"Don't just stand there! Destroy that villain!"

The panic-stricken troopers opened fire on Markus. Blocking the bullets and plasma shots with only his left arm as it glowed and morphed back into his arm his right began to glow, morphing into a chain gun. The gun began spooled as he threw the arm forwards, firing out blue energy shots. Five human troopers and one bunny trooper were gunned down while the others began squirming for cover.

A shield brute charged forwards, absorbing the projectiles on his shield as he charged the cyborg intending to ram him. Before impact, Markus quickly zipped across the ground, carried by something in his feet, moving around the brute as his right hand morphed back into his arm which crackled with blue energy. As the brute turned about, Markus's fist slammed into its left side, breaking through his armor. The brute collapsed to the ground before being taken out by a blow to the face, the helmet shattered on impact. Another brute towards Markus, leaping off the ground swinging his hammer overhead. Markus raised his right hand towards the incoming attacker, creating a barrier that absorbed the impact, bouncing the attacker back off-balancing him. His left hand morphed back into a cannon. When the barrier disappeared, Markus struck his cannon into the brute's chest and fired. The beast was sent flying back, landing on the ground with a smoldering hole in its chest.

"Air support! What are you waiting for?!"

One of the hermit transports lowered itself, opening its doors as a brute appeared at the door, firing a chain gun. Markus zoomed backward across the ground as the ground littered with tracer fire. Plates on his back opened up, and from it seven mini-missiles launched, hitting the left side of the hermit blasting the gunner. Turning clockwise, Markus brought his cannon to bear and fired, hitting the ship's rear-engine, causing it to fall from the sky as the fuselage was ripped apart by an intended chain reaction.

"Tch," Fukinoki took a step forwards with his tall machine waking beside him. "If you want something done right, you may as well do it-"

Cerberus suddenly pounced, snatching the rabbit's staff again.

"Haven't you learned your lesson," Fukinoki said, turning around- "GACK?!"

In the confusion, Sasha had rushed him, slamming her fist into his soft belly, launching him into the sky where Meracle was. The cait sith spun in the air, kicking Fukinoki's furry face sending him down like a rocket, crashing into his own robot.

"Ahh... why you-" The rabbit squirmed to his feet in time to see Melvin, "wha....?" with a giant fireball hovering right above him.

"Burning Hearts!"

Melvin threw his spell at the downed rabbit who was shielded by the tall robot but to no avail. The spell struck it in the back, shattering the construct to pieces, launching the rabbit backward.

Haida saw the rabbit fall. Scowling she strolled over towards the three children responsible, electrical sparks crackling through her fingertips. "Lieutenant!"

One of the troopers called out. Haida turned around. Reacting on instincts, she moved backward, parting her head, narrowly avoiding losing an eye to Nel. Haida continued on the back foot as Nel continued her assault, lunging her dagger forwards, dodging a counter-attack before kicking her shin trying to stagger her. Her foot simply bounced off her shin, as though hitting a solid piece of iron. With the loss of momentum, Nel backed away as Haida began her counter attack.

"Where did she come from?!" A brute trooper exclaimed.

"Support the lieutenant-!" A human soldier began before his armor was hit with a pepper of bullets, one catching him in the back of the neck. The brute turned about, opening fire. Larek, ducked back behind the building panting as Otto blind fire with his pistol.

"I knew that was a bad idea?!" Larek said as he hunkered down.

"You useless worms!" Mardo growled, still clutching his stub as he walked forwards, watching more and more troopers falling one after the other to Markus. "I'll deal with him myself!"

"You still got us to deal with!" Max yelled as he charged towards Mardo. Grinding his teeth, Mardo turned about, letting out a sonic blast. When Max was closer. However, anticipating his move, Max used flames to propel himself upwards, landing on the metal arm before it fired off the blast. Clutching the metal with his hands, Max landed a solid flame kick to the man's face knocking out a tooth.

Yuki was next. With the lieutenant staggered, Yuki followed up the advantage, slicing into the man's left thigh followed by a vertical slice to his chest then a final horizontal cut to the belly.

Mardo gasped, holding his bleeding chest, "You... villains-" looking up in time to see Rodger haling a large stone mallet, crashing into his face knocking him to the floor.

"That's payback for before!" Rodger said giving a victory sign.

Haida stopped her counter attack when she saw Mardo falling to the ground. "Tch, how could this have gone so wrong?" Nel tried to take advantage of her momentary lapse in concentration, lunging her dagger forward. Haida however caught the attack, grabbing her arm with her left hand, cackling energy with her right only for it to be caught.

