“ Command, come in command. This is Delta team. We got a whole lot of incoming and are running out of ammo. Where is our backup.”

Sergant Millers shouted into his headset over the automatic fire from his M16 assault rifle. Not a second after his request he heard a clink of an empty mag.

Cursing to himself he spent the split second needed to sling his now useless rifle across his chest and drew his M1911 semi-automatic pistol on his hip. He was already reloading it with one of his spare clips when he heard a large bang from something heavy cleanly kicking the door into the garage off its hinges Turning quickly Millers blinked seeing a gleaming silver like steel wheel containing six barrels attached to a system that could be best described as a chainsaw of lead.

The eight-foot green behemoth that was carrying such a device was thankfully not an orc or mutant or alien but one of the specialists they picked up a little more than a week ago. He had no official military designation but the D-001 on his left shoulder.

In truth the power suit looked nothing more than a hybrid of knight armor and the armor Master Chief would wear from the Halo franchise. With the notable exception of an antenna with a blinking red light on the end and a visor much too narrow to see through normally.

“ Dreadnaught on site. Prepare to pull out. Thirty seconds. Do not forget to let me on.”

Millers nods to the radio transmission as the red light on the antenna goes out.

“ All right marines. Pullout in t-30 seconds. Big D has the south gate. Do not leave till he is on.”

As Miller and his unit pulled from the wall, the m-134 minigun barrels started to spin at a high rate before a high blast squeal deafen the marines. That however did not make them pause from loading up into the M939 military transport truck. Less than ten seconds after it began however the squealing ended. The silence that came after was interrupted by only the engine of the truck turning over and the barrels coming to a halt.

Miller checked to make sure his unit was loading up on fresh ammo to notice the change to look back at the power armor moving toward the truck. As he approached he detached the feed to his weapon before placing it on the truck for two marines to pull it further into the truck. As they did the power armor turned around to sit on the back end of the truck.

“ Attach straps to my back. I can not get in further.”

Without missing a beat the two marines securing the minigun started attaching straps to the power armor back as well. As they were, the power armor's left hand went to the massive revolver on his hip and fired three shots that sounded like they came from a small cannon.

“ You are buttoned up Big D.”

The power armor kept his sidearm at the ready as Miller gave the go-head for them to bug out of bug country.

----- two weeks earlier -----

“ How is the display, David?”

David turned his head slightly, as much as he could in the makeshift power armor he and his two friends have spent 3 years and over a quarter of a million dollars, a marriage, and several dozen weekends of gaming to get to this point.

“ A little off-center. Drop the display by half a degree and rotate it clockwise about two, John.”

John tapped his computer a few times and the VR display readjusted as requested. The button cameras being used as eyes were not high quality, but they were enough to get a clear picture of who was who.

“ I still think they are going to be pissed we are using an M134 prop for this and not one from the game.”

David looked toward his other friend Rick who was still a little peeved it was not his ass in the 500 lb power armor suit. David gave a quick thought that if he wanted to drop six figures on a suit for himself he would happily be on his knees and grumble as he tightened the bolts on his boots.

“ We talked about this. The M134 weighs about 80 pounds as a replica. Not counting ammo, which we substituted with a laser pointer. The one from the game weighs over a hundred.”

“ Not if we used aluminum.”

David took a deep breath and released it slowly.

“ You know what Rick, you drop a hundred grand into an aluminum suit and we can compare how nice yours is compared to mine.”

Rick quickly dropped his tool and stood up. Even in the suit Rick could look him in the eyes.

“ Again with the money, I gave up my marriage for this!”

David could feel John looking at the two of them. Wondering if they were going to have this argument again. Normally, he would push back saying he was providing the paycheck for them to be together, but now so close to the big reveal he thought better of it.

“ You’re right.”

Rick seemed to boil over for a moment to then realize he did not hear what was normally said.

“ What?”

David closed his eyes to gather his thoughts.

“ You were and are right Rick. My money should be no comparison to your happiness. When we were in high school talking about this. We were young, stupid, and dreamers. I think the only one of us that really grew up was you. In less than an hour, I am going to have that five minutes of fame I always wanted, and then John is going to get all the job offers he could not get after he graduated from IT.”

David purposely left out what was waiting for Rick after this. A broken marriage, the last paycheck, and an oversaturated job market with the unemployed looking for work.

“ The next one we do, we can do however you want.”

Rick took a moment before sighing deeply. Knew he was better off than David. He had already talked to Harley to get back together after the show. What he would do to put food on the table after the job was done was questionable, but with a baby, on the way, he would do anything. Hell, he knew John even had it better than David.

His girlfriend was just as nerdy as he was, but neither David nor Rick has seen her yet. They were planning on getting married soon, or so John says. David however had no one but his two friends and his money. Not for the lack of trying, but after the second bitch divorced him trying to get his money, he just seemed to give it up.

“ Yea, you're right. But this is our dream. I get the next badass space marine power armor though.”

Instinctively David lifted his arm and made a fist. Which sent John into a fit.

“ David you dumbass. I was not done testing the actuators on that arm.”

David just chuckled and smiled.

“ Opps.”