settlement spread like a sandstorm on the Rock. On the Rock, once the sands are stirred by the wind, they cannot be set down until the storm is over.
The storm is just the beginning.
The current ruling party wanted to use the police and military force to clamp down the protests, but instead all of the heads of the agencies all refused to act and submit to their orders. They all swore to serve the people before they were appointed to their positions, and corruption at the highest place in Rocky politics usurped fundamentally their duties. They will serve the party no further.
As both the people and the military forces are on the verge of running it down through the governmental building located at the highest point in the capital settlements, the current ruling party had no choice but to secretly flee the city in disguise through one of the secret tunnels. They had to switch their shuttles three times just to avoid being hunted down like animals.
As the ruling party escaped the capital, Brakagi decided it is finally time to make himself publicly known, and it all started with a speech about his imprisonment and his miraculous escaped.
'This artifact of mine...it is what saved me, what gave me a second chance. I was one not too dissimilar from the traitor that succeeded me...I wanted the Rocky to stand higher in the galactic standings, I wanted things to change, but part of that was for me and me alone. That Brakagi is dead. He is dead and rotted away in the wild regions!
'The Brakagi standing in front of you here and today is a brand new Rocky, and I will use this power granted by the will of the universe to bring the Rocky people into the future! We will live together in a future when the Rocky people and their spirits and treated with respect! This very day, will be know as a day of rebirth for all Rockies! Those that also hold the power of the artifacts...join me by my side, and march with me! Onwards, forwards and never back down!'
Another week later, Brakagi was welcomed back into the building that he was once exiled from.
Smelling the familiar smell of leather and books in the building, Brakagi lets out a long sign of relief.
'So it begins.' He said, 'the One Rock Government is gone, today is the birthday of the New Rocky Government!'
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