Sunday, October 18, 2009

Seven #2.11

Seven stood in front of a group of Aquarians that had gathered to help defend the city and their beliefs. Unfortunately, only eight people had volunteered in the three hours that had passed. Caesar's army stopped advancing and settled on the east side of the city. Seven looked at his team and shook his head.

"What's wrong?" Corrine asked.

Seven sighed. "I don't know if I can do this. Caesar's army is so much larger than what we have..."

"We are still recruiting," said one of the volunteers. "Norrell and Antonio are out recruiting. Don't worry, soon we'll have an army ourselves."

Seven walked up to this man and looked at him. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Horatio," the man answered. "I'm a guard at the museum."

"Thank you for being here. You're my second-in-command. If Norrell and Antonio really get a bunch of recruits then I'm gonna need help," Seven said.

"Here," Corrine approached Seven. "We're getting more weapons--what few we have--and you should take this," she handed Seven a gold trident whose three prongs were a shimmering blue, the color of bright blue water.

"What's this?" he asked.

"The Lake Trident--it's prongs are made from the heart of the lake. The soul of Viviane. The water possesses amazing capabilities. Now, let's get some armor," Corrine said.




They all congregated outside of the Citadel Tower. Norrell and Antonio had gathered just over a hundred Aquarians to fight on the side of Corrine. Each had been armed with some form of weapon and were armored to the best of Aquarius' ability.

"So what are we going to do?" Horatio asked.

"I don't know. Do we go to them or wait for them to come to us?" Seven wondered.

Suddenly, a missile flew over the army and into the Citadel Tower sending everyone scurrying away from the falling debris. "Looks like they come to us," Corrine said.




"The Battle for Aquarius"
More missiles were launched and the Aquarian army advanced toward Caesar's army. Seven and Horatio led the way through the streets of Aquarius. Many missiles flew overhead and into the buildings causing debris to rain down on the streets.

Caesar's army's weapons were a lot more advanced than what Seven and his army had. With the trident, Seven was able to stop a couple of fighters and keep the army at bay.

"They outnumber us!" Seven shouted. "And their weapons are much more advanced!"

Horatio elbowed a combatant in the face and took his weapon. "All things considered, we're doing better than I thought we would."

In his laboratory, Homer Caesar stared at a huge monitor showing the battle. Caesar was unable to blink and his wide eyes gave him a maniacal look.

"How can this be?" Caesar strained to be heard. "How can they hold their own against my advanced army?"

"They appear to have two formidable leaders. That one seems to have an odd looking trident," one of the scientists pointed at Seven.

"Trident? The Lake Trident? With the trident they may be able to defeat us and I can't let that happen!" every word emitted by Caesar was strained but loud. "Send out the air force and prepare the underground torpedoes. If I'm going down, I want the city to go down with me."




"You're lucky no one died," General Baker said as he, Soule and Houk stood in Samuel's office he maintained in the building of the Indianola Bridge Company. "You made just about everyone homeless and you destroyed the town."

"We had a treaty. If you would have come to us or built south of the Republic River we wouldn't have had this problem. We came to you to peacefully discuss with you what could be done about it and you opened fire on us," Samuel explained. "Building the bridge broke the treaty but firing on us was an act of war."

"The question remains," George Robideaux interjected, "what to do now?"

Samuel inhaled and continued. "Establish your 'Uniontown' here. We've been wanting to develop south of Morton Street--our southern most road--and you and your citizens are more than welcome to come here."

Baker, Soule and Houk looked at each other. "What about the toll on the bridge? The government army still doesn't want to pay the toll," Baker said.

"You can build a new bridge over the river off of Morton Street. It can be toll free so people can have a choice when crossing. However, you have to pay us something to make up for what we're losing so everything south of Morton Street has to pay a property tax," Samuel said. "We all agree that's fair. Do you?" he questioned.

"Give us a moment to discuss it," Baker said darkly.

Samuel acquiesced and he and Robideaux left the office, leaving the three Uniontown men alone.

"How dare they pander to us," Soule growled.

"You shouldn't have shot that man, Mitchell," Houk said. "They attacked because of your actions!"

"You don't have to settle here but I think we should take the offer," Baker said. "We still get what we originally wanted only now we're in an established town."

"You can build in this town if you want and you can also go to Hell!" Soule began storming out of the office and ran into Samuel. "I hope your town burns!"

An awkward moment passed and Samuel and Robideaux reentered the office. "I assume you spoke about our offer?"

"We accept," Baker said. "We feel that your offer is more than fair, considering. We would like to move our citizens immediately."

"Fine with us," Samuel shrugged. "I look forward to working with you, General Baker. I'm glad we were able to talk under a more cordial atmosphere," Samuel shook both Baker and Houk's hands.




The air force hovered above Seven and his men, directing the lasers on their wings to the ground and the fighters. The lasers tore into the street and buildings and they did manage to hit a couple of people.

"Stay away from those lasers!" Seven shouted. "If they can slice into the street, they can slice into your skin."

Suddenly, the ground started rumbling and something began moving underneath the city, tearing up the streets. Then several torpedoes shot out of the ground and rose up into the air. Then they exploded. Buildings fell all around both armies and they scrambled to keep from getting injured or crushed.

"Yes!" Caesar celebrated as he saw Aquarius begin to fall.

"Sir? How can you be happy about this?" one of the scientists began. "All of your own work will be laid to waste. You'll no longer be revered. Those who survive will curse your name."

Caesar thought about this. "That is why no one must survive," he said and used all of his strength to press a button inside his life support canister.

The missiles and torpedoes stopped but the damage had been done. Most of the city was in ruins and people had to claw their way of the rubble.

"Do you think it's over?" Horatio asked as he helped Seven up.

"I don't know. There's not much more to destroy," Seven said.

"It's not over," Antonio said.

"How do you know?" asked Seven.

"Because of that," Antonio pointed up at a huge bomb heading toward the city.

He, Seven and Horatio just stared in awe...

Next:
Seven returns to Smallwood; Nicholas takes over the Indianola Bridge and Seven and Cassius resume walking.