He ran forward, Weber blade in his grip. Being Attuned made everything clearer and faster. Fights that were scary as an Awakened now just felt doable, just like facing off this horde of murder robots.
The spider mech shot energy bolts as he got closer. Gale rolled left, got up running, and slashed upward. The blade cut through the machine's front right leg. Sparks flew as fluid sprayed across the floor.
He spun and took out the front left leg. The spider mech tipped forward, still shooting all over the place as it lost balance.
Gale jumped back, lifted the Weber blade, and put Alter through the metal. The power went along the edge as he slashed down. Reflection shot from the blade, cutting deep into the machine's middle, causing it to explode into bits, debris scattering everywhere. "One down!" Kyle shouted from behind him.
Three more four legged spider mechs came from different shadows, red eyes glowing in the dark. Behind them, the bigger ones moved between the buildings.
The mechs spread out, using junk in the plaza for cover as they fired. Energy bolts and small rockets flew toward Gale. He dove behind a chunk of wall as the attacks tore up the metal around him.
One of the machines tried to climb up a nearby building, its legs sticking to the wall. Gale saw his chance and jumped, launching himself toward the climbing mech.
Two other machines moved to cut him off, their guns following his jump. Energy bolts cut through the air near him as he tried to reach his target.
"Gale, get back here!" Rachel shouted. "Our job is to block the entrance, not hunt them down!"
She had a point. They needed to guard the elevator, not chase single targets around the plaza.
Gale landed hard. He ran back towards the elevator doors.
Rachel stood near the gap. Two mechs in front of her coming from the left. She pulled back her right fist and punched. An explosive flame shot out from her fist.
The machine's armour turned red, then white, then fell in as its front half melted. It fell sideways, smoke pouring from its ruined frame.
A rocket flew towards Rachel from the second machine. She threw herself right, the missile blowing up where she'd been standing. Chunks of metal floor flew everywhere.
Rachel got up from her roll, already pulling back for another punch. The fire wave hit the second spider mech in the middle, melting through its head and main body. It crashed down, legs still twitching as electrical systems went bad.
Heavy footsteps shook the plaza floor as two bigger machines came around corners from opposite sides. These mechs stood taller, moved faster, and had heavier guns. Six legs instead of four, armoured like tanks.
Guns barked from the elevator gap as Kyle and Clyde opened fire. Clyde had switched ammo types. His long gun now fired armour-piercing rounds instead of his usual shockwave loads. The bullets sparked off the larger mech's plating but went deeper than normal rounds would.
Kyle fired his pistol, aiming for the head where the clusters of red eyes were. He hit one, but the distance was too far for the calibre he was using to make any meaningful damage.
The left-side mech turned its upper part toward Kyle, multiple gun barrels moving into firing position. The gatling guns spun up before letting loose a stream of bullets towards the elevator gap.
Kyle dove deeper into the dark as rounds sparked off the metal door frame. "Taking heavy fire here!"
Gale saw his chance. While the big mech focused on Kyle and Clyde, its head was open. He bent his knees and jumped straight up, twenty metres into the air to face the machine at eye level.
The Weber blade came up as he put Phase Touch through the metal. Reflection activated and a crescent blade shot out, cleaving the spider mech in half.
Behind the cut spider mech, another spider mech blocked with its two grabber arms. But the reflection faded just before it could leave a scratch on its arms.
Landing back on the floor, another mech's guns turned towards him and fired immediately. Weber blade extended downwards, flicking his own body away from the line of fire.
On the right side of the plaza, Rachel faced the second large mech. She pulled back her fist and sent a fire wave toward one of its front legs. The explosion washed over the limb, but when the flames cleared, the armour just had some scorch marks.
The fire wave hadn't done enough damage. These machines were built to take serious hits. Rachel changed her plan, running toward the mech instead of fighting from far away.
She jumped onto the damaged front leg, climbing toward the joint where leg met body. Her gauntlets burned hotter as she pulled back both fists and slammed them into the joint.
The explosion burst inside the joint mechanism. Fluid sprayed everywhere as parts melted under the heat. The mech wobbled, its balance thrown off by the damaged leg.
But it didn't stop. The machine's gatling guns turned toward Rachel, trying to shake her off with a river of bullets, sparking off the metal around her as she scrambled for better cover.
Rachel made a desperate move, sliding down the damaged leg toward the mech's belly. The machine couldn't angle its weapons low enough to hit her there.
The entire mech dropped suddenly, all its weight coming down toward the small space where Rachel had taken shelter.
