I needed to hold off the three demons in front of me for fifteen minutes. That’s how long it would take Adelaide to get the Matriarch out of Sterling.

The Hive Lords had stopped a couple hundred feet away from me, leaving a long stretch of no man's land in the center of the bridge. Their jaws were gaped open slightly, breath coming out in puffs of fog. I studied the werewolf in the center, watching as the tendrils that composed it expanded and contracted with its breathing. It loomed over the two mountain lions at its side; even hunched over, it was nearly triple their height. The three ganglions in its body lit up red on my sensors: one in the head, one in the chest, and one in the lower back. Camille had called it a ‘Prime’ during our last meeting, and the name fit: this thing was in a different league than the Hive Lord I’d just killed. I was ninety-nine percent sure that it was the one I’d fought with previously. It wasn’t based on anything, just a gut feeling I had.

The seconds ticked by as we faced each other. Suddenly, I heard the booms of railguns start to resonate in the air, followed shortly by the echoing crackle of rifle fire. The fighting on the riverbanks had started. The Assimilators would be getting cut down in the water as they crossed the river, helpless. But their sheer numbers would allow them to make it across without accruing too much damage. The battle was well under way. The militia were fighting. Why wasn’t I?

With a jolt I realized that they might be delaying for time as well. They knew that the other defenders wouldn’t be able to hold, that I was Sterling’s trump card. So, they wanted to take me out of the fight. I mean, I was dangerous enough that they’d committed their three Hive Lords to deal with me. It wasn’t too far of a stretch to assume that they would want to delay my entrance into the battle. Despite that, I didn’t think the stalemate would last for long. I was right about that, at least.

Without a moment’s notice, the Hive Lord on the far-left tore towards me, accelerating into a wild sprint. It broke away from the other two – it was probing me, seeing how I’d react to the first attack.

I grinned coldly underneath my metal helmet. It’s like the fucker was just begging to die.

I ignited the thrusters on my back and exploded towards the sprinting Hive Lord, the environment to the side of me turning into an indistinct blur as the anti-gravs let my feet skate lightly over the concrete. If the Hive Lord hadn’t been expecting that, it didn’t show; it continued racing at me without a hitch in its movement. We neared each other rapidly, getting closer and closer with each second, neither of us changing course. We were just a dozen feet apart when it leapt at me, powerful back legs propelling it forward, jaws wide open in a vicious snarl.

It was exactly what I’d been waiting for. Without stopping, I dropped to a slide on both knees, my thrusters keeping me going at full tilt. When I was directly under the Hive Lord, I angled my left arm up at it, the shotgun on my wrist popping up the gap between my forearm and the shield. With a crack, the shotgun fired. In the same motion, I brought my sword upright, and felt a brief, hard tug as it entered the flesh of the Worm above me. The newly-developed armor-piercing slugs fired from the shotgun ripped through the head of the massive Assimilator, utterly destroying the ganglion within it, while my sword disemboweled it from chest to tail. My weapon tore free of the Assimilator and I exited my slide, my front thrusters killing my forward motion as I came to a kneeling stop. Behind me, the momentum from the Hive Lord’s ill-fated attack kept it suspended in the air for a moment, until it crashed to the ground a few feet away. It wouldn’t be getting back up again.

One down.

I rose to my feet, sword and shield held askance. I brought my head up, and defiantly stared into the six red eyes of the Prime. The Assimilator stared right back, it’s head cocked slightly. The mountain lion Hive Lord next to it was screeching in anger, but the werewolf was silent, as if considering its next move. Despite the kill I just scored, a chill ran down my spine. I always thought of the Assimilators as mindless monsters - it was unsettling to think that the one in front of me might’ve been planning for the battle ahead, strategizing based on the difference in my abilities the last time we fought versus what it had just seen.

Luckily for me, it hadn’t seen anything yet. I hadn’t just been sitting on my ass during all those hours in time dilation.

