Leroy peeked around the tree once he heard the aliens move on. He looked over to the body of the Mayor and the dead supporters. Jenkins was a blackened corpse.

  Crouching low, he quickly moved to the Mayor. He saw Felicia behind the temporary podium, weeping and turned his attention to the Mayor. Her shoulder was all burned, but he placed a hand on her neck just to see if he could feel a pulse. At his touch, the Mayor groaned, and muttered a slow “Owwwww, that hurts.”

  “You’re alive!” said Leroy in surprise and then dropped to the ground in case he was spotted. The aliens had moved on out of sight, up East 79th, but you couldn’t be too careful.

  “Leroy,” said Mayor Karyn, “Can you pass me my phone?”

  “What?” asked Leroy, “Don’t worry about your phone. Just lay still until we can get you some help.”

  The Mayor gripped onto Leroy’s shirt with her unburned hand, “My phone, Leroy!”

  Leroy reach for her phone and showed it to her.

  “I think it’s out of warranty,” he said as he held up the melted piece of plastic, glass and circuitry.

  The Mayor lay back down with a grunt as the back of her head hit the grass.

  “Call this number,” she said, pulling a card out of her jacket pocket. Luckily to was on the side opposite the laser blast.

  “‘ARRG New York. Captain Paige.’” Leroy read aloud what was written on the card, “You want me to call ARRG?”

  “It’s their turn to welcome the aliens,” said the Mayor as she lay down on the nice cool grass.

  ****

  “Captain Paige here,” said the Captain as his phone buzzed, showing an unknown number as the caller.

  “Hey Captain!” said Leroy, “It’s Leroy Jones here, the Mayor’s head of security. She is not dead. She told me to ring you and say all restrictions on ARRG are lifted!”

  “Leroy! Keep hold of that phone,” said Captain Paige, “I’m calling in ARRG reinforcements. They may call you to confirm.”

  “Yes, Sir!” said Leroy as the phone disconnected.

  Captain Paige grinned. “ARRG are back, baby!” he muttered as he called the rest of the team in Boston.

  ****

  Doug looked out his shattered doorway at the destruction in Park Avenue. The police armoured trucks were destroyed and overturned, twisted and melted from the combined laser blasts from the orange aliens. He peeked out to see if the aliens had moved on past the intersection along East 79th street. Doug picked up his paramedic bag and crept out to check the policeman tumbled down in front of his hiding place and examined him. Dead.

  He heard a groan a little further along, coming from someone trapped under one of the armoured car’s doors, flung aside in the explosion of the vehicle. He checked the intersection again and crept to the groaning body. It was one of the policemen, his helmet lying a few feet away, trying forlornly to move aside the melted and twisted door.

  “Stop a moment,” said Doug, “I’ll help you.”

  Captain Hugo looked at the man helping him. He was wearing a helmet with a large medic cross painted on it. He coughed and asked, “Are you a medic? What are you doing here?”

  Doug answered while examining the remains of the door, “Just stay quiet. I’m a paramedic, but also assist the National Guard on some of their operations. Your leg is pretty banged up.”

  Hugo groaned as Doug tried to move the door a little, increasing pressure on Hugo’s leg.

  “I am going to move the door,” said Doug, “On three. One, Two,”

  Doug quickly lifted the door which he raised and pushed over, freeing Hugo’s leg.

  “Aarrr,” cried Hugo, “What happened to three?”

  “I found that going early decreases the stress,” grinned Doug but then stopped and looked around towards the intersection.

  One of the large Orange aliens was looking at him with its weapon pointed directly at Doug’s chest. Doug slowly spread his arms out showing he had no weapons and said a quick prayer.

  The Orange alien put a meaty finger to its lips and then pointed at Doug. It then turned and followed the alien party that travelled further along East 79th.

  “What was that?” asked Captain Hugo, trying to sit up and look at his leg.

  “Well,” said Doug, firmly, but slowly pushing Hugo back down, “The orange alien told me to be quiet. Then it pointed at me and went off. Very odd. Now stay there while I work on your leg.”

