Chapter 4 - Failsafes
The United States is founded on checks and balances. In response to the threat of AI, they created a secret program, called "Failsafe."
About a thousand people were chosen for this program to receive cybernetic enhancement. These people were scattered in random places around the world, acting like citizens.
That way, if the War Machines destroyed the military, someone could still put up a fight.
The "Failsafes" didn't have super strength. Their true power lies with intelligence. Where normal humans make mistakes or human errors, the members of the failsafe program did not.
One particular failsafe spent his time in highschool. Leo had been the youngest person to enter the failsafe program. In his last year of highschool, Leo pretended to be a normal student.
"Why'd you dodge again? You're no fun."
The senior council president tried to hug Leo from behind, but he dodged out of the way. 'Lily's really pretty.' Leo wondered if he could live casually with her, but.. The computer chip from the failsafe program made it easy to read her thoughts.
Leo feared himself. He could play people like puppets. To be in a relationship would only make him into a manipulator.
"You'll catch me one day." Leo mumbled, for once speaking more from emotion than reason.
"Hmm.. then-" Lily moved her hand to Leo's face. Stunned by her sudden move, Leo froze. Lily snapped her fingers. Leo became further distracted by the snap, giving Lily the chance to give him a kiss.
Reason left the window. Leo sighed, and figured he'd only be letting her down by ignoring her advances.
[ BANG ]
A spear made from ice shot straight through the roof.
Leo barely reacted- he pushed Lily forward while falling back himself.
"Lily?!" Leo watched in horror as he spotted Lily's neck- half missing. She passed out from shock, and Leo knew well that she wouldn't be waking up.
Screaming and explosions began to echo across the whole city. Filled with adrenaline, Leo sprinted towards the front entrance. One of the school police officers pointed his pistol towards a strange group of people.
Leo couldn't believe his eyes. The robed person at the front created an ice spear from mid-air, then lobbed it into the officer's chest.
The officer flew back 20 feet, and his pistol fell down nearby. Leo dashed for the pistol. It was in the center of the school lobby, making Leo a perfect target for the enemy. He moved without self-preservation, and hastily clutched the pistol.
[ BANG ]
[ BANG- BANG BANG ]
Four shots of the pistol killed that robed man, and three of his guards. Leo dashed quickly. 'I'll kill them all. I can hear fourteen outside.' He became hyper focused. 'This is revenge.'
Though, instead of chasing, the enemy left. Leo realized he couldn't reliably kill them at range. "Fuck!" He slammed the pistol into the wall. Countless screams could be heard all across the city. With enhanced senses, Leo could hear a couple thousand, just in his hearing range.
'It's not just her who will die..'
>WHOOOSH!!<
A massive gust of warm wind rushed past the school building. It shook the school violently, but the wind was just a prelude. 'This is bad!'
Leo dashed into a closet, and slammed the door shut. He toppled the shelf inside to prop it against the door.
'Will it be enough?!..' Leo panicked. His AI couldn't tell how strong this attack would be.
>SRRR A AAAH<
A gust of fire suddenly roared over the whole building. Their screams quickly went silent. Leo felt the closet's temperature begin to rise by 30 degrees, and it was getting even hotter. The fire consumed everything nearby. It began to spread through the door.
Even if the walls were concrete, the roof was not, and the door was not. Leo couldn't open the door. Smoke began to leak in. He needed to escape. He searched the room panicking. 'Fire extinguisher!' Lucky.
[ SWISHSHHSH ]
Leo carved a path outside, burning himself in the process. The entire city turned to flames. A few cries could be heard now, but it only felt sorrowful.
'It's literally hell!!' Only one type of being could cause such a thing.. 'Did a War Machine do this-?!'
Leo sprinted down the scorching hot street. His shoes started to burn. 'Fuck! At least there's a pool right there!'
His failsafe-AI could tell that the pool water still remained at a safe temperature.
>Splash!<
'How could someone survive this without AI?..' Leo questioned the arrogance of the failsafe program. Only a thousand hidden members were selected. People put too much trust in those machines, but also in the people. Humans make mistakes regardless of leaders.
'I've got to run away from the city. We've got a base 70 miles from here and there's a failsafe cache closer to 60 miles away. But that's in the wrong direction.'
Leo watched the flames, and cursed his location. 'The base it is, then.' He could finally step on the road without burning his feet. 'It'll be 80 fucking miles with the smallest detours, even if I get lucky..'
Words couldn't describe this dreadful feeling. Difficulty didn't cut it. To escape a War Machine at this level he'd be luckier than winning the lottery. Humans aren't built to be superheroes or stealth machines.
>drdrdrdRDRDRDR<
'Helicopters!..'
Leo noticed them soar by. Just Two Apache attack helicopters. They were a part of the older generation, but still deadly. He pitied their brave souls and wished them good luck.
…
.
Two pilots talked through their headsets after seeing Leo run by. [ I see only one survivor so far.. Shit, this place is a mess- ]
[ Shut it Kash, let's kill these fuckers. No words for them. ]
Kash shut up when Philip talked. 'He did say that he had family here..' Kash went silent. 'I hope my pops is doing well too..'
There's nothing more chilling than flying between burning buildings in your hometown. Kash took a deep breath.
[ EEEP! LOCK! LOCK! ]
"Where?!"
The alarm blared.. Kash dove into a perpendicular street, splitting off from their second Helicopter. Something triggered the anti-air alarm.
[ Fuck, this old heli.. I don't know if I missed something. ]
Kash voiced his thoughts to Philip, then kept moving. They had no mission guidelines whatsoever. All they knew was that the enemy departed from the Pacific Ocean.
[ Attention active flight crews. We need to pull out and withdraw. I want everyone to keep calm and make it back to base in one piece. ]
This message was transmitted to all the active air support.
Kash began to turn the Heli around. [ Kash, you can't be serious. Are we really gonna turn around with our head up our ass? ]
Philip.. Kash sighed. He was already on edge because they demoted him to an older machine. Luckily they were good friends, so Kash could still work with him.
[ Don't be hasty. If you wanna give them hell, do it slowly. ]
Philip didn't answer. They soared past their old path, and reached the outskirts of the city. 'There's that kid again..' Kash watched the young boy, who still ran from the flames on foot.
Lucky kid. There had to be at least a million casualties. Kash didn't need to look at Philip to know that he'd be watching the kid too.
[ EEEP! INCOMING! INCOMING! INCOMING! ]
Adrenaline kicked in. Kash could see the projectiles on screen. Even if the Apache were an older model, it wasn't obsolete. [Deploying flares!]
Kash dove around the buildings for cover. Then, he could see it. A wyvern followed them in the sky. 'I couldn't detect it on radar?' The helicopter could read the enemy locks, but not the enemy itself.
[ Philip, ready missiles. NOW! ]
By gut Kash knew. The enemy wasn't trying to kill. His helicopter had been selected for inspection. Another wyvern dashed around one of the skyscrapers, cutting off their path. [ Fire 3 missiles ]
[ Got it. ] Philip launched the hellfire missiles, all at once. The enemy Wyvern couldn't change its flight path. Riding on its back, a mage deployed three Shields. Kash held his breath. >BOOOM!<
"TAKE THAT, FUCKER!"
Kash flipped off the lizard who couldn't be saved by the mages' low tier shield. The mage and his wyvern fell to the ground, burning alive.
Kash dodged three more wyverns, before he was forced to turn the heli towards the coast.
…
".... fuck."