I cut my thoughts short as the two remaining Assimilators began to move simultaneously, not even sharing a glance as they did. The mountain lion circled wide, crouched into a prowling gait, while the Prime started moving at me head on. Its steps sent tremors through the concrete of the bridge, and a low growl came from its jaws. The mountain lion was pacing, but it was leaving itself wide open to a quick attack. The Prime was guarded, claws splayed in a defensive posture. It was obvious which the easier target was.

I went for the harder one, launching towards the Prime at full tilt, trying to catch it off guard. I crossed the distance between us in the blink of an eye, skating smoothly across the bridge, the Paladin following my every command flawlessly. There was no surprise in its eyes, though, as it lunged forward to meet me, flashing its massive claws out like a pincer to catch me mid stride. It might have caught me the last time we fought, but things were different now. I ducked straight to my left, my shield held just high enough to let the Hive Lord's claws skim over it, deflecting its impact and throwing the monster off balance. My sword flashed as I followed up with a strike to its elbow joint. It didn’t connect fully, but it managed to cut through nearly all the way, leaving the arm dangling uselessly. I used the momentum from the strike to spin forward, facing the Prime again. I was within its reach now. If I was going to win this fight, I had to stay on the offensive and use the Assimilator’s size against it.

The Worm backpedaled furiously, trying to put some distance between us, but I skated right after it, firing a salvo from my rocket pods. They arced around the Prime’s sides, and detonated directly behind it. The ganglion wasn’t hit like I’d wanted it to, but the Prime was thrust forward by the explosion, onto my waiting sword. I speared it through the chest, directly through the bundle of nerves, and instead of bearing the weight of its collapsing body, I let go of the hilt and danced to the side. I left my sword impaled in the Assimilator's chest as it crashed to the ground.

My hand raised, I was prepared to fire another pair of slugs from my shotgun into the unprotected back of the Prime, when a flash of red on my HUD caused me to whirl to the side. I’d barely dodged the mountain lion Hive Lord that had sprung at me while I’d been distracted by the Prime. It landed lightly a dozen feet away, and with a swiftness that belied its size turned and leapt at me again, jaws wide open. I brought my shield up and tanked the attack, the impact driving me backwards. My stabilizers keep my steady on my feet, and I gave a quick warding thrust with my shield, causing the mountain lion to fall back slightly.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the werewolf rising to its feet again, the damage I’d dealt visibly repairing itself. I cursed under my breath. I thought it would’ve been down longer than that. I had to keep one down at all times; if they got the chance to gang up on me, I’d be absolutely fucked.

The mountain lion was eyeing me warily, caution in its stance. It was trying to keep me from doing more damage to the Prime, guarding it while it recovered.

I made a split-second decision, and moved toward Prime again, the anti-gravs on full blast. The mountain lion screeched and chased after me, but I was just a little faster. In a moment I was bearing down upon the struggling shape of the Werewolf, anti-matter rockets primed to launch. I saw the ruby eyes of the Prime split open and lock on to me.

I killed my back thrusters and fired the front ones. The Prime burst upwards towards me, but I had already stopped out of its range, my hand raised, and activated the electromagnet in my palm. My sword, still impaled in the werewolf’s chest, flew back to my hand, yanked by the powerful magnetic force. In one smooth motion, I caught it, dodge slightly to the left, and cut off the head of the mountain lion that’d leapt at me from behind. Its body crashed into the ground at rolled forward, landing at the Prime’s feet.

I clicked my tongue in frustration as I watched the Prime step over the body, crouching in a protective stance. Now that it was on the defense again, there was no way I’d be able to –

The Prime dashed forward, catching me off guard. I belatedly raised my shield, but it’s claw caught me at an awkward angle, hard, and sent me flying down the bridge. I hit the concrete like a sack of potatoes, the metal of my armor scraping against the bridge. I lay there winded and dazed, lines of red warnings flashing across my vision, but the rumbling of the massive Assimilator running towards me snapped me out of it. I jumped back up to my feet. I’d managed to keep hold of my sword and shield when I’d been hit, so I brought them up and faced down the charging Worm.

