[West City, Val Verde]

[Sea Wall, Section 215]

[June 21, 2023]

[9:21 PM]

[We move in five…]

Faith took in a deep breath. She clenched her eyes and tried to focus.

The engineering power frame hissed and creaked as she adjust her hold. The heavy plate in her frame's hands was wide and tall. The heavy, new tritanium plate her mechanical enhanced armored hands.

Faith opened her eyes and stared at her goal.

[three…]

All she had to do. All they had to do. Was run out of cover as the soldiers provided covering fire. Then team A rips out the old plates. Then she would set in the new metal plate.

Then weld it into place.

[One… Go!]

The focus of the battle shifted. The defenders acted as several red-shouldered Scopedogs popped above the surviving wall. They began to open fire. The incoming Omnics fired back as the third wave made it to the beach.

Like the first two waves, the large walkers stomped to shore. The APCs dropped off the humanoid soldiers and in the distance, the enemy Titan came closer.

A single stray shot from its arm cannons had torn the wall apart.

Faith watched as Team A began cutting off the broken plates. They pulled out the pieces and her stomach dropped as two were killed. The others didn’t even pause as they continued to work.

Earlier today, the enemy's second wave had made it through. They were stopped by reinforcements but the threat was clear. There were several safety shelters within a kilometer!

Faith had parents somewhere in the city. Her hands shook and the plate rattled. Explosions rocked around her and she got to watch as a Scopedog explode into pieces across the breach.

[Team B. Go!]

Faith moved.

Her mind sharpened and focus as she stomped out. Her power frame took slow, plodding steps away from the safe, dented wall.

All she had to do was place the plate into position. It slid roughly into place and Ed began to weld it into the metal base.

Lights flashed around her. One glanced at her shoulder guard. The metal hissed and popped but her power frame's arm still worked.

How was the attack still hitting her!? Faith looked to her left and felt her stomach drop.

There was still a hole.

Gary, or what was left of him, had fallen over. The headless bastard died on top of the plate. Even in death the greasy ass still somehow burdened her.

“Do you have this!?” Faith screamed into the intercom. The basic power armor didn’t have the best communication tools. Or she didn’t get it fixed yet.

“GOGOGO!” Ed screamed as the plate wobbled as gunfire slammed into the other side.

[Incoming!] the Scopedog pilot screamed.

The military mech took the brunt of a full set of attacks but didn’t break. It fired on those targeting the workers, but so many were on the beach now.

Faith moved. She ripped Gary’s body off and lifted the plate. Her arms strained as the hydraulics hissed in its own complaint. Her left power arm, the injured arm, whimpered as it tried to work harder.

She knew her machine well. It could take it!

She moved the two meters and slammed the plate home. Success!

Ed rushed over. “WRONG WAY!”

Faith stared at him in confusion. Then she looked over to see the right side up arrow pointing to the ground. Why was there a right way up?

“FUCK!!!!” Right the new shield wall. New plate design and command had been very explicit about the right way up.

Faith moved it with Ed. The flip was quick but a random shot hit Ed. The man wobbled but began to weld the right side.

Faith lit up her welder. The red line started top to bottom. Then her right arm lit on fire as a welder nearly cut into her human arm.

“FUCK! Watch it!” Faith screamed.

Ed’s welder kept burning into the sand and concrete. A blood-splattered hole was at his waist.

“Nonononono,” Faith mumbled as she took half a step towards the man. Then she took a breath and began to finish the weld he had started.

Halfway home.

A missile struck a section on the other side. the welded plates creaked but did not break. Sweat poured down her face as she concentrated.

75%.

Something exploded but she couldn't tell what. She was still moving so it probably was not her!

85%.

The world thumped. Her heartbeat was a metronome to her welding. The sparks flared against her protected visor. A stunning light that slowly moved down to finish the 2nd half of her job.

Done!

“Done!” she roared out in victory.

The entire wall seemed to hum. It vibrated as the new system kicked in and the attacks stopped poking dents in everything. The Sea Wall’s Phase Shift System turned on.

[Great job!] the Scopedog, sans head gave them a thumbs up. The back hissed and split open.

A man wearing Protect Gear stepped out. His protect gear also had a red shoulder on it.

“Reinforcements will be here in five minutes. The wall will hold as we get out!” the man said as he limped over to her power armor.

He climbed onto the right shoulder and grabbed onto a handhold. A monkey bar for various uses, like people hanging on for a ride.

“Move, when the Green Guardians get here, it will get messy fast.”

Faith nodded. Her heavy stomps were not quick, but it was quick enough as she walked back to the transport.

“What did we sacrifice for?” Faith asked as she saw that her team was down to four people, including her.

“You patched the hole. The invaders now have to either try four times harder to get through or find another weakness. Before they can break on through, they will have to deal with more than reactionary forces. You bought us time!”

Faith nodded.

