“How’re you doing up there?!” Alice called out the car, driving as best and as fast she could down the rough dirt path and into the city.

Chase was hanging on the top of the car, still staring at the Vault where he expected the Technician to pop out and follow them. Uncomfortably, he called back, “I should be asking you! You’re injured while driving.”

“Well, someone’s gotta drive!”

“Just be careful, the last thing we need is a cra—” Chase was cut off as a giant black steel war machine crashed through the walls of the Vault. Four sharp legs carried the Mech forward, its dark emerald eye trained on them like a sniper, two huge arms were raised by its humanoid body, a fist and a cannon, ready for total annihilation. The war machine was like a much bigger version of the Technician and more destructive. And all Chase could whisper was “Uh oh.”

Alice saw the Giant Mech too, and immediately slammed on the gas pedal to speed the car forward. But the Mech was crawling and running toward them, its cannon charging up with a hot green aura before releasing a beam of energy that smoked and burned streaks into the ground, quickly reaching them.

Alice swerved the car to dodge the beam, turning from left to right, and Chase was spinning, trying to hold on. He could sense the hot energy getting dangerously close to his neck, and he didn’t like the feeling of being sandwiched between the car’s swerving and the Mech’s laser.

The beam soon disappeared, probably to recharge, but the Mech was still looming over them. It’s right fist reaching towards them to try and grab them, but Alice just managed to stay out of its reach, inches away. Chase used his robotic strength, electricity sparking through his muscles, to pull himself up and steady himself. He steeled himself from the fear of the massive threat just above them, and scanned for any weak points, any opportunities to fight back.

[Battery: 12%]

He didn’t have much energy left, which meant that if he wanted to stay conscious while a Giant Machine rampaged through the city, he’d have to be conservative with his actions. The problem was he wasn’t even sure what he could do.

The Mech’s cannon arm seemed to transform and shift before charging up again and fired rapid blasts of energy that flared around them. The car swerved to dodge them again, but each blast exploded onto the ground and into buildings, sending chunks of debris flying everywhere. Chase could hear screams and cries as the Mech’s dark shape and bright green outline pierced through the night, blasts of energy flashing beside him.

Where was this going to end? Alice was driving through the streets, desperate to escape, but where would they even go? And how much destruction would the Technician cause the longer he ran. All those civilians, the people he was supposed to protect, and he was leading a machine of destruction right onto their homes. He needed to do something, he needed to stop the Mech, but what could he even do?

Think! Just think! Steadying his breath against the rushing winds, he sensed the energy waves caused by each of the Mech’s blasts. Gripping his sword, he wondered if he could catch some of the blasts and absorb them to get more energy. But it’d be hard, especially with the fast moving car, and the impact of the blasts could easily knock him down.

Unfortunately, he didn’t see any other ideas. He’d have to take the Mech down head on and that would require more power than he had now. He heard a beep with static come through his helmet.

“...C–Chase! What’s going on?” Marcus’s static voice rang through his ears.

“The Technician got into the vaults and now he’s a giant mech chasing after us and causing massive destruction.”

There was pause before Marcus finally responded with a clear edge of panic, “Okay, that’s not good. Um…do you still have the Shockers?”

“Used up the last one I had, and it didn’t even work.”

Marcus cursed, “Alright, my virus is almost done, but not in time to stop the Technician. Just focus on staying alive.”

“I need to make sure the city stays alive!” Chase snapped back. Another blast narrowly missed him as it sent an explosion of debris flying into a building, he cringed at the sounds of screams that echoed from the crashes. He needed a plan and he needed to act fast, but his mind was spiraling. His heart slammed against his chest, with the bile in his stomach felt like it was going to burn him. These were the consequences of his failures, he couldn’t beat the Technician, and now he led it straight into the heart of his city, where who knows how many people will get hurt or die because of him.

What would Rowan do? What would Lysander do? He tried desperately to follow the examples of his chief and former leader before wondering…What could he even do?

“Chase!” Alice’s yells somehow managed to reach him through the rushing air and chaos. “Please! Where do I go? I can’t keep dodging this thing forever!”

Chase snapped out of his thoughts in time to hold back on to the car and dodge stray debris that smacked onto the hood before falling off. Readjusting himself, he looked at Alice and then looked around, watching the Technician as it kept pursuing them with relentless vigor. There wasn’t even any time to feel guilty, the city was under attack, people’s lives were in danger, and anything he did would be better than what they had now. It was time to put all his training to use.

Chase took a deep breath and slowly zoned out everything around him. It was just the city, the Mech, and the moving car under him. Holding down a button on his helmet, Chase called Marcus again. “Marcus. Where’s the least populated area of Horizon?”

“You’re in the city, Chase, everywhere is populated.”

“I know that.”

“...The eastern side, close to the Industrial sector. Just a few dirty buildings and 5% of the city’s population.”

“Isn’t that where Lion’s Grove is?”

“What?”

