Annie had just finished the upkeep on the landraider. She put away her tools and found that the large facility was fairly empty compared to yesterday. She started the engine to get it ready when she noticed a group of men approaching the landraider. They were armed with rifles and carbines, so she immediately rushed inside. The men saw her running and fired into the air to taunt her.

"Where you going, Red?" They shot more rounds at the landraider as they circled around it while some of the men began to laugh. "We won't hurt you too much! We just want to have some fun!"

Deafening shots rang out all around the landraider, but their weapons barely made holes in its heavy armor. They then resorted to striking it with their rifles and attempting to climb it, when from the top of the landraider, Annie emerged in her full handyman armour. They slowly backed away when they saw the four-armed monstrosity that hissed and let off jets of steam. Annie then pounced on them, and the large vehicle depot was soon filled with screams of panic.

She grabbed and threw men into the air and walls. Others she slammed heavily onto the ground repeatedly. One of the attackers threw a grenade at her, but she caught it and threw it back. The attacker dodged as a loud, booming explosion rang out. Even though they were clearly overpowered, the attackers did not relent. As she finished with this group, another carriage came in and more attackers got off.

Even with her armor, it was too much. The thick smoke made it hard to see. The burning smell of metal, wood, and magicores started to seep through her mask. The attackers aimed at the engine on her back, which caused it to sputter and smoke. As another truck arrived with more attackers, Annie was gradually pushed to the defensive. They came out and fired their guns, and she had to use her mechanical arms as shields when another automobile came into the facility.

Its loud engine roared and got the attention of the assailants.

The automobile headed straight for them and rammed them at full speed. The sounds of cracking bone, slamming metal and screams of the victims filled the air. The vehicle made sharp turns and drifted heavily, which smashed right through the attackers. The vehicle took down a majority of them while the driver fired a gun inside while Annie finished the rest.

She was still wary when the vehicle came to a halt. A man who wore a golden mask came out of the automobile, with a rapier sheathed on his belt and a pistol in his hand.

"Annie! Thank the Maker!" The man took off his mask. Max rushed to her and forcefully guided her into the landraider. "Let's go! We have to save the idiots!"

He threw a grenade at his automobile, and a loud burst destroyed it. Max and Annie boarded the landraider, but when they opened the driver's compartment, Willow leapt out and ran away.

Willow looked different as it had much bigger and stronger legs that were double the size of its small and chubby body.

“What the hell was that?!"

Max was shocked as Annie leapt after Willow and attempted to catch it.

“Annie, There is no time! We have a lot of soldiers and hunters on the way! Leave it!"

She stopped and looked back at Willow, who was now too far away to catch. Cursing herself in her mind, Annie went back to the landraider and both of them left the parking facility.

Max drove the landraider and ran over his automobile. With no regard for traffic, he deployed the cowcatcher and rammed smaller vehicles to the side. Annie removed her mechanical arms as she entered the driver’s compartment, and Max gave her the controls.

"Run over anything that gets in the way! Head for the casino down by the river front! We have to pick up Baldric! Do you know where Luna and the kid went?"

Annie shook her head.

"Dammit!" Max then opened the controls for the landraiders' cannons and their defensive automatons. "Keep going Annie, and don’t stop for anything! Hopefully, what I gave Baldric will cover him until we get there."

=0o0=

Across the city, in Zicaster’s largest casino, Baldric left with a satchel case full of money. The streets were fairly packed with people, and he saw a stall selling some decorative miniature cakes covered with bright pink frosting and small animal marshmallows.

The girls would like that.

He bought four of them and even asked the vendor to keep the change.

As he went further down the street, people started to run away in a panic. Baldric saw a group of enforcers up ahead carrying rifles. He crossed the street and found they were everywhere and surrounded the entire block. He stopped in the middle of the street when he realised they surrounded him. He placed the satchel case carefully on the ground and placed the cakes on top of it.

From behind the enforcers, Baldric saw a familiar face. It was Treese, and he carried a heavily modified rifle and was accompanied by other bounty hunters. At the front of the group was an enforcer officer.

It’s going to be one of those days, huh?

The officer stepped forward but was still a good distance away from him.

"Afternoon, gentlemen." Baldric addressed all of them as he gave them a smile.

"Baldric Faraday: You are under arrest." Everyone stared at him, and Baldric saw that Treese was the only one smiling. "Remove your weapons and get on the ground."

"I see. I’m more than willing to cooperate, but I would appreciate it if you would tell me why."

"Sir, you are under arrest for grand larceny, fraud, and assaulting a member of the royal family. Your arrest warrant came from his Excellency, the crown prince of Silvus, Prince Asterion himself."

Baldric chuckled. "Grand larceny? What is that? Regular larceny is not enough; you have to add a grand on the front of it?”

"Throw away your weapon and get on the ground now." The enforcer placed his hands on his pistol. Baldric surveyed the area and found everyone had their rifles aimed at him. He counted twenty guns, twelve in front and eight in the back.

Baldric then slowly reached for his pistol and carefully drew it out. He spun and extended the handle towards the officer as if asking him to take it. From the rooftop above him, something caught his eye.

