The Things You Will Become- Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Lucas had a dream that night, something that connected everything he was wondering about, like a theory of what happened. He thought about Braun, and if he had been found by the government. Lucas was hopeful that Catherine would find her mother, just like him wanting to find his, and his father, the leader of the attack against The Chosen One ten years ago. That is when the dream started to form in his mind. 

It was the night of the blaze, in the bunker, Mark, Jane, Margaret, and Braun knew that they had to stop The Chosen One from getting into the city. They knew his plans, and if he got what he wanted, it would be devastating. Back then, the steel tower did not exist, and the government helped the entire city. There were no lies, no totalitarianism, the city was a symbol of freedom, to its citizens and to the world. The group knew that this would be all ruined if they did not defeat him. The city did not have an army, it did not need to have an army, it was peaceful. 

When the Chosen One entered the city, an entire militia was behind him, ready to follow his every command. The Chosen One had manipulated everyone of them, telling lies much similar to the ones he had told the city. The two forces collided as his Mark and his friends went toward The Chosen One. A fight was going to happen, the question was just who would make the first move. Mark’s sword glowed, courtesy of his incredible powers. The Chosen One had a sword too. Mark charged, and his friends followed. 

The last thing Lucas heard in his dream was a clang of a blade, and a name; Alex. Lucas woke up and checked his surroundings. It was morning, the sunrise was happening, and Daniel and Catherine were both already up. Lucas got up, trying to keep the memory of the dream in his mind. Alex, Lucas tried to remember where he had heard that name before. Lucas flipped through papers he and his friends had found. There had to be something, there was not. Until he remembered something. The book! There was a mention of a person named Alex, but why did he betray Mark and his friends? Why did he want to ruin the city instead of protecting it? 

Lucas shared the dream and his information with Daniel and Catherine. 

“What!? I was wondering who Alex is, does he have something to do with the battle ten years ago?” Daniel asked. 

“I think so,” replied Lucas. He looked out of the window. The sunrise was ending, and the Crescent Moon river was a bright blue color. The Golden Empire’s superstructures were shining with light, and The Encased Hamlet was small, its buildings tiny compared to the other side. “I think we should get planning,” Lucas said. The house was transformed into a base of operations for the three children. Catherine made a map of The Steel Tower, listing everything from the basement to the top where The Chosen One’s office laid. On the bridge, a small protest was taking shape. It was peaceful, people waved banners supporting Lucas and his friends. 

“I’m glad that there are people who respect us,” Lucas smiled. “From finding the code, we can disrupt all of the government's systems. We need to use that if we want to end this,” Lucas told his friends. 

“How are we going to get to the top of The Steel Tower?” Catherine asked. 

“We are going to launch a final siege, we will need to get all of the citizens out of the tower first, but we need to go to the prison first. That is where we can find my mother, and maybe even yours,” Lucas said. 

Catherine stood wide eyed at Lucas. “You mean… I might see her? For the first time in years?” 

Lucas nodded. Catherine had a big grin on her face. “Alright, let’s get all the things we need, we have five days till the anniversary of the fire, that is when we will strike!” 

On the other side of the city, The Chosen One sat at his desk, fidgeting with his own luminous light created blade. One of his servants rushed in. “Sir, there is a protest going on on the bridge, it seems peaceful,” The servant informed. “Send the police out, crush it, if they do not like me they should leave the city,” The Chosen One told him. The servant immediately left like all of his other servants. The chosen One got up. A calendar was placed on a wall in the office, displaying many important dates. The warlord checked it. The anniversary of the fire was circled. Under it was read: DAY OF THE SIEGE. The Chosen One took out a walkie talkie. “Is the plan ready?” He asked under his breath. “Yes,” a gruff voice replied. It was no “We have all of the soldiers you need, is there anything else?” “No, not at all…” The Chosen One smirked.

People were just going to sleep in the golden empire when the police attacked the protesters on the bridge. It was quiet out, no one heard the screams of the protesters. The police were going against free speech. The soldiers were using tear gas to blind them, the soldiers then started beating them. The protesters stood where they were though, they were defending themselves. Sadly though the protest dispersed. No one else besides who was there knew what happened that night, but it showed that the people could stand for what they believed, and that they could stand up to The Chosen One. 

