Robert Salvatore woke up to what felt like a normal day in Xenon city. A cold, dark

city made completely of steel and computer technology. During a Xenon winter, the

temperature could drastically change from fifty degrees below zero, to one hundred and

eighty above.

He awoke to the crisp, cold, metallic air beginning to cycle through his estates oxygen

filters, but he did not mind the metallic air; he had been exposed to it since he was a very

young boy about the age of three. Robert tapped a flat-screened button on a panel in front

of him. The bed, a sleeping capsule, slowly ejected from the wall and tilted forward for

him to step out.

His home didn’t seem like it normally was. There was no smell of the androids, which

every morning cooked him his food and brought it up to his room. It was hard to come

by “real” food in Xenon anymore; it was all simulations and meal capsules now. Robert

was rich. He had shimmering, wavy black hair with which he combed to the right. He

had pale, silky white skin which seemed to glow like the moon in the dark night sky, and

deep sky blue eyes, which were cold and seemed full of hate, As if he had been through

much pain and suffering, causing his soul to be numb.

Robert Salvatore used to be a police officer in Xenon, a high-ranking police captain. He

resigned due to cruel laws being passed that sickened him, and that would sicken anyone

to see what the XCPD had done. The police officers were trained to their breaking point.

They had no emotions anymore; they would arrest people within 15 feet of the police

department prison stairs, they would murder someone whom was “too close” to them, or

the chief. The chief, a tall, slender man about the age of 29, whom went by the title “lord”

Arcus, was a cruel, harsh man. He was once a friend of Robert’s but a tragic incident

happened in the marketplace one day, about two years before Robert’s resignation, where

his parents, siblings, and friends were all killed during an invasion including two of

Xenon’s biggest gangs. That is why Lord Arcus was such a cold, cruel, hateful man.

Upon Robert’s resignation, he solemnly swore to oppose the Xenon police. He smuggled

out 150 cargo crates of high-ranking police equipment to bring to the rebel bases in the

lower levels of Xenon. He sold most of the materials. He sold what ever he had in the

stock market, supplies he no longer needed, and pieces of furniture and weapons he

had crafted and produced himself. He paid for many years of education with the money

he had earned. He learned advanced medical procedures, carpentry, programming,

gunsmithing, merchanting, mechanics, and many more skills such as advanced math, etc.

and quickly became the richest, most intelligent man in Xenon city.

Although he was extremely rich, he wanted more in life; much, much more.

He knew of a mine full of gold, possibly billions of dollars worth just past the police

station and down the road next to it. Was he going to risk being caught near the mine and

possibly get arrested? Or would he sneak out after the ten o’clock curfew set by police?

The most dangerous time of the day; night, in Xenon was full of bandits, assassins, other

rebels, and animals even the most powerful of police could not come to capture.

Robert decided to go and attempt to get into the mine during night. Despite the risk of

being mugged, or possibly killed during pitch black of night, He knew that during an

Xenon winter, nobody would ever want to go out during night anyway. The temperature

on a Xenon winter’s night could reach two hundred degrees below zero. Everybody

stayed inside with the nuclear heating to keep warm, and if someone did not have a home,

they would go into the Xenon subway tunnels and bundle up next to a barrel they would

build a fire in. Robert also knew that he could keep warm with his white silk suit with

thermal plates build into it would keep him alive in the cold night air and also help him

blend into the snow.

Robert just had to figure out how he was going to get into that mine. Two weeks after the

first tunnel had been dug, leading to a big underground cavern, the walls covered in ice

and the miners had to leave until it heated up. That night however, a rock slide appeared

in front of the mine and blocked anyone from getting in. The police would not assist

either, because the excuse that they were “protecting” the citizens of Xenon.

Robert knew that this was even more of a bonus. Nobody was able to get into the mine,

so nobody else would be at the mine to risk meeting. That meant that there was also

generators and heaters in the mine and he could keep himself warm for a long time with

them. That is, if they have any fuel in the generators anyway.

Robert spent the next few days gathering supplies for the mission. He talked to

ex switchblade members, which was a gang started several years before that had

been “erased” by the police, or so they thought. Robert gathered two thousand meal

capsules, all-together weighing about five to seven pounds. He packed enough H20

tablets to keep him hydrated for months, even though he knew he wouldn’t be there

for that long. He needed defense last. The switchblade members provided him with 2

anaconda pistols, a hard to find pistol crafted out of complete shimmering steel that

looked as if it were made of chrome. Robert also spent about two thousand dollars for

four berretta pistols and ammo, which he put two on either leg. The anaconda pistols, he

put on each side of his waist. Lastly, Robert collected ten S.W.A.T. door charges, used

in gang raids to blow open walls, etc. that he would use to clear the front of the mine of

rocks and other debris.

He was ready to do the mission. He put his equipment on his shelf, and went to his

sleeping capsule. He would leave and proceed to do the mission in the morning.

The next morning, Robert awoke to his best friend, Keven Smith.

