There was nothing Paul could do but laugh. The wires had receded back into their chest ports. I looked at our group. They were a group of 3. Just like the ones that had changed the transmission hub. "Okay. They had their big chance to hack it and succeed. They did not have enough with them to share the stain on their energy." I said after I got my shit together. Break nodded and opened his own chest port. He plugged into the hub and leaned against it on the floor. Code and Ers followed suit. The counter hack took over half an hour. Paul and I were guarding the area. The angry AEP units on the ground just glared at me. They were promising me a very gruesome murder with their eyes. When they were done, our allies slumped forward as well. The oppressive red aura was now gone. A few seconds later, the area was bathed in green light once more. It was the color for the Researcher faction. I walked over, praising them. I got no response. That was to be expected. They were nanite constructs here. Not humanoids. "Paul, do you have an energy pack? They work on cyborgs." I asked.
He smiled. "Good idea. Let's move them away." It was not hard to pick them up and move them. Even though they were dead weight, we were the strongest we could possibly be in the game. We made the big trek over the bridge and set them down very gently. Paul fabricated the smaller energy pack and set it down. He turned it on, and we watched it boot up. A soft yellow glow enveloped us, and pulses of energy moved in waves. As cyborgs, the energy packs were made essentially for them. They all began to twitch and move feebly. Normally, it would not affect humans. However, we were in PEP unit clans ourselves. I felt myself getting lots of energy and happier in the aura. Paul was smiling at me as well. By the time it had run out, they were able to shakily make it to their feet. Neither Lynx, Luka nor Link were going to be that effective in combat, but the AEPs were able to walk and jog around. They were miffed that they were too late to stop them before the invaders hacked the transmission hub. Paul and I looked at each other. Lynx, Luka and Link walked back across the bridge.
We followed them in their territory. All of the defeated AEP units were still on the ground. They looked really upset too. Their hard work was instantly overwritten. They were also thwarted by humans once again. Not a good state to be in for Conquerors. I was not in the mood to gloat. I was tired of this. It was clear that we would have to hunt down Water and Toxic Clans. A brazen attack on a transmission hub was crossing a line. They wanted to fuck with us and our allies. Starting a war was obviously something that did not matter to them at all. I would not care either. "That's alright. They attacked you." Paul said. "You did the first mission in Dwan Town. Now you are war veterans." I added my voice to the praise he was giving. It seemed to soothe their egos a bit. Link pointed at them. "What should we do with them?" he asked. They were all looking at us and waiting for us to give them instructions. "That is up to your leader. But a bit of torture seems nice." I said. Paul just crossed his arms. "Why drag it out!? Just kill them all." he chided. I scoffed loudly. "You were fucking all of the way here."