The next few days were focused on preparing for Lucas and his friends. Lucas now practiced with the pink luminous lights, he would be using them against The Chosen One. Daniel upgraded his metal arm with the help of Lucas’s powers, and Catherine practiced shooting with Lucas making targets for her. This time was different though. Everyday Lucas’s house reminded him of his mom, and the day everything had changed. As Lucas wrote in his book the nights at the house, he felt like the journey he had taken was to save the city. Before he knew it, there was one day left to get ready. Lucas kept hearing what Braun had told him.  Evil thrives when there is no good to stop it. “Okay, Daniel, can you disable all the government systems?” “You got it,” Daniel replied. He got on his computer and put in the code. All of the government systems became un-usable, a lack of communication was a huge help for Lucas and his friends, making it easier to get into The Steel Tower, and not be noticed. “Catherine, you hold the map and help us get to the steel tower,” Catherine nodded. 

They all left Lucas’s house and headed to the bridge. It was just noon. As they got closer they saw the horrors of the protest. “Are those… people?” Daniel asked. One hundred people laid unconscious on the bridge by tear gas used by the police. It was a shocking sight. Lucas walked past the people, stunned by The Chosen One’s tactics. Lucas’s powers showed, he glowed as he passed the civilians. “These innocent civilians,” Catherine spoke. “They were just protesting, fighting for their beliefs,” “Let’s get to the Tower,” Lucas said. The golden empire was crowded, people passed Lucas, Daniel, and Catherine left and right. It helped them stay unseen. Lucas still thought about those people though.  It seemed legal, people had the right of free speech, but then Lucas remembered the newspaper. Protests had been banned in an effort to silence the public. Lucas clenched his fists. He could not let this go on. “Okay, we are about a few miles away from the steel tower. There will be more policemen around here soon,” Catherine told them. “I’ll try to take all of them out. You try to get all of the innocent people out of the way,” Lucas replied. “Daniel, you try and spread all of the soldiers out so they can’t communicate,” Lucas advised. 

When Lucas got there It was busier than it usually was. He could probably tell more of the truth to people, but he also wanted them to be safe. Lucas navigated the streets, dodged people, and stayed unseen. Lucas did not see any enemies, but he knew that that would eventually change. He was getting closer to the steel tower, but he was also getting tired. 

He rested in an alleyway, but he saw agents, perched on buildings, trying to find him. Lucas knew though that it would be easy to win against them. If they could not talk to their friends they could not alert them of Lucas. Just then, one of the soldiers looked over and saw Lucas. They spoke into their walkie talkie, but it was useless. The first soldier sprinted toward him and Lucas defended himself and pierced him with his sword. Lucas saw Catherine informing the crowd of the fight that was going to occur. “Get out!” she yelled. “Before you get caught in a crossfire!” Lucas smiled. He looked around. Daniel was moving around, catching soldiers off guard, and forcing them to spread out. None of them could talk to one another. Lucas got to work. He started taking out the soldiers one by one. It was easy. Stage one of the plan had worked, they had a path to the steel tower. Now it was time for stage two.

There were no civilians who had gotten hurt. They were only a few blocks away from The Steel Tower, but there were tons of soldiers guarding The Steel Tower. It was going to be harder to get in, but there were no innocents around. Lucas glowed. He was ready to use his powers. He charged toward the door, and his friends did too. “Hey!” He heard one of the people yell.  Soldiers fell from Catherine's arrows, Daniel’s tech, and Lucas’s sword. Lucas blocked many strikes, some even hit him. There were too many soldiers for him to handle alone. His friends changed that. Lucas’s counter attacks always hit, and he overpowered them easily. He released the anger he had from seeing the unconscious protesters, but he would not rest until he had defeated The Chosen One. They could enter.