  ****

  “Drop my shield!” said the Emperor, “I want to have my little hunt!”

  Sergeant Timms turned off the shield and the Emperor happily pointed his gun around, looking for targets.

  “Where have they all gone?” asked the Emperor in a whining tone.

  Lord Gubbins looked around carefully, saying, “They are hiding and watching.”

  He spotted something at one of the first level windows and fired his laser rifle. He heard a shriek and laughed, “Found one!”

  The Captain and Sergeant groaned as the Emperor joined in, shooting at windows at random. The guards increased their alertness and watched for any return fire from the thousands of windows along their route.

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  Once their clips were expended, one of the guards reloaded the Emperor’s gun while Lord Gubbins reloaded his own The city once more settled into an eery silence.

  “Let’s go back and up that wide street,” said the Emperor, “That way is wider and not as cramped.”

  The party turned and moved back towards Park Avenue.

  A fire team of guards rushed to the intersection and walked towards the destroyed Dirtling vehicles. There were some Dirtlings amongst the wreckage and dead bodies. Tomas pointed at one of the Dirtlings and repeated the same phrase he had used before, “Play dead or be dead!” The Dirtlings all dropped to the ground and looking convincingly dead.

  Tomas jogged back towards Sergeant Timms and reported, “The road to the left is blocked by the dead Dirtlings and destroyed vehicles. The road to the right is clear.”

  “Excellent, Tomas,” said Sergeant Timms and said to the Emperor and Lord Gubbins, “The way to the left is blocked by our previous fighting. Right is clear.”

  The Emperor waved his arm in a ‘go ahead’ motion and the party tuned right into Park Avenue. The rear guards watched the road behind them. One of the guards saw movement and pointed his finger at the dirtling and pretended to shoot. The Dirtling dropped back down and played dead.

  ****

  Eric sighed and ran back towards St Ignatius Loyola and muttered between deep breaths, “I should have just stayed there!”

  Captain Paige smiled and without any pause in his breathing said, “But then you wouldn’t have been spotted by that orange guard and almost been shot. Wouldn’t that have been sad.”

  Eric muttered something incomprehensible and led Captain Paige in via a side entrance, the one NOT on Park Avenue. They saw many people poking out from corners and windows watching what was going on. Captain Paige pointed at them to stay where they were. Eric thought it looked a lot like the way the Orange guards pointed at people.

  Captain Paige’s phone buzzed and he quickly answered using his headphones, “Paige here.”

  Eric couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation, just Captain Paige’s, “What?”

  Then Captain Paige said, “I would not recommend it. Didn’t you see what happened to the SORT armoured vehicles?”

  “Yes, Sir,” said Captain Paige as the call ended.

  “I’m going to the roof,” the Captain said, “All these windows face to the street, but I have to see both ways. Stay here.”

  After a moment, Captain Paige asked, “Where are the stairs to the roof?”

  Eric showed the Captain the unmarked door at the end of a corridor, and opened it to reveal and old spiral staircase leading upwards. Eric raced up it and using a master key he had, undid the lock on the upper hatch and opened it, creeping out on to the roof.

  Captain Paige crept quickly and passed Eric and looked out above the edge of the roof. Eric poked his head up next to the Captain’s and asked, “What’s happening?”

  “The National Guard had a troop of three Abrams tanks nearby. They intend to take on the aliens. I told them it was stupid, but they overruled me. ‘New York is our jurisdiction. You’re just guests,’ they told me. So we get to watch.”

  Eric could see the procession coming along Park Avenue towards them. They had reached the intersection with East 82nd and continued towards them. Eric tried to make himself as small as possible, but still trying to see what he could. Watching something live was completely different than through a screen.

  Scrambling to another spot on the roof he looked back. There were a couple of buses blocking the intersection of Park Avenue and 86th Street. One of the buses had a smashed window and Eric could see the gun barrel of the Abrams tank poking through. Another barrel was poking above a stalled delivery truck. They were setting up an ambush.