It was a marksman automaton. More of them slowly emerged, and Baldric knew there were more on the rooftops behind him.

=0o0=

As he played at the tables of the casino, a female ork approached him and gave him a drink with a note slipped underneath. When he read it, Baldric finished his drink and immediately left to cash in his winnings. Even though it was not written who it came from, the laziness of the handwriting was recognised right away.

The note said that Marksmen automatons would provide cover to help him escape and help him defend against any attackers. Baldric smiled as he left the casino. On the rooftops of the building across the street, there was an automaton who waved at him.

=0o0=

“Put your weapons on the ground now!” The officer yelled at him and brought Baldric back to his predicament.

"Of course." But Baldric did not do anything. "I am a firm believer in the law. But I cannot say the same for my companions."

Marksmen automatons came from behind the group of enforcers. The automatons carried carbines and revolvers, while the ones on the roof carried rifles. The enforcers realised this as well. They had the numbers against the machines, but with the bots having the advantage of high ground and cover while the enforcers were out in the open, they were at a handicap.

"Call them off now!" The officer demanded, but Baldric only smiled.

"I would love to ask them to cooperate. But you see, my companions are... independent."

"I had enough of this." Treese whistled, but after a long while, nothing happened.

"Pretty lame Treese. Want me to try?"

Baldric whistled, and a few seconds later, the sound of a man hitting the ground got their attention. An enforcer fell from a nearby roof, and an automaton appeared on its spot. They thought the man was dead, but he moved slightly. The roar of two gunshots made them duck, while the two bounty hunters beside Treese fell to the ground.

They were hit in the eyes and writhed on the ground in pain. Treese saw that the rounds were non-lethal stun rounds. The enforcers now looked around them and checked if they should still continue.

The bots all had their rifles aimed at them. The enforcers who were out in the open tried to do the same. No one moved as each of them sized each other down.

“It looks like we have ourselves a good old-fashioned stand-off, don’t we?" Baldric flashed his teeth.

Only the distant sounds of the city could be heard. Even the birds seemed to stand still all around them. It was absolute silence as they waited to see who would buckle under the tension when they moved first.

Baldric fired his pistol in such quick succession that he managed to hit three people at the same time. The officer, Treese, and another bounty hunter next to him were all hit on the hand, arm, and shoulder with stun rounds that disarmed them.

The automatons fired stun rounds and threw flash grenades, which blanketed the area in a blinding light. As they were disoriented and roared in pain, Baldric picked up the cakes and satchel case as he ran to find cover.

He leapt behind large piles of solid rubbish and managed to fire from cover, disarming more of the disoriented enforcers. But Treese recovered and retaliated, his bullets piercing through as his modified rifle hissed as he put in another round.

"You're outnumbered!" Treese fired another round and it almost hit the cakes Baldric protected. Give up you son of a-"

A loud whistle cut him off as the landraider approached from the end of the street. It slammed everything on the sidewalk, which made the enforcers, onlookers, and Treese run out of its way.

He counted down and ran out. Baldric timed his jump, so he managed to jump aboard when it passed him. He climbed up to the driver’s compartment as the Landraider made its way through the street. As they returned to the road, they slammed more smaller vehicles out of the way. Baldric opened the door to the compartment and found Max and Annie.

"Hey Annie! Perfect timing as always! Also, I got you all some cupcakes!" Annie barely acknowledged him as she continued to drive.

"Where is Luna?!" Max yelled as he manned the controls for the marksmen automatons that jumped onto the landraider.

"Hello to you, Lefty."

"Piss off! Where the hell is she?"

"Head for the Blackhill Hotel closer to the city center. They are meeting with Solomon there. Roadblock!" Baldric pointed at some enforcer trucks that had formed a blockade up ahead.

"I got this."

Max took the controls from Annie and sped up the landraider with the intent of running them over. Before they could hit anything, Baldric fought him for the controls and turned the land engine to the right as they entered a narrow street, which they ploughed through.

"What the hell?! We are going in circles!"

The two of them struggled to control the landraider when Annie joined in the rumble. He pushed both of them away as she manned the controls once again.

“You could have killed someone!”

"That was the point! I was running them over! "

"Non-lethal only! I thought that's why you gave the automatons stun rounds!"

"Get off your high horse with all that crap! Those were factory defaults! If it were up to me, all of them would be dead."

"Annie, get the arbalest open!" Baldric said as he headed to the mounted weapon on top of the landraider. "Max, help me load the freeze rounds!"

"Oh, yeah! That will help! Use your joke weapons against these bastards!"

“Shut up and help me load this thing!"

They got on top as the roof of the landraider opened to reveal the arbalest. They flipped it over to arm the gattling gun and loaded it with freeze rounds. The two of them acted as a gun team as they took down enforcers that planned to ambush them from the rooftops. Meanwhile, all the landraiders' defensive automatons were aimed at the enforcers and bounty hunters' vehicles that dared to chase after them.

The streets were soon turned into a battleground as they fought blockade after blockade of enforcers. Explosions rang out in the open. Civilians fled as they rammed through the busy streets as Annie signalling for them to get out of the way. Baldric prayed that they would take the brunt of the attack and hoped that Luna and Elizabeth were somewhere safe.