Chapter 23: DC Conquest

We arrived at the cemetery to find a multitude of activity; the streets were packed with military vehicles and helicopters. There were dozens and dozens of them and most surprising my brother walked out to meet me.

"Hey Justin we should be ready in another day or so, the drones are still converting some of the vehicles," Paul said.

"This is amazing, I never expected this, but now that you're here I understand," I said laughing.

"Well, I wanted to be overwhelming, and I think I succeeded."

"Yes you did, have you been keeping up on the reports from the drones in the city?" I asked.

"Yes, it looks like they are keeping the prisoners that they bothered to let live in the Verizon Center. There are still a few loose on the street, they didn't seem to bother with anyone who didn't pose a threat."

"Ok, plan of action?" I asked.

"Well, I say we make our way to the center underground, then into the basement, and take out all the guards. Then we move in the troops and secure the outside of the center, after that we move through the city and kill everyone in one of those uniforms."

"OK, but give the ones that don't fight the option of joining up with us, since we can use the implant on them," I said.

"Ok, that sounds fair, I will set some of the drones to work on the underground right now. By tomorrow night we should be ready to move."

I went through the inventory and then inspected the drones; this was a grand army for sure. The uniforms were just like ours but the staffs were a bit larger. After a demonstration from one of the drones, I just had to have one. The staff came apart in the center, one half was the weapon and the other half created a shield like the knights used to use. I knew the drones were somewhat immune to small caliber weapons, but they could easily take damage from larger ones. I went to the command tent a while later and sat in on the briefing Paul gave the drones. The raid would start at 10:00 pm tomorrow night; the prisoners would all be in the holding area by then. I was planning on going with the drones but I knew the girls wouldn't let me go alone so I would have to live with monitoring them.

"Paul, I'm going to send one of the drones into the city tonight, I want to control this one personally and check a few things out," I said.

"Sure, don't get caught though, or if you do, don't make too many problems. I don't want them to change their normal plans," he said.

I went into the RV with the girls and joined Patricia in bed, I was going to try to sleep while still controlling the drone. I figured it was worth a shot.

I took the drone out, ran out of the cemetery and passed the pentagon. I made my way across the bridge and was surprised to find a few guards there. I scanned them with the drone and they actually had working radios on them. Interesting, I thought. I made my way past them and on to the White House, I figured anyone in charge would be staying there. It took me a little over an hour to reach the White House and it was well guarded as I figured. I walked around to the rear of the property and waited in the shadows. When one of the patrols was in sight I stunned both of them. I hopped the fence and scanned both of the men. I used the special features I had Kristy add to this drone to make myself look like one of the men. I hid that man in a house off the property, and then I gave the other an injection to make him sick. I left him laying there and went to get help. With the help of others, I carried him into one of the rooms, he was diagnosed with dehydration, simple and safe I thought. I was joined by another guard and we resumed our patrol, this kept up the rest of the night until I was off duty and I put the drone to sleep in the bunkhouse.

I woke up the next morning with both Jenny and Patricia watching me.

"That was some adventure you gave us last night," Patricia said.

I laughed and said, "Both of you were watching?"

"It was sort of like a dream I guess," Jenny said.

"Well we now have an inside man, we also know the senator that is in charge of New Nation, it is Senator Peter Hawthorn. I plan on trying to use the drone to take him over later tonight, which would make this much easier."

"Maybe you should give him an implant," Jenny said.

"I thought of that but if he starts acting oddly they may just shoot him and find someone else. I need him to be able to protect himself, and the drone can do that."

I relaxed most of the morning; sleep didn't work too good last night. Just after lunch, I watched my drone get up use the bathroom and get some lunch. There was a bit of idle chat with the others in the room but nothing he couldn't handle. After he had lunch, I used him to check out the White House as quietly as I could. I found they had a generator running in a bunker not far away. There were several bunkers that withstood the effects of the 'EMP' and that's how they kept the radios working. I left the drone to entertain himself and went to visit with my brother Paul.

"How's it going?" I asked.

"Great we have 50 drones just outside the basement, they're just waiting for the command," he said.

"You know they have radios right?"

"Yes, Kristy will jam all the standard frequencies right before we begin the attack," he said.

"OK, great, I also have a drone close to the leader, I'm going to try and get to him right after the attack begins."

"Have you seen the leader yet?"

"No, I have his name but that's it."

As I was talking to Paul, the drone at the White House reported something very interesting. He reported someone had arrived that registered as human but his vital signs were not that of a human. The drone scanned him and all of his organs were that of a perfect male specimen. I couldn't understand this so I contacted Kristy.

"Kristy have you been listening to the conversation?" I asked.

"Yes the only conclusion is this person is not human, but what is he then?" she asked.

"When you start asking me questions like that we're in trouble. Could it be another drone? How would they show up when scanned?"

"If it was like ours with our scanning technology it would show up as a drone. The only possibility is it could be a clone of some type," She said.

"Someone's breeding a new race or should I say a New Nation?"

"That is a scary thought, I will find out what I can about this. I wouldn't let it change your plans for tonight," she said.

Paul, who had been listening frowned a bit and said, "I hate the unknown, I hope it works out."

I was monitoring the drone and found out the new guy's name was Duke but nothing else. It was about an hour before the attack so I casually walked the drone around inside making some idle conversation.

"Ok ladies we are all going to need to concentrate on this so just relax and get ready," I said.

With 10 minutes to go, Kristy informed us that the communications of our enemy were all jammed now. Then the drones at the center made their way into the basement and started to work their way up. I however was the first one to act.

Using the drone, I ran into the White House and reported seeing flashes of light over at the Verizon Center. This along with the radio blackout got everyone moving, many of them to the center; I knew they would be in for a surprise. Then I had to act.

"Ok, move out, all of you to the center," the commander ordered. I hung back as long as I could and when there were only two left I jumped into action. I pulled out my staff, disabled the commander with a blow to the back of the head, and then incinerated the other officer. I stuffed the commander in one of the closets and made my way around the White House to the main office. There were two guards out front; I disabled both of them with my staff as quietly as possible. I incinerated the bodies, took up a guard position at the door, and used the drone's hearing to listen.