 The inside was just like the drone projected. The ballroom was home to many people who wanted a romantic evening. He looked over, the trapdoor was where it always was, but Lucas, Catherine, and Daniel were the only people to locate it. Lucas lay low, along with his friends. In the government building, if they were noticed, who knew how many soldiers there would be. They turned their attention to getting to the upper floor. There was a large quartz staircase, luminous lights lined it, and troopers were on the steps, only letting officials onto the next floor. “How are we gonna get up there?” Daniel asked. “By stealing,” Lucas replied. “Lets find an official, and then steal his card. If we are not recognized, we can go,” Catherine nodded. “Leave that to me,” She went to the ballroom, keeping an eye out for anyone who had a keycard. A person in a suit was talking to one of the civilians. He was bald and he had a mustache. A keycard was around his neck. Nice, Catherine thought. She just needed to wait until she could steal it. Daniel and Lucas started exploring the first floor.

 Everyone was wealthy, wearing fancy tuxedos only the richest could afford. Everyone knew that it was the anniversary of the fire, they just did not know what really happened that night. Even Lucas did not know the true extent. Though he did know much more than the average person. The celebration had nothing to do with the fire, it just was like any other dance that had happened in the skyscraper. Policemen were keeping an eye on the crowd, for Lucas it felt like they had been noticed, even though they hadn’t. Lucas still had many questions about the Steel Tower. Where was the prison? Are there more secret rooms? He waited anxiously for Catherine. They could get noticed if they did not get to the second floor fast. Meanwhile, Catherine was creeping up behind the official. She got closer and closer, she reached for it, but the official scratched the back of his head, delaying Catherine’s attempt. The second time she would not fail though. She grabbed the keycard, and without the man noticing, took it off. She ran toward Lucas and Daniel, keycard in hand.  Lucas sighed with relief as he saw Catherine, and gestured Catherine and Daniel up the quartz staircase. They needed to hope the guards did not notice Lucas. “Hello,” Lucas said in a low voice as they approached the soldiers. “We are relatives of one of the representatives of the golden empire. We would like to see him on the upper floor,” Lucas handed one of them the I.D. The man examined it. “Are you this person?” “No, the representative we talked about also had a friend that let us borrow his keycard,” “Okay, you can pass, but have you seen these people?” The soldier held up a wanted poster that showed pictures of Lucas, Daniel, and Catherine. Lucas stuttered. “No… sir,” Daniel looked up to see the flier. “Hey!” One of the soldiers yelled. At least one of them had caught a glimpse of Daniel. Lucas rushed up the staircase, his friends following. “Did they look a bit like the people in the flier?” One of the soldiers asked another. “No, they said that they were relatives of a representative of the golden empire-” The soldier paused. “Wait a minute, there are no representatives for the golden empire! The Chosen One runs everything! Tell the others that the three kids are here! You guys keep guarding the staircase,” That soldier ran up the stairs. Another one pulled out his walkie talkie and spoke. “The children, they’re here!” All he got in return was pure static. “Dang it!” 

Lucas saw no troopers in front of him. There had to be a path to the next floor somewhere. Lucas and his friends passed the news broadcasting station, a small old room that only had a table with a map of the secret tunnels on it, and a room that showed all of the people who opposed The Chosen One. They were all wanted. The rooms reminded Lucas of what had happened. He still kept running though. Daniel looked back and saw the soldier. “I’ll get you!!!” He said enraged. Daniel stopped and prepared to fight. The man looked like a general. A mace was in his left hand. The man charged at Daniel. Daniel used his metal arm to block the first strike, and then he did a counterattack, which smashed him and knocked him back. Daniel then started a flurry of blows, knocking him back more. Catherine aimed and fired. An arrow had hit the man. He slowed down, he was right next to the stairs he tripped and fell, falling down the staircase. “Go! Lucas cried, “They know we are here,” Lucas saw a fork in the road. “Go right!” Lucas yelled to his friends. Lucas went right. Lucas looked at the other path. Down that way was an entire division of soldiers, marching into the passage. What’s going on!? Lucas thought. Something was brewing.

 Lucas saw Daniel and Catherine following him. On the first floor, chaos was breaking out as word was spreading that Lucas and his friends were in the steel tower. Any minute the news would spread to the people across the city, through the news. “We are just getting a big update that Lucas and his friends are in the steel tower, possibly infiltrating it and trying to get to The Chosen One. We will update you shortly,” An anchor told the city. A crowd was forming around the tower. The largest protest in the history of the city was starting. Lucas saw all of this. He knew he had the city on his side.