Her coworkers had not died for anything. She watched as the new shield wall flicked. Their work was already breaking under the focused assault. Another section had it's top blown away and the hum faded.

Tears welled into her eyes. All for nothing.

The man plugged a cable into the APC’s terminal. He noted the damage but did not panic. The communication system switched to a terminal-only connection.

“Captain Chirico Cuvie reporting. Shield wall repaired. The emergency gate should be receiving power now,” Chirico said. The encrypted information got relayed to an operator, who relayed it again.

Chirico nodded. “Team A wiped out. Team B & C status unknown.”

His elites were devastated. There would be survivors, but the outlook was grim. He didn't know who was where or how they were doing. There was no time.

[Roger Captain Cuvie. Green Guardians are sweeping in from the south but prepare for Impulse-Gate shockwaves. Reinforcements gating now.]

There was a brilliant green flash. The emergency gate required a hidden connection at the base of the wall to complete. A connection that was repaired at the lives of a dozen engineer corps.

The wired connection filled with static as massive amounts of energy burst forth.

[TOOOOOOOOOOOOM]

110 tons. The very sky darkened as its presence cast a massive shadow over the beach and Sea Wall.

It stood on eight coils like an octopus but grouped into four ‘legs’. The body was a simple rectangular box. Smaller coils made up its arms and connected to cylinders. Its shoulder was spherical.

It looked like something a child would have drawn for the word ‘robot’.

Then it fired.

[Vreeeeeeeeeee!]

The world seemed to brighten. The front of the cylinders condensed energy into a massive beam of light. The attack stretched out and touched something. An explosion of fire and earth erupted at the target.

The damned wall prevented them from seeing.

Then the spheres seemed to vibrate as dozens of holes opened up. Dozens of missiles launched into the air and fell onto the invading forces.

The Omnics returned fire.

The people filed out of the APC and saw lights, bullets, missiles, and other things hit the war machine. It seemed to wobble a bit as it took everything the enemy could give.

Then it returned fire.

“Battle Platform, Timber Wolf confirmed,” Chirico said before he unplugged from the terminal. A final set of orders were relayed to him.

[Vreeeeeeeeeee!]

Two more shots. Two more explosions rumbled through the air. Smaller lasers began to fire from the sides of the main cylinder cannons and the robot's waist.

In two minutes the beach was clear.

Then it began to move.

[Boooom!]

Each step was slow, ponderous, and showed its weight. Its next target, the Omnic Titan offshore.

[Boooom!]

“What do we do now?” Faith asked as the soldier stood beside her.

“Rest,” the man said simply. “You have sacrificed enough. Val Verde cannot ask more of you.”

Faith nodded and noted that a new gate opened up. Yet there was no gate… unless it was underground? Was what she had repaired!?

Soldiers began to pour through. They carried heavy machines with them and quickly set it up as a new Impulse-Gate entry point.

A new portal opened and from both portals, men poured out. The newer, larger portal also had vehicles.

Two red-shouldered Scopedogs came through with a massive pallet in tow.

“Great work,” the man said as he limped out to meet the new Scopedogs. The pallet opened to reveal another Scopedog.

Faith watched as the man slowly climbed in. Then the machine got up. The mech saluted with a fist, fist, palm towards the four engineers.

Then they all took off towards the new battlefield.

Her feet moved. It took her back to the wall which no longer shook.

A section of the wall was lowered and the soldiers poured out to engage the enemy.

Faith climbed on top of the broken Scopedog and watched the battle unfold.

Her fists clenched and her power armor’s servos whined as the pressure was registered.

Ranks of tanks and artillery began a coordinated attack on the Omnics as they tried to withdraw. They launched counter-attacks but It didn’t work as the reinforcements advanced.

The enemy Titan traded fire with Val Verde’s Titan.

The two seemed to focus solely on each other now. Laser fire and missile barrages.

The Omnic monster was half melted and on fire. Val Verde’s Titan seemed uninjured from her vantage point. It stomped forward without fear.

“No longer weak,” a woman whispered from beside her.

Faith jumped and stared at Sally from Team A. When did she get here!?

Sally stared at her. Those deep eyes showed a trace of madness. “We are longer weak.”

Faith nodded. Sally had lived through Zemo’s Folly. As did her own parents.

“For the Greater Good,” Faith whispered. Her convictions blazed as the enemy Titan exploded into a small mushroom cloud.

Wind battered at them, and the other two survivors whistled.

Water surged up to the Sea Wall but then receded.

The enemy ships began to turn. The battle was over!

[Crrrk. To any available engineers. Support requests throughout the city. Please support any citizens stuck or injured due to the attack. Support crews are already being deployed.]

“We have work to do,” Faith said as she turned and hopped off the broken Scopedog.

She landed on the concrete with a crash. The other three followed her back to the APC.

“Driver, back into the city!” Faith ordered as she sat down in her seat. The others remained empty.

Team B followed her as they moved into the city to provide support.

————

Chapter 64 - Duty, Honor, Life