Cliff stood behind her holding her back. Mirage suddenly took advantage, kneeing Haida in the face. As the woman staggered back, Nel freed her hand, roundhouse kicking Haida in the gut, backing away as both Cliff and Mirage followed up, driving both their fists into Haida's gut. The woman skidded across the ground, arms raised refusing to fall.

Haida relaxed, feeling the oppressive presence of Markus standing right behind her with his chain gun fixed to rip her head to pieces. All around her the trooper reinforcements were either dead or fleeing to cover. Fukinoki had just gotten back to the fight before being pinned down by Meracle and Sasha with Melvin keeping his wand fixed on the furball. Mardo meanwhile had been taken out completely.

"I want answers," Markus said pressing his chain gun closer to Haida's head. "What was Aralius's strategy to retrieve the Star Singer? You knew she was not here. Even if you were after the pilots this display of force seems unnecessary."

"Hm... You certainly live up to your reputation," Haida said, brushing aside a loose bang. "Unfortunately for you out assault has yielded the results commander Aralius was hoping for."

"What results?"

"I'll leave that for you to figure out."

The wind began to whistle, disturbing the uneasy peace that had overcome the battlefield almost too well, a general feeling of dread overcame the party like a calm before a hurricane with the noise getting louder. Markus lowered his weapon from Haida, scanning the sky. Everyone else followed suit looking up at the sky.

"But first... you might want to deal with that."

Up above hovered another of the transports. Unlike the others a large chunk was missing. What replaced it was something large and bulky. As it got closer, four metal legs detached from its outer shell. While everyone was distracted, Haida raised a hand to her ear. "Deploy the Warframe."

The clamps on the dropship detached from the object sending it plummeting downwards. The object slammed into the ground at the parties south like a meteor. Melvin, Sasha Meracle, and Cerberus were blown off their feet by the resulting shockwave.

"Oh what now?!" Melvin shouted at Rodger, Max and Yuki joined them.

The dust began to dissipate, revealing a black armored beetle raising above them, looking almost like a beetle. Unpainted plates covered most of its body, letting out an ominous hiss from its joints.

****

"What is it? Some kind of drone?" Cliff asked out loud.

Nel was not so certain herself. She had seen many strange things in the previous encounter but nothing such as this machine before her. The machine in question made a loud humming sound as a red light blinked on its T shaped gap on what Nel guessed was its head. Plates parted beside it. Blue energy began to shimmer in its place.

".... All of you get back!!" Markus suddenly rushed forwards, parking himself in front of the others as he threw up a barrier just moments before the machine fired off a hail of blue light, impacting all around them.

"Oh no, Sasha!" Mirage yelled as she raced forwards. Cliff did the same.

Nel was about to join them when she felt a breeze blowing at the back of her neck. Turning she saw a transport touching down. The blue-haired woman was there, hauling her injured comrades into the open door. The arrival of the machine had caused the party to completely forget about the captured lieutenants. "Wait!"

Nel turned around with the intention to use quickstep. Gunshots just a few meters from her feet stopped her. The shots were fired by a machine within the dropship that the creature like Otto was using to lean against. The blue-haired woman watched Nel as the dropship began to pick up before the door closed, sealing their escape.

****

Markus gritted his teeth as his barrier held against the energy missile attacks, fortunately giving out at the final hit. When the dust settled the machine dropped two small cannons from its underbelly.

"Damn, scatter!" Markus threw up another barrier as the children behind him split up. Red energy fired from the cannons, smashing against his barrier. When he was confident everyone was safe, Markus dropped his barrier, the tracks on the souls of his feet dragged him back as his right arm morphed into a chain gun which harmlessly peppered against its carapace. Cliff, Nel and Mirage joined the cyborg all standing at the ready.

"This is getting more complicated by the second," Cliff growled as he clenched his fists.

"Please be cautious," Markus said as his left arm morphed into a cannon. "If that is what I believe it is, you cannot underestimate it!"

****

Yuki circled to the machines right. Beside him was Rodger and Sasha who had followed him.

"Whoa! That thing looks like one of them walkers Celtic Hoard had!" Rodger commented.

"Looks like they're bringing out the big guns," Yuki said gleefully. With a deep breath he held out his katana, pointing the tip at the giant machine in front of them. "You two ready."

"Yes!" Sasha stood to his left, putting up her little fists. "I won't let that thing anywhere near my home!"

"A real man never backs down in the face of adversity!" Rodger shouted, twirling his hammer in his hand.

"Alright," Yuki changed his stance, bringing his katana close to his body. "Let's send this thing back to the scrap heap!"