It was on me before I’d had a chance to take a steady stance, bringing a huge fist down to crush me. I swiveled to the left, barely dodging the blow, and took another hit with my shield. The long claws skittered off the shield’s surface, leaving deep scratches in the red and white paint. The metal underneath, however, was unharmed, which was pretty damn comforting, because the Prime was showing no signs of stopping its assault, raining down blow after blow that I warded off with a combination of dodging and blocking. It was forcing me steadily back, furiously trying to break my defense. Every time I tried to gain space, it would cut me off with its reach, and I didn’t have the opportunity to get in close with the speed of its attacks. I wasn’t taking any serious damage, and I was fighting back, my sword cutting deep gouges out of its hands and arms. But it was whittling me down, bit by bit. I’d been fighting for hours, and it was starting to catch up to me. I had to force something to change, or I’d be absolutely screwed when the mountain lion healed. I had to take a risk.

I dodged a blow, then purposely stumbled, leaving myself wide open. The Assimilator took the bait, rushing in with its right hand splayed. As I fell forward, the claws coming to meet me head on, I pushed off with the tip of my right foot and fired my front thrusters, sending me into a flying somersault right over the Prime’s arm. In midair, I lashed out with my sword, and cutting its hand off at the wrist. I completed my midair maneuver, landing and skating forward again in one motion. I got behind the Assimilator, racing as fast as I could towards the downed mountain lion.

Then, I felt something snake around my leg. The Prime’s tail had wrapped itself around my foot. It tensed, ready to pull me back.

I wouldn’t fall for that shit again though.

Without breaking stride, I sliced off the intruding appendage with my sword, not even giving it the chance to contract. That elicited a shriek of rage from the Prime, and it whirled to give chase, but I was far ahead of it. The training combined with the increased efficiency of the Paladin’s upgrades meant that I could move much, much faster than before, and I easily outpaced the giant running behind me.

But I wasn’t fast enough. My heart dropped as I saw the mountain lion roll to its feet, head fully regrown, teeth bared in a snarl.

I braked hard, stopping dead in my tracks. The Prime behind me did the same, the pounding of its feet fading out. My chest heaved as I stood between the two monsters. There was a pause in the battle. The Assimilators were still recovering from the damage I’d done to them, but I couldn’t take advantage of it. I was too damn tired, my body starting to become conscious of the beating it’d just received, and I had to let my power recharge after the stunt I’d pulled to get away from the Prime.

I was pretty fucked, stuck between two monsters that could regenerate from deadly wounds like they hadn’t existed in the first place. And as far as I could tell, they didn’t tire either, at least not visibly. I was outnumbered and badly outclassed. Had it been two of the normal Hive Lords, I could’ve beat them. But that Prime was something else. I couldn’t kill it. There was just no way, not in this situation.

And that made me realize that I was being an idiot, like usual.

I didn’t have to kill the damn thing. I just had to keep it occupied. I’d been going for the killing blow, hard on the offense to try to end them. But for this battle, a tie was a victory, and I only had to hold for a few more minutes.

I readied my weapons as the Assimilators started to move. They didn’t circle, they just approached me directly; The Prime came at me from the east, while the smaller Hive Lord came from the west. They were walking slowly, in a cautious, defensive stance. Every muscle in my body tensed as they entered within fifteen feet of me.