Keven was a rebel like Robert. He had skills unlike any of the other rebels and Robert

paid for his education as well. They were accomplices in crime and both were very

intelligent and unpredictable; perfect, for good criminals. Keven had dark, wavy brown

hair that looked almost red; like dark cherry wood. He had big, dark; mud brown eyes

that made him look young and innocent, and he really wasn’t.

When Robert opened his eyes, Keven was standing there with a smile bigger than life.

Robert expected that he had just gotten an A+ or something in the medical classes he was

taking, but when he looked down from Kevens face, he noticed that he was suited in the

most weaponry and armor he had ever seen even police elites carry.

“Looks like you are going to need some assistance in a few hours.” Keven said while

loading a S.W.A.T. tactical pistol. “What? A few hours? What time is it?” Robert asked.

“About 7:30 at night, sleepy head. Now hop out of bed darlin’, we’ve got work to do!”

Keven said with a chuckle. “You’re lucky we are friends, Keven. I used to beat kids up

for saying annoyin’ things like that to me.” Robert joked.

Keven and Robert laughed together. “Lets get something to eat, and then we will head

out Rob; it’s after dark already, and its pretty cold too.” Keven said, packing thermal

pouches in his sleeves and coat body. Robert put on his thermal-plated white silk suit

with a gold shimmering trim on it. Then he equipped his pistols. “Okay Keven, I have

everything; lets move out.” Robert said while grabbing his backpack with the meal

capsules and H20 tablets inside.

Robert and Keven headed out the front door. They thanked the android waiting for them

at the bottom of the stairs with a breakfast roll. You couldn’t get breakfast rolls anymore;

only few people knew how to make them in Xenon, and they would program it into an

android to make it; selling them for hundreds of dollars. Every once in a while a trader

from a neighbor city would come through selling goods such as fresh pancakes, breakfast

rolls, or other goods you could not get in Xenon anymore. It was hard for traders to get

into Xenon anyway; the XCPD would not let them through the gates due to “civilian

safety” or “illegal goods”. So most of the time the traders took the very expensive

transport unit at the edge of town, the Electronic Pod Transportation System; the EPTS is

what everybody called it.

While Robert and Keven were walking down the street, they noticed some movement in

nearby shadows and decided to climb some buildings, sheds, etc instead, so they could

avoid bandits and XCPD officers on the street. After what seemed like a hundred years

of running and climbing, they were surprised they weren’t tired yet. They had taken

two energy capsules at the estate before they left and they just assumed that is why they

weren’t tired yet. They got to the entrance of the mine and tried to figure out the quietest

way to get in. Even though both of them knew there really wasn’t a quiet way.

They stuffed some TNT, military satchel charges, and other various explosives inside

holes in the rocks and calculated about how far the boulders and other items at the

entrance of the mine would fly, how loud the explosion would be on different sides of the

mine, etc.

The entrance to the mine was cleared in no time. The explosion sounded like a crack

of lightning, striking hollow bark. The noise of the explosion seemed to roll on for

an eternity before it quieted, and then subsided. They were both worried that the loud

explosion would alert the police jail guards. If it did, they would have Xenon search

squads after them in minutes. Robert and Keven stopped for a moment, just in case

someone had heard the noise. Then, they heard the blood curdling screeching siren,

booming from the police department speakers. At first, they thought it was just the ten

o’clock curfew siren, but this one was different. This siren was much, much louder.

Suddenly, a search light from a distant police tower locked on to Keven. Robert, with

lightning speed, whipped the anaconda pistol from the silk tie on his waist, aimed, and

fired. The man in the tower collapsed and fell to his knees, tumbling from the tower at

a great speed and falling upon four other XCPD officers, the impact killing them all in

an instant. Keven fell to his knees in fright. He had never really been in such an intense

situation, but he had trained for them. Robert patted him on his shoulder and explained

that everything was alright. Keven was as frozen as a statue for a moment and when

Robert kneeled down to talk to him, Keven swiftly kicked a pistol from the floor into

the air; he spun and caught it with one hand, knocked Robert out of the way, and fired

six shots into the air. Robert turned around and was able to clearly see the bodies of two

XCPD officers that had been sneaking up behind him to kill him the whole time.

“Well buddy…” Robert said, “I guess we’re even now, huh?” Keven was starting to feel

better now. He laughed with Robert for a moment and then slapped him a hi-five.

Robert and Keven, feeling much better, ate a meal capsule and H20 tablet and then

headed into the mine before more officers noticed them and showed up at the scene. They

walked down into the mine shaft until they came into the main cavern. Sure enough, there

were generators and hundreds of fuel crates for them, all left from the last miners.

They were both exhausted so Robert and his accomplice Keven, decided to set up the

camp site. Robert powered up some of the generators to set up the lights in the tunnels.

They used a laser to carve a small tunnel in the wall and created a room by setting off

some TNT in the tunnel; completely unheard from outside the mine. Now, if any police

did get into the mine, they would have to take off all of their armor, etc just to get in the

tunnel they had created.