****

Max skidded to a halt at the machines left flank with Meracle, Melvin and Cerberus stopping right beside him gawking at the new foe before them.

"Meow, that thing's huge!" Meracle pointed out with her tail going stiff.

"Where did they pull something like that from?!" Melvin complained with Cerberus letting out a small bark.

"Who cares?" Max said slamming his fist into his palm. Flames erupted running across his arms. "It's just a machine so let's just rip it to shreds like we did those enforcer things!"

"I was afraid you'd say that," Melvin groaned, raising his wand at the ready. "Not like I see any other way out of it... Ready Mary?"

"M-Meow!" Meracle began hopping on the ground, loosening up her body for the upcoming battle. "I just hope this thing's not as bad as it looks...."

"Somehow I have a feeling it is,"

Max grinned, lowering his body as he continued to channel his flames through his hands. "Right! Let's waste this thing!"

"Oh shit. This is really bad...." Larek ducked back behind the building, clutching the borrowed gun close to his chest. "Can't believe they brought something like that here...."

Otto scotched over his college, peering out the side of the building. "Shouldn't we help them?" He asked.

"With these things, are you kidding?" Larek responded shaking the borrowed rifle. "It could barely get through trooper armor let, let alone some giant drone!"

"I mean we can salvage something from the base. There's bound to be some kind of explosives lying around." Otto pointed out.

"....... Ahhh, at this point what do we have to lose?"

****

Markus opened fire on the machine with his cannon, the blasts bouncing harmlessly off the front plate. His companions at his side scattered when the machine began firing off energy shots at him, peppering the ground.

Max and Yuki both charged in from the flanks attacking its main body. Each attack bounced off the plate armor. Melvin threw a couple of fireballs but even they did little damage to the armor plating.

"That doesn't look like it's working!" Cliff yelled as the four walked backward. The machine advanced slowly towards the front group before plates parted again with blue energy.

"Scatter!" Markus yelled as the drone fired, impacting the ground where the four once stood.

The drone continued forwards uninterrupted until a fiery explosion erupted on top. Max stood in the center, whaling on the metal plates with his bare fists.

"Max! That's clearly not working on this thing!" Melvin yelled at the top of his voice.

"It worked on that pile of metal that attacked Rodger's village!" Max yelled back with a wide smile, gathering flames to his fist. "Don't see why this thing should be any different!" He pounded down on the machine, hitting hard enough to stagger the machine, finally halting its movements.

"Meow! That looks like it did something!" Meracle celebrated bouncing off the ground.

The machine moved once more, turning around until it was facing Meracle, Melvin and Cerberus. The two cannons below began to glow bright blue light, aiming directly at them.

"I-I think he just pissed it off!!"

"NYEWW?!"

Both ducked for cover as a blue beam fired from the cannons melting the building behind them.

"GUYS?!" Max yelled, "wha-?!" before almost losing his footing as the machine began to move again.

"Hey pyro! What are you doing up there?!" Yuki called up, jumping before being crushed by the moving legs. Meracle (who had her belly to the ground) rolled to avoid another leg while Melvin squirmed out of the way. Max lost his footing as the machine continued to turn, grabbing a hold of a loose plate.

Sasha and Rodger began attacking the front right leg, trying to off-balance it, but to no avail. Even when Rodger raised the earth below its foot it only staggered slightly before correcting itself. Sasha's attempts to break the plates to the mechanical skeleton was met with just as little success due to the armor plating.

"Out of the way!" Yuki rushed in, slicing into the plate leaving a small cut. "Shit! Still nothing?"

"Look out!" Sasha called out. The machine had completed its turn bringing its cannons to bear on the three.

Suddenly, blue energy began peppering the left cannon which let out a mini-explosion. "It's armor's too thick!" Markus called out walking towards the machine, chain gun spewing out a hail of fire. "Target anything that is exposed! If my hypothesis is correct, it's underbelly should be where the armors weakest!

As the machine waned, Mirage charged in, leaping off the ground and drop-kicking the damaged left cannon, ripping the weapon. The machine buckled backward, smoke pouring out of its lost weapon as the right resided back into its body. Max meanwhile finally lost his grip, flopping down to the earth below.

"Max!" Melvin called out, casting a fireball at the machine's underbelly. "Hit it from below!"

"Right," Max performed a handstand before letting out a roar of flames, both hitting the machine while forcing him backward before he righted himself as Cliff and Yuki began to charge in. The machine groaned with the underbelly beginning to glow a bright orange.

"Get back!" Markus warned.