Chase suddenly lost focus as another blast shook the car and almost threw him off, but he hung on. However, he was left in another hard decision. Ethically, he shouldn’t put any part of the city in danger, but he lost that choice when the Technician fired his first shot. Logically, leading the Technician to the least populated part of the city would still cause damage but it would be better than where they were now. And yet, Chase couldn’t help but think of the sad kids that clung onto hope, kicking that deflated ball, and just trying to survive in a world where their supposed guardian neglected them. The people of Lion’s Grove already resented him, and if he led the Technician to them in order to save the rest of the city, then it’d really make him look like a monster. But he made his choice, and he had to stay committed.

“Marcus, contact all law enforcement and tell them to set defenses in the Industrial District.”

“Will they even be able to do anything?”

“It’s to evacuate everyone in the area, Tell them it’s a Guardian Order.” Chase then climbed over to Alice’s open window. “Drive to Lion’s Grove.”

“Are you crazy?” Alice shouted, “You’ll put them all in danger!”

“They won’t be in danger. Because I’m going to stop him before he gets there.”

He made that promise to both Alice and himself, then he steadied himself on the car’s hood, holding on as Alice made a sharp turn to go to Lion’s Grove, and watched as the Mech followed. With iron resolve, Chase stood up on the hood of the car with his hands readied on his blade. “Alice. When he fires again, don’t dodge, just keep going straight.”

“Are you sure?!”

“Yes, just trust me.”

Alice’s hands gripped the steering wheel tighter, before she relaxed and muttered, “Okay.”

The spider-like machine launched itself into the air and landed hard on a building, it crawled its way like a fast-moving spider over the structures before jumping down right behind them. Its giant cannon glowing a mesmerizing and dangerous green, sounds of a charging sun resonated through the discord, as it aimed right at Chase, who stared into its gaze with a fiery strength akin to a samurai defending his home.

The cannon released several blasts of destructive balls that rushed forward, and Chase attached his grappling hook into the car, before jumping off to meet the blasts with a trail of lightning. Unsheathing his sword, he slashed into the blasts, taking in the energy as it rushed through his body like burning water. Bouncing off the explosion, he deflected the next blast into the street, before dashing to absorb another blast. The grappling hook’s tension tightened as he drew himself back onto the speeding car, needing to dash on the road and building to catch up, before grabbing onto the side of the car.

[Battery: 50%]

The Mech continued to charge furiously, but right as it got close enough, Chase launched himself off the car again and dashed right towards the Mech’s face. However, the Mech’s fist reached out to block him, its giant fingers curling around him to crush him. However, with a slash of his blade, Chase sliced off the fingers with a blue flash, red cinders scorched on the stubs as he passed through the hand and landed hard on the emerald eye.

Chase stabbed his sword right into the Mech, causing it to jerk backward, spinning around and slamming into buildings, trying to shake him off. But he held on like a vicious mongoose, and instead, he twisted his blade and dashed up, dragging his blade through its face before finally releasing as he jumped into the air. The Mech continued to spin around in what looked like agony and confusion, before he charged down with quick spins of his sword, twirling and slicing into the Mech down its back with lightning flashes of a storm.

Before he reached the ground, Chase launched his grappling hook again, which hooked into the cannon and quickly reeled himself forward. As he swung towards the cannon, a sudden jerk of the Mech smacked him into the metal and slammed him into a brick wall.

Chase groaned against the force and was immediately met with the tight force of the mech’s regenerated fist, with its cannon aimed right at him. He struggled against the grip and tried to escape, but his sword had dropped onto the ground — out of his reach — so he couldn’t slice his way free this time.

He stared into the barrel of the cannon, grim thoughts entered his mind, but he had to clear those out. There must be some way out, he scanned for anything, any gadgets on him he could use, any weak points he could hit, but he saw nothing.

“Hang on, Chase!” Alice called through his mask and the mech jerked to the side with a loud rumble. Alice had rammed the car straight into one of the legs, unbalancing it and causing it to crumple down. The pink light on the car shimmered with its protective glow, but clearly the crash had damaged it and when the leg smashed on top of the hood, the shield shattered.

“Alice! Get out of there!” Chase shouted and when the Mech involuntarily released him, he dashed off the building and snatched his sword up. Alice tried to pull the car back as fast as she could with the weight of the mech coming down on her head, skidding out and coming next to him.

Chase dashed at the disoriented Mech and with a surge of energy he sliced off one of the legs whole and cut another one in half with a horizontal slash before dashing back to the car and landing firmly on top. “Let’s go!” He said as Alice did her best to do a quick 180 degree turn.

[Battery: 30%]

The Mech struggled to pick itself back up, legs flailing around, and arm trying to push. Its parts were regenerating but noticeably slower. To add onto the fire, Chase opened up his sword and made a barrage of slashes, sending energy waves from the car that slammed into the Mech.

“Sweet moves, Chase!” Alice said. “Chase 2, Giant Mech 0!”

“I wouldn’t get so confident, you know he’ll get up again.”

“And we’ll be ready.”