She screamed as she threw both hands up, her gauntlets flaring to maximum heat. She caught the full weight of the machine on her shoulders and arms.
"Rachel!" Gale started toward her position.
The elevator doors groaned behind them, still grinding slowly open. Ollie's voice carried over the combat noise: "Two more minutes! Hold your positions! The gates started their closing sequence."
Gale spun hard, Weber blade cutting through the air toward the spider mech's middle. The machine that had dropped onto Rachel turned to face this new threat, but its weight slowed it down.
The S6MECH tried to move away from Gale's strike, its remaining legs scrambling for grip on the metal floor.
The blade cut through the front section of its body. Circuits sparked and fluid sprayed as internals were exposed.
Rachel burst out from beneath the damaged machine, throwing off the weight of the mech. She launched herself straight up, both fists pulled back as her gauntlets flared white-hot.
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"Take this, you piece of scrap!"
The fire wave exploded from her strike, a cone of super-hot air and flame racing toward the exposed circuits.
The S6MECH raised its one remaining front leg, trying to shield its open guts from the incoming blast.
Gale saw the defence coming. Reflection activated as he slashed and another crescent shot out from the blade, aimed right at the blocking limb.
The reflection cut the leg clean off. Metal crashed to the plaza floor as the S6MECH's last defense disappeared.
Rachel's fire wave hit the exposed insides of the spider mech. Circuits, ammo, hydraulic and oil lines, all of it melted under the immense heat.
The remaining S6MECH had gone around the buildings and now stood between them and the elevator doors.
"Fall back! Fall back!" Ollie shouted.
Gale acted first. Instead of going back toward the elevator, he launched himself at the S6MECH's rear section. The machine's sensors focused forward, watching the elevator entrance where the others hid.
He brought the Weber blade up, sending another slice toward what looked like the machine's head. The shot streaked through the air.
The S6MECH tilted its whole frame at the last second. The air blade passed so close to its sensors that sparks flew from the near miss.
The machine's weapons came on instantly. Gatling guns spun up while missile pods extended from its back. The barrels turned toward Gale while rockets launched toward the elevator loading dock.
"Incoming!" Clyde yelled.
Multiple shots filled the air. Six rockets flew toward the elevator while streams of bullets chased Gale across the plaza floor.
Gale moved fast, Weber blade working overtime. He slashed the air again and again, sending crescent after crescent toward the incoming rockets. Three air blades hit, blowing up the missiles mid-flight. Explosions lit up the space between him and the S6MECH as shrapnel scattered everywhere.
Inside the elevator gap, Kyle and Clyde fired at the remaining rockets. Clyde's rounds punched through two missiles, exploding them mid air. Kyle's Glock fired over and over, but the mundane 9mm round could only explode one missile.
"Fuck! Conserving ammo isn't working, Ollie!" Kyle shouted.
One rocket slipped through their shots, flying straight toward the middle of the loading dock where Ollie crouched. Lily held up her shield over Ollie and herself.
"Twins! Brace for impact!" Lily shouted.
Rachel saw the incoming missile. She threw herself into its path, crossing both arms in front of her chest.
The rocket hit her square in the torso. It exploded, whipping her onto the elevator loading dock. She hit the wall hard, blood splattering from her open mouth. Smoke rose up from her slightly burnt gear.
"Rachel!" Gale dashed towards the elevator.
Ollie moved. He pulled a syringe gun from his storage box and jammed it against Rachel's shoulder. The syringe hissed into her as green light spread across her injuries.
"She's the only other one tough enough for frontline work," Ollie said, helping Rachel to her feet. "Get back out there and finish that thing!"
The S6MECH turned all its attention to the elevator entrance, weapons charging for another round. Gale saw his opening and took it.
He ran straight at the machine's belly, sliding beneath its bulk as its guns tracked overhead. The Weber blade came up as he spun, drilling upward into the middle section from below.
Metal screamed as the blade punched through armour. Gale twisted the weapon, cutting through internal parts as fluid rained down on him.
"One minute!" Ollie called out. "Doors start their final close in one minute!"
The damaged S6MECH staggered but didn't fall. Its legs spread wide for balance as warning lights flashed across its damaged frame. Gale rolled away as the machine tried to crush him with its weight.
Then the ground shook.
Heavy impacts came from the south, each stomp sending vibrations through the metal floor. The light that had filled the plaza suddenly got darker, shadows spreading across the area.
Something massive blocked the light from above.
"Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me." Kyle's voice cracked.
An eight-legged spider mech moved into the plaza. This machine was way bigger than anything they'd fought so far. Forty metres tall, it stretched across half the open space. Eight legs moved together perfectly, each limb thick as a tree trunk. Weapon systems covered its hull like scales.
The unit's sensors swept across the plaza, red beams painting targets on everything that moved. Its main weapons powered up with a sound like thunder.
Gale looked back at Rachel. She stood in the elevator entrance, one hand against the door frame. Burns marked her combat gear where the rocket had hit, but the healing serum was working. Colour came back to her face as damaged tissue fixed itself.
"Stay inside," Gale said. "I'll handle this one."
Rachel's gauntlets lit up. She stepped out of the elevator gap and onto the plaza floor. "I'm not letting that happen again."
The massive spider mech's weapons all came online at once. Dozens of missile pods extended from its back and sides, each one loaded with projectiles half the size of a car.
Then it fired everything.
A carpet of missiles streaked across the plaza, so many that they blocked out the light. The sky turned bright as hundreds of missiles filled the air.
Rachel jumped first, launching herself into the air. She pulled back her right fist and punched the air in front of her. The air rippled in front of her fist before a massive fire wave extended toward the oncoming missiles.
The explosion started with the first rocket and spread like a chain reaction. Each missile that blew up set off the ones beside it. The chain reaction spread across the entire sky, fire blooming across the view.
The heat hit them like an open oven. The temperature rose so high that mundanes would've been baked alive. Metal pieces from the destroyed missiles rained down across the plaza, chunks of steel hitting the floor.
Rachel dropped back toward the ground, her gear itself smoking from getting more burnt than it already was. The fire wave had worked, but the effort left her wide open.
Four gatling guns on the giant mech spun up, their barrels turning faster than the eye could follow. The mechanical noise built to a scream of thousands of rounds per minute, ready to tear through whatever was still standing.
Gale dashed forward, running straight into the path between Rachel and the incoming gunfire. Weber in his grip. Alter widened the blade just enough to cover both of them like a shield.
He flung it to his shoulder at an angle. Bullets hit the flat of the blade in an angle as streams of thousands of rounds per second hammered against the Weber. Each hit sent shocks through Gale's arms as he held the shield between them and certain death.
"Thirty seconds!" Ollie shouted.
The giant mech changed tactics. Two laser cannons on its front whined, electricity cracking along the barrels. The air surrounding the barrels rippled and shimmered into a peak until it fired.
Two beams hit the expanded Weber dead centre. Weber started to grow hot until it glowed white hot.
Heat ran down the weapon's handle towards Gale's hands. He pulled Rachel closer as he saw her exposed parts burning from the heat, keeping their bodies close to hide from the beam.
As he was losing grip of the blade, Rachel pushed at the whitest part of the blade with her gauntlets.
Gale's palms burned as he kept Weber steady. His skin bubbled from the heat while the laser continued its onslaught, and the scent of flesh permeated the vicinity. Rachel's hand on Weber's metal smoked as well, but her hand didn't burn as much as his.
The laser stopped, but the giant spider mech was already on the move. Its giant leg raised up into the air above them, casting a shadow against their current position.
Rachel saw it coming. She broke away from Gale, diving left as he went right. The leg crashed down between them hard enough to crack the metal floor and shake the ground.
"Fifteen seconds!" Ollie shouted.
The colossus threw everything it had left at them. Two laser beams tracked where they moved while more missiles popped out from its body. Rockets trailed through the air at their moving positions.
Rachel pulled back her fist as the laser beam raced toward her. She punched forward with everything she had.
The fire wave hit the laser beam head-on. For a split second, they balanced against each other, creating a ball of super-hot air. Then the laser broke through, heading straight for her.
Gale put the blade in front of the laser coming at him. Weber, still hot from before, caught the beam on its flat side.
"Get through the crack now!" Ollie shouted from the elevator. "It's almost closed!"
Gale couldn't move. The persistent beam kept him in place, forcing him to hold on to the blade. His feet dug into the metal floor as it pushed him back.
"Rachel!" he shouted.
She heard and ran straight at him as soon as she saw him.
At the last second, she jumped towards the front of Gale, just outside of the sword. She held onto Gale's collar, and with a snap of her fingers, an explosion blasted them toward the closing elevator door. Their forms slipped through the closing gate, hitting the dock hard. A loud thud could be heard, and the shudder of the gate silenced, no longer moving.