Cliff and Yuki stopped in their tracks and lept back as flames erupted from below the machine for five seconds before stopping. The machine began crawling forwards towards Markus who was forced to maneuver out of the way, still firing at the machine with his chain gun. The machine turned and opened its front plates, charging and firing a hale of blue energy rockets. Markus and Melivn threw up barriers while Rodger created an earth wall as the rockets hit everything around them.

"Looks like that did somethin'!" Rodger said enthusiastically as his rock barrier began to crumble. The dust settled and the party was faced with the machine again. "Huh?"

The machine gave off a strange green mist.

"Cruses!" Markus took the lead, clicking his tongue his left arm morphed back into a cannon. "Everyone brace yourself!"

The machine lowered two cannons and once again opened fire as it marched towards the group. Everyone dived back into whatever cover they could while Markus continued to fire his cannon.

"Hold on, did we destroy one of the guns?" Mirage asked hugging close to Sasha.

"It has a self-repair function like mine!" Markus said, skidding out of the way of the shots as he continued raining fire on the machine. "That would make destroying this construct far more problematic then I had previously anticipated!"

"Just means we gotta break it down way so it can't fix itself!" Max said taking position next to Markus along with Yuki.

"It's not that simple!" Markus protested as his be brought out his chain gun.

"Never is," Yuki said, moving very slightly to the left allowing an energy shot to pass him by.

A horn sounded. To the machines left a military car skidded, grinding against the sheet metal ally before ramming into the machine and full force, pinning it against the building on the opposite end.

"What the-?" Cliff exclaimed. "Are they nuts?!"

"It can't be!" Markus said.

The vehicle itself was driven by none other than Larek. His foot was firmly pressed on the gas as he continued to force the vehicle into the machine to keep it pinned. "I don't think.... It's gonna last much longer!" He said as the engine screeched in protest. "Otto! Any time now!"

Otto appeared in the open panel on the roof. He aimed a rocket launcher he had taken from one of Altosk's troopers and fired, the rocket hitting the machine between its left legs. "Got it!"

The machine growled as the bottom began to glow red, several exhausts suddenly appearing.

"Oh no! Get out of there!" Markus said as he began firing with his cannon.

"I got this!" Max announced before bursting flames from his feet, rocketing himself forwards before slamming into the vehicle at full force, flipping it right as the machine bellowed fire from its underbelly.

****

"WHAASSSHHIIII!!!!"

"WHOOAAAA!"

The vehicle rolled over and over before finally stopping, catching on something, nearly toppling over one last time before landing on all fours.

"Uhhh.... What was that?" Larek moaned. "Otto... are you still there?"

"Yeah..." Otto said, laying on his neck with his small feet in the air. "Somehow...."

Larak groaned as he opened his door flopping to the ground. He saw the large dent in the side of the vehicle. He chose this vehicle because of the clearly heavy armored plating which in his mind should have provided some protection against the war machine. Yet whatever had just struck them had practically bent the midsection, breaking off the left rear door off its hinges.

"Sorry about him. That boy doesn't exactly know how to control his strength."

Nel was standing a few feet away, examining the rocket launcher that Otto had fallen out of the vehicle. She looked towards the giant machine that seemed to be wrapped in a strange glowing mist emanating from a spot on the top of the machine.

"Hey," She addressed Otto as he crawled out of the vehicle. "Does this thing still work?" She asked hauling up the rocket launcher.

"Uh..." Otto and Larek exchanged puzzled looks. "Well, those Altosk rocket launchers are duel shots so there should be one more round left inside."

"Perfect," Nel turned about resting the weapon on her shoulder. "Mind if I borrow this?"

"Uh... be my guest."

****

The machine opened up the metal plates on the side of its head, firing off another hale of energy shots that impacted all around the party. Max meanwhile was up ahead, jumping and dodging the various energy shots that were sent his way before letting out a fire roar, striking the machine's faceplate leaving no damage.

"Damn it!" Max swore, leaping out of the way to avoid being crushed by its legs. The twin guns stopped firing, preparing to release another powerful ray.

"Not good. Everyone get behind me!" Markus called out. Everyone but Max retreated behind the cyborg as he created a barrier.

"MAX! HEADS UP!" Melvin called out.

Unable to retreat in time, Max dropped to the ground as the weapons fired, withstanding the extreme heat washing over him. The beam struck Markus's barrier which held just enough to withstand the full force of the blast. "Mr. Max!"

"Relax, he's fine!" Yuki said clicking his tongue.

Sure enough, Max had jumped back to his feet, putting some distance between him and the machine as it began to fire once again.

"Lemme guess, it's just gonna keep repairing itself!" Cliff shouted to Markus.

"There should be an exposed either drive that powers its self-repair function."

"A what?"