Roberts set up a motion-tracking laser that would set off an alarm in the room they were

sleeping in. It would also produce a hologram of them in the main tunnel; that would

buy them some time. The two had trouble getting to sleep on the old-fashioned sleeping

bags. They were used to sleeping pods and holo-beds. They got to sleep soon however;

they were completely exhausted. The next morning, they woke up feeling completely

rejuvenated. For hours they cut through the rock with lasers, prospecting for gold.

They found a couple sections of the mine with hundreds of rocks that could be more

than two million dollars worth, and marked the wall with an X next to the ores. They had

months of supplies in the mines, so they did not have to worry about how long it took to

get the gold.

They were not bothered by the police, robbers, animals, or any other dangers when

they brought crates of gold to the underground safe at their estate every night either. It

was months of gathering gold and one night; they realized the police hadn’t forgotten

about them after all. That night they were coming back to the mine from another night

of unloading gold, they stepped into the mine and found a squad of fully-armed XCPD

officers waiting for them in the middle of the room.

Robert stared at the police for a few seconds and recognized the figure of the tall man in

the back. “Hello, Mr. Salvatore…” the man said through a static-like radio in his mask.

“Arcus? Is that you?” Robert said a half worried half sickened voice. Robert had a sudden

flashback of his time of service in the police. He remembered how cruel, harsh, and

unforgiving this man, his old police commander standing before him, was. Robert jolted

back into reality by the sound of a Mossberg 500 police shotgun being loaded.

“Yes Robert, It’s me.” Arcus said with a cold, expressionless voice. “I am sorry it had to

come to this.”

Robert and Keven stared at eachother for a moment and nodded. The look in each of the

friends eyes told a tale of “We have been though too much. I’m not going down without

a fight.” “Any last words, Salvatore?” Arcus said in a cruel voice. “Yeah…” Robert and

Keven said in unison. “Catch.” Robert and Keven each pulled out a berretta pistol and

open fired upon the room in the direction of the officers. They both fired the whole clip

in each gun. Thirty shots were fired, thirty shots hit their target. Arcus fell to his knees,

aghast; then he collapsed onto the floor. Arcus was dead. The cruel man that had made

Xenon the worst city on the face of the earth, was dead.

Robert turned to congratulate Keven and was horrified with what he saw. Keven had

been hit in the shoulder with the bullet of an M60 machine gun. An M60 was banned

weaponry in Xenon due to the damage they are able to cause. They have bullets as

long as your hand, fully extended. Bullets projected from the gun are thrown at such a

tremendous speed they are able to puncture through bulletproof metal. Robert wasn’t

sure how to save him, but he knew he had to. Robert got his medical kit and looked

inside. “Let’s see what we’ve got here…” he said. “Hand in there buddy” but before

Keven could say something to him, he hushed him and said “Don’t speak. It will make it

worse.”

Robert inspected the wound and found it, amazingly, hadn’t went all the way through,

and it hadn’t hit any major arteries either. He administered a shot to numb the area where

the bullet penetrated and then got his handheld laser and made an X over the gunshot

wound. Then he got out forceps and gripped the bullet, and pullet it out without hesitation

and sealed the wound with the laser. He got out a med-pak, a patch similar to a smoking

patch, but it administers medicine with nanobots created inside to quickly heal a wound.

He placed the med-pak on Keven’s shoulder and gave him a H20 tablet to keep him

hydrated.

The next day, Keven woke up with nothing but a light scar on his upper-chest by his

shoulder. He was feeling a lot better that day, and was waiting for Robert to come

back to the cavern. He was wondering where Robert was; he never woke up early. A

few moments later, Robert came in, with bags under his eyes, still in his pale white

medical scrubs he had quickly changed into last night. “Well, sleepin’ beauty…” Robert

joked “How are you feeling today?” he said while handing him a breakfast roll and

coffee.

“I went home and got the androids to make it for you” Robert said laughing. “Wait a

minute… aren’t the androids in the back of the mine working?” Keven asked.

Robert smiled. “Yes Keven, I made it from scratch… now eat up before I shove it in your

face” he said laughing “If I die… you stay away from my funeral” Keven said jokingly

and they both laughed together like they used to before the whole mission started.

Robert and Keven brought the remaining supplies and gold home and split the twenty

billion dollars worth of gold with each other. They purchased additions to their house, a

new car, took more school classes, and bought everything else they had needed and still

had a total of 19 million dollars left over. They threw the biggest party they had ever

seen. They had enough drinks, food, entertainment, and prizes for more than half of the

town to come to it. After the party, they had a conversation about how happy they were

that Lord Arcus was dead and now they could live in happiness their whole life.

Or could they… As Lord Arcus outstretched his arm, he pulled himself to his knees and

then stood up. He pressed a button on his wrist and an XCPD bulletproof vest that had

never seen before, fell from his chest. “I will get you Salvatore…” he said in a cold, cruel

voice. “You just wait…” and began to walk towards the entrance of the mine.