  Eric scrambled back next to Captain Paige, and said, “They’re trying for an ambush.

  “I know,” said Captain Paige, showing Eric his phone screen, “Everything is live streaming. We have feeds from all angles.”

  Eric had seen what the aliens had done on other hunts and commented, “It’s not going to work, is it?”

  “No,” said Captain Paige, “But we will learn a lot.”

  “BOOM!” one of the 105mm guns fired, quickly followed by the one next to it, “BOOM!”

  The shells exploded amongst the orange guards, throwing them in all directions with the explosive blasts. Smoke and debris were everywhere.

  “Did we get any?” asked Eric.

  “Wait for it,” said Captain Paige, “The dust is obscuring everything.”

  No fire came from the alien party for a few moments. Onlookers thought they had achieved a victory but suddenly laser fire came from the party and out of the smoke four orange aliens charged forward firing their laser weapons. One of the buses exploded and the melted remains wrapped around the left Abrams tank. Behind the four aliens who advanced forward and maintained fire, two guards set up what looked like a bazooka with a tripod. After a couple of seconds setting up the tripod, they fired and the truck disintegrated and the energy bolt went straight through the other Abrams tank, leaving a melted hole from front to rear. Moments later, the tank exploded as the ammunition overheated and blew up, showering everyone nearby with chunks of metal.

  The left tank tried to reverse but was completed entangled by the destroyed bus, catching on the treads and gun. The gun fired and hit the building above the alien team, dropping bricks, stone and other debris onto the aliens.

  The alien bazooka fired again and the remaining tank was destroyed and exploded into lethal shards immediately, catching fire and sending dark smoke upwards and outwards.

  Captain Paige heard Eric typing furiously and turned and asked, “What are you doing?”

  Eric was holding a box in his hands and was using a screwdriver to update the side.

  “I’m attaching this to the mains power,” he said, “I never thought I could have a stationary option. There, connected.”

  Eric turned the machine, put on some large headphones, and turned it on, “Yes!” he said, “Full power. I think this should reach the aliens.”

  Captain Paige looked at the aliens getting out from under the fallen wall. The octopus alien was shooting into the destroyed building. There must have been people hiding there and watching the action.

  Eric looked at the destroyed Abrams tanks and asked, “Weren’t there more tanks than two?”

  “Oh no,” said Captain Paige as he saw a tank appear from behind the destroyed SORT armoured cars. One man wearing medic helmet was dragging a policeman away from the vehicles and others were getting away as quick as they could.

  Orange guards saw the approaching tank and fired their guns, hitting the SORT vehicles and had some glancing blows on the Abrams tank.

  “BOOM!” the Abrams fired and one of the guards went flying backwards and landed in a heap.

  “Did that kill it?” said Captain Paige to himself.

  Eric answered, “Almost. It’s moving a little. But there is a huge dent in its chest armour.”

  Captain Paige looked at Eric who was holding a pair of binoculars and watching the orange alien. He shrugged and returned to watch as the bazooka team rushed through the alien part and set up on the rear edge.

  Machine gun fire from the tank peppered the bazooka team, but the bullets mostly pinged off. One of the aliens bent down on one knee, seemingly injured, but the other fired the bazooka.

  The blindingly bright energy beam rushed out and blew apart the SORT armoured vehicle and melted the front of the tank. The Abrams fired again, missing the lead orange aliens and hitting the base of the floating alien. The bubble seems to take the damage, but it fizzled slightly.

  “Hit the floating alien!” yelled Captain Paige, even though the tank couldn’t hear him.

  “BOOM!” another shot rang out followed by a crackle and BOOM as the tank exploded from a second shot from the alien bazooka.

  The defensive bubble was struck by the final shell and rolled forward, throwing both the alien and what looked like one of the orange aliens, all around. Once the bubble shield stopped rolling, the occupants lay in a heap.

  “They’re trying to communicate!” yelled Eric, watching the screen of the ComStop, “I’m blocking it! I’m in range!”