"Like this," Markus tapped on the blue glowing triangle in the center of his chest. "It would have to be exposed like this in order to absorb and unleash eather! If we can destroy it should not only disable the self-repair function but also surreally cripple it!"

"Ok, and where exactly would this core be?"

"Look! It's Nel!" Sasha suddenly shouted.

Right behind the machine Nel rushed in with a rocket launcher in her hand before performing a quickstep, repapering a few feet in the air now flying over the machine. In her turn she took aim with the rocket launcher, her eyes glowing yellow as she pulled the trigger. The rocket fired and struck a point on the machine's back. The machine squirmed as electricity arched all across its body. Nel discarded the rocket launcher as she fell towards the ground.

"Wha- Nel!" Max raised his arms and caught the falling Nel, caring her in a bridal hold.

"Thank you," Nel nodded. "Though you should probably start running."

"Huh?" Max looked up at the squirming machine as it opened its side plates again. "Oh... yeah good idea!" Max began to run with Nel as energy rockets flew everywhere, hitting almost everything around it, more at random than before.

".... I believe the core has been destroyed," Markus said to Cliff as Max and Nel regained the group.

"Yeah.... Good shot." Cliff said to Nel as she jumped back to the ground.

"Thank you," Nel said, drawing her dagger.

"Ok, so that means it won't fix itself, anymore right?" Yuki asked.

"Yes. In fact, I should be able to destroy it now." Markus's body began to glow blue, startling the nearby Melvin and Sasha. On his feet, several clamps materialized embedding themselves in the ground. On his back, his back plates parted as four glowing blue cylinders moved outwards. His left arm morphed into a giant rail-gun, balancing out on a tripod that anchored itself into the earth. Five cables began to coil like snakes from his right hand, pugging into open sockets in the rail-gun.

"Whoa! What's that?!" Rodger exclaimed with sparks in his eyes.

"I need you to distract it for at least three minutes," Markus said as his weapon began to hum. "With its core destroyed it should be going on a rampage attacking everything near it like a wild animal. I need you to draw its attention away from me why I charge up."

"We can do that," Yuki said.

The machine brought out its cannons firing almost indiscriminately. Melvin took position in front of Markus conjuring a barrier as energy shots peppered the ground around them. Max and Yuki were the first to charge in, skidding underneath the rampaging machine, Max grabbing hold and tearing off the left cannon while Yuki sliced through the right. While the machine began to turn, Rodger charged in, jumping off the ground and slamming his hammer down. A rock spike jutted from the earth, ripping into the machine's underbelly tearing out components as the machine staggered back.

As electricity began to circulate through its body it opened its metal panels, letting out another hale of blue energy bursting out from in an out-of-control hale of destruction. Through the debris Cliff and Mirage charged in, skidding to a halt next to its right front right leg, slamming their fists into its front leg with as much strength as they could muster, knocking the rampaging machine off balance. Meracle and Sasha followed up the assault, passing by the two grown-ups getting under the collapsing machine's front left. Both then slammed their attacks into its exposed joint. The combined enhanced strength of the two girls lifted the machine upwards again. It's front left leg was broken off in the attack, broken off the main body. Cliff and Mirage stood back as the detached limb crashed into the ground.

"Alright, It's ready!" Markus called out. Melvin dropped his barrier as everyone else scrambled away from the badly damaged machine as it labored to keep its balance. Arcs of electricity surged across the inner rail as the blue energy within grew brighter. The cylinders on his back bellowed a blue mist, energy surged through the cables feeding power into the main weapon.

"Rail-gun primed..." Three cylinders poked out from the rear of the rail-gun as the blue energy reached its apex. The three-legged machine turned its attention to Markus once again, charging up it's eather missiles for another blast. "FIRE!"

Everything happened in a second. As the light was released and dissipated faster than anyone could see with the naked eye a giant hole opened up in the machine, leaving a melting pathway that went through the left port and out the rear.

Markus's body began to revert back as steam erupted from the still exposed cylinders in Markus's back. The machine struggled forwards, its body functions grinding to a halt. The red light in his visor blinked out. The machine fell to the ground, the molten metal still smoldering.

****

Cpt. Brice poked his head out from cover, bringing his rifle to bear on the mysterious troopers, firing at full automatic. He watched crossing the open through the rusted tracks being gunned down in a hail of bullets. He watched another one of the large troopers being hit by a grenade launcher (throwing two other troopers aside), surviving the blast only to be gun down moments later. He himself gunned down a trooper after they poked their head out from behind the rusted carts that still littered the track.