The smaller Hive Lord attacked first, as usual, exploding off its haunches in a blisteringly fast sprint. I spun on one heel and blasted towards it, and the werewolf lunged from behind me as well. Like a bullfighter, I whirled to one side of the mountain lion, letting it skim past my armor while giving it a light push with my shield. That was just enough to throw its control off, and it stumbled and rolled towards the Prime’s leg. The werewolf jumped over the falling Hive Lord and continued its pursuit of me. I faced it down and skated towards it, ducking under its arm as it swung forward. I didn’t go for the ganglion on its chest like I would’ve before; instead, I swerved to the left side and took an opportunistic slash at its ankle. My sword connected, and the Prime fell on all fours as its ankle gave out, but it had the presence of mind to whip its tail at me. I wasn’t fast enough to dodge it completely, and the spiked appendage glanced off my side, leaving a large dent and what was going to be one hell of a bruise.

The tail whip had thrown me off balance, but the stabilizers on my Paladin helped me recover in a flash, just in time to bash aside the face of the Mountain Lion with my shield as it snapped at me. It staggered from the blow, and I took the chance to retreat back down the bridge to the west. I stood at the ready again, sword at my side, shield up, my back facing Sterling. I was where I belonged again: between them and the town.

The Worms had both gotten back on their feet and paced towards me again, the mountain lion circling the wide right of me and the Prime heading right up the middle. They attacked simultaneously, moving in eerily perfect tandem. I took an anti-grav assisted step towards the Prime, gaining some distance from the smaller Hive Lord. This time though, the werewolf jumped backwards immediately, keeping me from getting close. I retreated as well, launching myself in a spinning backwards motion to meet the mountain lion’s oncoming attack. I caught its jaws with the blade of my sword, and there was a satisfying crunch as the Hive Lord’s teeth broke on the metal. Seeing an opportunity, I rotated the shield so that it was parallel to my arm, the bottom point facing down and protruding a few inches over my fist. I lashed out with it, driving the sharpened point into the Hive Lord’s skull, cracking it open like an egg. The mountain lion went slack.

I hesitated for a half-second, deciding whether to go for the killing blow. Which turned out to be a massive mistake.

The Prime caught up to me, and was on me in an instant, jaws bearing down like the specter of death. I panicked, bursting away from the Worm as fast as I could. But it had anticipated that, and a set of terrifying claws was waiting for me. I twisted at the last second, escaping a critical injury by a hairsbreadth, but one of the claws caught me high in the right shoulder, piercing through my armor and leaving a deep gash.

To buy time, I fired a trio of anti-matter rockets from my shoulder pods, detonating them in the air between myself and the Prime. The shockwaves sent me careening backwards, but created enough of a gap for me to catch my bearings. I didn’t have any more time than that though, because the Prime tore right through the explosion a moment later, face twisted in a snarl. I reset my shield to its usual position as I raised my arm to block a slash of its claws. It was a heavy attack, and I fired my front thrusters and shifted backwards to mitigate it. I was panting now, and my right arm burned from the injury it had just received. It screamed in protest as I swung my sword to parry the Prime, but the monster easily knocked away the feeble attempt, leaving my body unguarded.

The Worm ducked its head and slammed into me so hard the armor on my chest became deformed. I soared through the air like I’d been shot from a cannon, and landed hard on my back, the inertia dampeners not enough to stop my head from ringing against the back of my helmet. Something crunched underneath me, but there were so many alerts flashing on my HUD that I couldn’t pick out what it was. I pushed myself up and gasped in pain as my right arm gave out from the weight I’d put on it, forcing me back to my knees. Stupid. That was stupid. I shook my head and tried to blink away the black dots that were floating in my vision. I tried to get a quick read of my status on my HUD, but the lines were blurred. I couldn’t even see where the Prime was on the map.

But I heard it stomping towards me, felt the vibrations through the ground. It would destroy me if I stayed like this, rip me apart as if my armor wasn’t even there.

No.

I couldn’t fail here. Not when I was all that stood between these fucking monsters and Sterling. Not when all those people were counting on me, not when Camille and Adelaide were waiting for me to come home.

I would hold this bridge.

I would not break.