[Battery: 10%]

Alice made another swift turn that left the Mech out of view from a building and they made their way to Lion’s Grove, coming up on the broken street, where several police cars were parked in a line up ahead, forming a barricade. Chase hopped off the car and ran up to them, Rowan was also with them in a silver and blue uniform, a chief badge shown clearly on his chest.

“Chase,” Rowan said. “Did you take it down yet?”

“The Technician gained access to very powerful technology and is endangering everyone in the city. I led it here to potentially mitigate damage, but I doubt it’ll be enough. I need you all to evacuate the citizens,” Chase looked around, seeing behind them all the people in Lion’s Grove huddled and watching with confusion, fear, and probably anger.

“If all we need to do is take down a giant killer robot then we have the weapons to do that,” Rowan gestured to a stationed turret on an armored van, the barrel was thick and menacing, clearly with enough blast power to probably take down a giant machine, but Chase knew it would do nothing but make things worse.

“You thought it would be best to bring more weapons here?! What about the citizens here? They’re safety is the main priority!”

“They’ll be fine if we take that thing down first.”

“That’s not going to work. The Technician can absorb technology!”

“Ha! I’d like to see him absorb this. Trust me, it’ll take him down for good. Much better than that knife of yours.”

Chase couldn’t understand what he was hearing. Was he being unclear? He trusted Rowan’s judgment, but he knew more than anyone else that the Technician was capable of coming back from even the most devastating of blasts. But he didn’t have time to do anything about it.

Everything around them shook like an earthquake as the Mech sprung over a building and landed on the street to face the police force. The officer manning the turret scrambled to activate it, charging up its core to fire at the mech, but it wasn’t even fast enough.

In quick succession, the Mech’s cannon fired a barrage of energy blasts that blew up the turret, burning the officer with it in a fiery plume of gas, the next one hit Alice’s car and she screamed as it flew into the air and flipped into a building. The other force tried firing at the Mech, but all their lasers were nothing, compared to the blasts that tore through the formation, destroyed buildings with debris falling scattering everywhere, and Chase had to watch everyone run around screaming.

[Battery: 8%]

“No…” Chase whispered, feeling his voice choke with his thoughts at the horrifying sights that rammed themselves into reality in a matter of seconds. All his work, everything he tried was wasted, his attempts to protect everyone had failed. He knew this, of course, but he just felt enraged at how everything was ruined because of what might’ve been stupid decisions.

An energy blast was charging straight for him, but he stood his ground and struck it with his sword, bouncing it off his sword and sending it flying back into the Mech’s chest. The Robot stumbled from the impact but it recovered to glare back at Chase. “That’s right. Focus on me,” he thought, readying his blade and hoping that what he was about to do would work.

The Mech aimed its cannon again, where Chase could see the spinning darkness of the barrel, charging up for another blast. But he could sense that this time it would be more than a few balls of energy, the Technician meant to completely incinerate him.

Fully charged, the Mech fired a beam of destructive light that raced towards Chase with frightening speed, carrying a heat wave through its path. Then, in a flash of steel and lightning, Chase opened his blade, his rings, and his soul, to catch the energy beam head on. The force smashed against his mind and pushed his body back, like a hot wind trying to throw him over like a ragdoll, but he pushed back harder.

[Battery: 50%]

Chase was absorbing all the energy, trying to mitigate the destruction, but power flowed through his veins and circulated around his core like molten lava. It felt enlightening but the fire burned like hell. His mind was swarming for him to stop, to let go, or else he was going to explode.

[Battery: 70%]

From the intense pain, He let out a scream of both agony and determination, because no matter how bad it was, no matter how much he was going to destroy himself, he needed to hold on for everyone else, that was his purpose.

[Battery: 90%]

Surrounded by green light, Chase felt his core swirl and decay. Marcus had mentioned that if he tried anything this intense again, his core would fully explode along with himself.. He couldn’t keep all this in anymore, he needed to release everything brewing inside of him. And yet, he couldn’t, for so long he couldn’t. He thought he did, but now he realized that he never did and never could. Not even just this fire of energy, but his grief, his anger, his guilt, everything.

Alice’s words rang through his head at that moment. “...Everyone feels emotion…keeping them bottled in is just as bad…it just depends on how we release them…”

Release…The thought echoed in his chaotic mind. He felt the burning pain but also the surges of power that were stored in his core. He’d always used absorbed energy in short bursts to conserve his battery life, but now he wondered if he could do more. Was that what he was missing this whole time? For so long, after the event that took his body away, he didn’t trust himself and now he could really feel how much damage that was causing to both himself and the people that depended on him. “Release.” He had to do it, but this time, he could use his emotion as a weapon to protect his people.

[Battery: 100%]

With the roar of a dragon, Chase took every ounce of energy stored within his core, directing the sparkling lava to concentrate through his arm and into the circuits of his blade. With a twist of his blade and shift of his body, electricity sparked and flashed around him like a storm when he slashed his blade, sending a ferocious lightning streak that arced and pierced through the blazing green light, wings unfurled like a dragon, and consumed the Giant Mech screaming in metal.

[Battery: 5%]