The initial assault threw the base into chaos. The initial attack had killed the commanders and mission control leaving him in charge of the survivors to organize a retreat, leading to a last stand at the old and overgrown train station. Whatever supplies they could muster had been brought there with the surviving ten Humvees and Striker APC providing support. The open ground proved the killing field, with the troopers digging in at the opposite side exchanging fire with the Sector 13 soldiers, putting up metal entrenchments on the platform to use as cover while other troopers tried to push forwards into the tracks. The large brutes with shields tried advancing across the open field with a squad of rocket troopers behind them. All were gun down but not before three Humvees were destroyed as well as four of his own men after a rocket struck close by.

"McRayle! Any word from command?" Brice shouted as he ducked back behind cover. The trooper beside him however collapsed backward having been shot in the head.

"Sir! Still no word!" The woman yelled back, ducked in the station office as a sniper took aim at the window.

Brice poked his head up and opened fire once again before ducking back. "Keep trying!"

"Sir! What if they don't respond?" Another soldier, Peers called out.

Brice didn't respond, instead of firing another round out front witnessing another Humvee blowing up from a rocket attack. Collapsing back to the ground, Brice reloaded his weapon. "I'll be damned if we die here!"

Brice stood back up and returned fire to the blue armored enemies across the tracks, picking off a small dwarf trooper in a hail of gunfire. The APC moved across the tracks, it's current continuing to lay down suppressing fire on the troopers, forcing them to give ground on the tracks.

"Alright! Looks like we got them on the run!" O'Neal called out as he and a squad broke from the cover of the station, moving across to the tracks.

"Delta! Bravo! Provide suppressing fire! Alpha, Echo! With me!" Brice barked orders before vaulting through the window, running to the tracks to support Charlie squad, using his grenade launcher to kill one of the large brutes. Alpha and Echo followed (two soldiers falling to gunfire), joining the battle on the tracks as the APC maneuvered forwards with the Sector 13 soldiers providing backup. The momentum was broken when the APC exploded, killing five of Charlie squad in the blast. Brice himself was blown off his feet.

"Shit!" He caught sight of what had destroyed the APC. Marching past the APC's carcass was one of the brutes, covered from head to toe in thick blue plated armor, armed with a massive gun that no human could possibly wield, possessing both a heavy cannon and a rocket launcher. "Fall back!" Brice called out opening fire. Echo squad did the same, only for their bullets to harmlessly bounce off the thick plates. The brute returned fire, whipping out Echo squad before they could reach cover with its heavy cannon. It then turned its attention to one of the humvees, destroying it with its rocket launcher.

Brice took cover near one of the destroyed humvees, reloading his weapon. He was now cut off from the rest of the squad as the brute began opening fire on the besieged soldiers.

"Cap!" Rook's voice called over the radio.

"I'm fine!" Brice said, poking his head out of the side of the humvee to the trooper's battle line, moving back as a bullet hit close by. The large brute didn't seem to notice him. The rest of Charlie and Echo was on the tracks, pinned down next to another destroyed humvee.

"Captain! This is Charlie! We're pinned down here!" O'Neal barked over the radio. "The enemy is advancing again. We need support!"

"Copy Charlie! Rook! Can you lay down suppressing fire!"

"Negative Cap! That big guy's got us pinned down in here!"

A human trooper ran past Brice. The captain gunned the unaware trooper on instinct. The armored brute was just ahead, letting outburst fire on the station. On its back was a giant generator with cables that connected to the gun. He noticed it lacked the same heavy plates that the front. That must be its weak spot!

Brice took the chance, firing his grenade launcher. It struck the generator causing notably visible damage. The brute itself toppled forwards following the blast, before turning to Brice. The captain ducked back behind the Humvee as the heavy cannon peppered against the Humvee's husk. Smoke trailed from the rear generator.

"Delta! Bravo! Open fire on the thing's back!"

"Copy that!"

Gunfire and a rocket shot-blasted against the back generator. The brute lumbered, turning its attention back to the station, firing off a rocket of its own. Brice reloaded his grenade launcher, took aim, and fired. The generator exploded. The brute threw down its weapon as large chunks of its armor fell off as though he was malting. Yet he remained standing, and through a cracked visor glared at Brice.

Brice swallowed, pulling out his magazine to check how much ammo was left. There was a single bullet, and all his magazines on his belt were empty. The brute roared and charged Brice. Forced to abandon his rifle, Brice pulled his sidearm, firing two shots before the brute reached him. He was grabbed by the waist and was haled upwards into the air before being slammed to the ground. Brice grunted, feeling his bows rattle before being picked up in the air again. With only his pistol, Brice opened fire on the brute's face and through good fortune struck it in the eye.