I picked myself off the ground, swallowing the blood that had risen into my mouth. I roared in defiance and sped towards the Prime, ducking and weaving between the frenzied swing of its arms, the anti-gravs dotting my Paladin glowing bright blue. I stopped thinking about it, stopped trying to analyze which attacks to block and which to dodge. I just relied on pure instinct, dancing through the attacks as if they weren’t there. An arm flashed in front of me and I cut it down in an instant. It snapped its head downwards at me, jaws gaping, but I brought my shield up and launched straight up into them, knocking the Prime backwards off its feet. The monster fell backwards hard into the concrete, sending cracks through the bridge. I fired my thrusters wildly to stay in the air above the Prime, then launched half my remaining rockets down into its body. It managed to shield itself with its limbs, but they were torn apart by the bright blue explosions, leaving an opening to its chest. I flipped my sword so that it faced downwards and cut my anti-gravs. I dropped like a stone, straight onto the werewolf, and buried my sword into its chest all the way up to the hilt. The Prime screamed in agony as its ganglion was impaled. I looked up and saw into its red eyes and a spike of confusion ran through my addled brain. I’d expected to see fear, but all that was there was triumph.

I felt the claws first. They tore into my armor, piercing my sides. Then came the impact, like being hit by a freight train. The mountain lion smashed into me knocking me off the chest of the Prime. I lost my grip on my sword as we tumbled together to the bridge's surface, the Hive Lord keeping a firm grip on me. It bit at my neck but I managed to lodge my arm into its open mouth, saving myself. This Paladin’s armor was much thinner than the Assault’s, and its teeth poked through and left bloody holes in my forearm. I bashed my shield up into its ribs, pummeling them over and over again, but it kept me pinned down, with its powerful back legs lashing at my stomach, trying to break through the armor that covered it. In desperation I fired my back thrusters, but the weight of the Worm was too much for them. I felt my strength sapping as I struggled against the Hive Lord, but I wouldn’t let my body stop fighting. I fired a blast from my left shotgun into its side, tearing a bloody hole open. The Worm ignored the injury and drew back, claws raised, to deliver the final blow. Then it looked up past me, and its eyes stretched wide open.

“STAY DOWN, SAM,” Adelaide screamed.

There was a deafening roar and a flash of white as the Merlin’s wing smashed into the Hive Lord, tearing it off my body. I saw the monster disintegrate from the force of the impact, its body scattered in a dozen directions. But the Merlin had flown too low and clipping the Hive Lord had knocked it off balance. It crashed into the ground, ripping up the concrete of the bridge as it flipped over and over again, both wings tearing off. It finally settled into place a few hundred feet away, smoldering and broken.

I lay there, gasping from pain and exhaustion, looking up the sky that was turning from morning to day. My brain was trying to process what had just happened, but the thoughts were elusive, as if hidden in a deep fog. After a few more seconds on the ground, I forced my unwilling body to its feet, swaying like a drunkard as I stood. My wounds were screaming at me, but I forced them out of my mind.

There were voices coming in over my coms, but I ignored them too. I had a job to finish. I reached back with a quivering hand and pulled my railgun off my back, holding it in both hands, my shield turning to get out of its way.

I walked unsteadily, feet like lead, over to where the Prime lay on the bridge. It was regenerating, but slowly. Its limbs were still just stumps, and my sword was still stuck in its chest. Somehow, it had flipped itself over onto its side, and it locked its eyes onto mine as I approached it. I raised the railgun, not intending to give it more time, and I pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

I looked down at it, and saw a deep dent in the barrel. The damn thing was broken, probably from when I’d been tossed around like a chew toy. I threw it aside with a growl, and let the shotgun on my right wrist pop out. I’d have to finish it up close and personal. I stalked towards the monster that helplessly lay there. It squirmed away from me as I approached, dragging itself with its stumps over to the side of the bridge. Suddenly, it went still. I tensed up, preparing to defend myself.

And watched in open mouthed shock as it launched itself backwards, over the side of the bridge, into the dark water far below.