Brice was dropped as the brute reeled back clutching its helmet. Brice crawled past it, aiming for the dead trooper he had gunned down moments before, reaching for its rifle. The brute recovered just as Brice grabbed ahold of the weapon, rolled on his back, and pulled the trigger. The gun had almost no recoil as it fired full automatic, piercing through exposed armor with more ease then his own rifle could. When the weapon ran dry Brice struggled back to his feet as the brute collapsed to one knee, still very much clinging to life. Drawing his pistol, Brice fired again into the brute's eye. When it collapsed, Brice unloaded the last of his bullets into its body for good measure.

"Captain!" Rook and Delta squad formed up around him, opening fire beside the destroyed Humvee. "They're pulling back!"

Brice stuck his head out from the Humvee. On the opposite end of the tracks, the troopers were indeed beginning to pull back. In the tree lines, the enemy transports could be seen taking off.

"Alright! We finally got those bastards on the run!" One of his men shouted.

"What should we do cap? Should we chase them?"

"Negative," Brice shook his head before pressing the receiver of his radio. "All units, do not pursue the enemy! Hold the line until they've left then regroup at the station!"

"You sure bout this cap?" Rook asked.

"We've lost far too many already. I'll be damned if we lose any more," Brice said. "Medics, tend to the wounded. Critical first."

It was only when the last of the troopers had left the long calm came. When the noise finally died down and the last of the transports had left, the full weight of what had happened to crash down on the captain. Out of the battalion that was deployed to Little Wood, little under thousand Sector 13 personnel in total, a mere fifty-three were left, including the wounded.

Brice walked grimly through the aftermath at the station, his feet brushing against the spent bullet casing that littered the floor. What was left of his men were all around, moving the dead and tending to the wounded while taking stock of whatever was left.

"How the hell did this happen cap?" Rook asked, walking alongside the captain. "How'd they take us unaware like that?"

"...... I wish I knew," Brice grunted.

"Captain!" McRayle approached.

"Did you get through to command, corporal?"

"Yeah... I got through." She said pointing over the shoulder. "You should take this?"

"Right..." Brice and Rook followed McRayle into the office to the long-range communication equipment set up on the dilapidated desk. When there McRayle handed Brice the receiver.

"Captain Brice?" The one coming through was none other than the director himself. "Where's Doroland?"

"Commander Doroland is dead."

"What you mean dead?!"

"Sir, we were attacked by an unknown force. Commander Doroland was killed in the initial assault while Major Garson was killed while organizing the evacuation."

"The Garson too? Then who the hell's in charge?"

A glance out the office window gave Brice the answer he needed himself. "That would be me sir."

There was a long pause before the director spoke once again. "Alright captain, I want a situation report and I want it now. What the hell happened out there?"

"Sir," Brice explained as much as he could about what happened, starting with the unknown aircraft appearing out of nowhere followed by a full assault. He left nothing out, explaining the weaponry, drones, and other creatures that were clearly not human as well as the link to the two prisoners.

"Shit... And they just ran away?"

"Looks that way, director. I guess whatever they were after they got it."

"And? What's left?"

"Honestly sir, there's barely anything left. Most of our equipment was lost in the initial assault and we've suffered heavy-"

"Yeah yeah yeah, not that." The director dismissed. "I mean the enemy. Their bodies, their equipment. Is it still their captain?"

Brice paused. ".... Yes sir. They seemed to have left in a hurry."

"Good. That's exactly what I wanted to hear." The director continued. "New orders. Start securing that shit before anyone else does. We'll handle the cover-up on our end. Last thing we need is that town getting wind of this."

"Sir, my men have suffered heavy casualties. We're in no condition to-"

"The agents in the town will assist you until backup arrives. Do a sweep of the base too. I want no stone unturned, ya hear."

"Sir, with all due respect-"

"You're sitting on a fucking gold mine captain and I expect you to mine all of its worth to make sure this attack never happens again."

"But Director-!"

"You have your orders, captain." The line was cut. Remained frozen in place before finally hanging up the line himself. Both Rook and McRayle stared at him quietly, clearly waiting for him to tell them about what was discussed between him and the Director.

"Right... The Director wants us to salvage as much of the enemy equipment as they can."

"What about backup?" Rook asked. "Cap, we're bleeding real bad here."

"I'm aware. All I got from the Director is we can expect assistance from the agents in town before we are reinforced." Those words left a bad taste in Brice's mouth. "Rook. We're going to recon the base. McRayle, I need you to organize the clean up here. But I want you to prioritize the wounded. I don't want to lose any more men, understood."

"Yes, captain!" McRayle saluted before leaving.

"That what the Director tell ya?" Rook asked.

".... Those are my orders," Brice said bluntly. "Let's move."

Rook grinned as he fell into line. "Aye aye, cap."

****

After destroying the machine, the party immediately made their retreat, regrouping at the checkpoint on the highway. The soldiers Nel had knocked out were still laying on the ground unconscious.

"They seriously slept through this whole thing?" Yuki said, prodding one of the soldier's cheeks. "You sure they're not dead?"

"I put them in a chokehold, not break their necks," Nel said as she dragged one of the unconscious soldiers to join the others. "They should wake up in an hour or two. Probably,"

"Probably....?"

Further back, the others were sprawled on the floor alongside the two pilots while Cliff, Mirage, and Markus examined the carnage that was wrought at the base. From the overhead view, the damage was far worse than before. The giant war machine was still visible and trailing smoke.

"Geez," Cliff mumbled, wiping his face. "Can't believe, we actually pulled that off,"

"Yeah but... With this kind of damage, you can be sure the Black Op's will increase their presence in Little Wood." Mirage said grimly. "I have a feeling we've just made this worse for us."

"Looks that way," Cliff sighed. "That drone at the end though.... What the hell was that."

"That was no drone," Markus said. "That was an artificial Warframe. I had heard Altosk were developing them, yet I underestimated how far they had come to have a working prototype."

"Warframe?"

"It's an obligatory term given to the mechanical lifeforms that form from the mechanisms of Sora. Unlike drones that are powered by an eather conversion drive, Warframes are sentient machines capable of generating their own eather. There had been efforts to develop such machines with some success with smaller constructs and Cyborg technology." Markus explained. "I had not anticipated Altosk would have developed a warframe that large."

"Gotta admit; the more I hear about Sora, the more curious I am to see it for myself," Mirage said.

"Markus!" Larek approached. "Ion? Is she-?"

"Do not be concerned. She is perfectly safe." Markus reassured the pilot.

"Yeah, Allisa's with her so ya' got nothin' to worry about," Rodger said.

"Well, that is some good news at least," Otto said, still sprawled on the floor.

"Meow... what are you anyway?" Meracle asked.

"You look like a giant rabbit," Sasha said sitting cross-legged.

"Oh right. I guess there's nothing like me in this world." Otto said stroking his greasy fur, "I'm a bunika. One of the five sentient races of Sora. As you can see we're basically small furballs compared to you hune's."

"Anyway... Think it's our turn to ask," Larek sat back down beside Otto. "Who the heck are you guys anyway? Not just anyone could stand up to Altosk single-handedly, and certainly not Lieutenants." He pointed at Meracle and Rodger, "And you two don't look like any Hune's I've ever seen." then to Cerberus, "and I'm still working out what that thing is." and finally to Melvin and Sasha, "and you two are kids, right?"

"Oh, we're the Hunters," Sasha said. "It's our job to protect this world from bad guys and monsters."

"Hunters....?" Larek seemed to have more questions piling on top of him.

"We'll explain more later," Nel intervened. "For now, I think it's vest be withdraw before the Black Op's return."

"Good point," Melvin said brushing Cerberus's fur. "I for one could really use a shower...."

"I just want something to eat... I'm starving," Max said sprawling his arms on the ground.

"When are you not, Pyro?" Yuki grunted.

Everyone began to stand up, getting ready to return to the home. Markus however remained where he was, still studying the devastation at the base.

"Something wrong?" Cliff asked.

".... There's something about this attack that concerns me." Markus said tapping his forehead.

"What do you mean?"

"The assault and how they retreated. Logically speaking, to recon the star singer's location or apprehending Larek and Otto there's no sense of displaying that level of force. What is more, Nel claimed to have encountered Xeno, Altosk's greatest agent. He would be more than capable of extracting them or kill them on his own. Then there is the fact that they deployed a prototype warframe as they made their escape." Markus summarised, once again looking out over the base. "Forgive me but I feel there is something more to that I have missed."

Just then Cliff's phone began to ring. "Hello?"

"Oh finally! I've been trying to get a hold of you guys for ages!" Dale's voice bellowed through the phone.

"Dale? Did something happen?"

"I-I donno what happened! I was manning the store when that rabbit came smashing through the vents, wrecking the store-

"Dale,"

"- busting the window-"

"Dale,"

"Look! I have a business to run! I couldn't be in two places at-!"

"DALE!" Cliff shouted, alerting everyone. "Deep breath."

Dale's heavy breathing came through.

"Ok... what happened."

"...... Allisa and Ion. They're gone!"