Rocco plunged through the front entrance, drawing his assault rifle from his back holster. With the flip of his thumb the stock and barrel extended from its compact form, into duty mode. Besides this compact mode, his rifle was as analogue as Ricky’s pistol. All the Zenith robotic security team that had moments before entered the building were facing away from him, headed deeper inside the science facility. He had the element of surprise. He shouldered the rifle and pulled the trigger as the glowing diamonds on his HUD came into view, bringing forth a stream of fire from the barrel.

His large caliber rifle rounds pierced through the backs of the battle units nearest him, sending a shower of sparks and metal chunks through the hallway. The fifty caliber tracer rounds ripped through the bots and left fiery holes in the walls where they missed or punched through their targets.

“Come on you frag bastards, time ta dance!” Rocco’s gruff voice roared in delight.

Several of the bots turned and began firing their rifles at him, but he was already on the move. He found an alcove next to one of the doors leading to a lab and let the spray of bullets hit the doorframe. He leaned the rifle out and unloaded another volley at the temporarily confused bots. Several more were floored, reduced to little more than scrap heap on the floor.

Rocco took a moment to look around at that point and noticed more diamond shapes closing in on him. Marshall Industries security bots were coming from a hallway towards his position while it looked like more Imperials were gathering outside. He would soon be surrounded if he did not move fast.

From the other side of the hall his brothers saw their own opportunity to move, as the enemies that had been headed towards their position halted their advance to a chorus of spattering gunfire.

Ricky broke out of the room, his machine pistol barking rounds at the Zenith battle units ahead of him. Two of them fell before the bots could even realize they now had resistance from both ends of the hall. Another volley came from the opposite end then, and even more fell. Their numbers were whittling away quickly from the crossfire.

Rocco dropped his rifle on its shoulder sling and pulled out a pair of mechanical sticks that, with the push of a button extended fully into batons. With a defiant battle cry, he charged the remaining bots, most of which had now turned their attention towards his brothers at the other end of the hallway. He slid across the smooth, glass-like surface of the floor on his knees, stopping his momentum in the center of the remaining group of eight bots. He flipped another pair of buttons on the batons and they began crackling with humming bluish energy.

Rocco leaped to his feet and was in motion before any of the bots’ programming could determine the best course of action for how to best deal with this new threat. They had all been armed with assault rifles like his, which would have been useless in close quarters and a liability to the others.

The glowing batons pulsed every time they connected with a successful strike. Rocco was swift, practiced and ruthless, swinging and striking out everywhere around him. The battle units were used to dealing with pacified Titans, Titans who complied with their demands and cowered from their authority.

They were most definitely not used to a being like Rocco, a tall, heavily muscled assailant taking the fight to them. He was more aggressive in his assault then they were prepared for, every strike connecting with unbridled force. The illegal batons were specifically designed for combat against robotics, and every strike delivered an electro-magnetic current that temporarily scrambled the bots’ circuitry, leaving them essentially helpless against the monstrous onslaught.

In a matter of moments, it was all over, and Rocco stood over a pile of sparking circuitry and smoking scrap metal. He thumbed the switches to turn the batons’ current off, flipped another one to minimize the batons, and then folded the handles back into a pair of holsters inside of his utility belt. He made his way the rest of the way down the hallway to meet the others.

“We got more inbound.” Rocco called to his brothers as he rounded the corner. Instead of hearing concern in his voice, the other two swore they heard enthusiasm, which would not be out of character for the biggest of the brothers. “What’s with all the robots?” He nodded over Rocky’s shoulder.

“How can we get out of here?” Ricky turned towards the scientist that was now following them. “There’s gotta be another way out besides that front entrance.”

“Well, if we cut across to the “B” wing, we can use their exit. That’s the main lobby and visitor entrance.”

“Sounds like a right plan, lead the way.”

“Are we taking them?” Rocco looked confused. “The robots.”

Rocky gave him a dirty look and began marching along after the other two, paying no heed nor explaining the procession of robots now following him.

“Don’t bother thanking me or anything.” Rocco muttered.

A beam of blue light shined down the hallway as the security bots finally caught up behind them. Their stun beams were searching for targets.

“I got this.” Rocco lowered into a kneeling firing position even as one of the beams crossed above his head. With a deft motion, he exchanged magazine cartridges in his rifle, trading an empty for a full one.

“See? He says it with conviction and follows through on his promises.” Ricky turned to Rocky with a scowl. “When he says, ‘I got this’, I believe him.”

“Yeah well, he only knows a few phrases. It’s easy for him to get the few he knows right I guess.” Rocky returned. “Try teaching him math or how to eat with proper utensils.”

The others fled down the corridor as Rocco opened fully automatic fire. His bullets ripped through the security bots coming up behind him, sending showers of sparks into the air. After the initial few were down, he waited for more to appear on his HUD. The Marshall security bots served much less of a threat to the trio, as they were less armored, carried less complex battle programming, no lethal weapons, and were overall slower and less intelligent.

In the lead, Ricky began to sprint, half pulling the small Procyon scientist along with him. A flying drone appeared in a cross hallway ahead and stopped, quad rotors buzzing above their heads. A dark blue beam scanned the pair and began to issue a warning through a built-in speaker.

“Halt, intruders. You are hereby ordered….”

The drone did not get a chance to finish before Ricky’s machine pistol cut its metal frame apart like a piece of pie. They hopped over the wreckage as they continued down the hall.

The hallways lead to the massive reception area, which was two stories tall. There were multiple large glass art deco pieces around the waiting area in front of a large front desk which was currently empty.

Ricky looked towards the other entrance and saw multiple diamond shaped targets appearing outside the doors just as they opened in the distance. Ahead of them now were at least twenty battle units, which opened fire using the lethal options available to them after Rocco had decimated a small squad of them previously. The units were designed to wirelessly share data to a central database and these new bots were all too aware of the brothers’ presence and their lethality. There was no warning or offers of surrender, they were now shooting to kill.

Ricky saw a piece of strange artwork that dotted the high-ceilinged main reception area and sought cover behind it. Rocky was right behind him and slid on his knees behind a large globe contraption that looked half-finished. It was probably intended to look that way, was it supposed to represent Titan? Rocky pulled out a matching Axion machine pistol like his brother’s and they both opened fire.

“That way’s out of the question.” Rocky quipped, nodding his head towards the front entrance gallery where the robots were coming from.

“We need another way out, quick.” Ricky shouted at the small scientist as bullets pinged off everything around them like an angry swarm of hornets.

“There is no other exit, just the visitor and employee entrances.” He shrugged, ducking behind the huge front desk in the lobby.

Rocky’s metallic structure seemed to provide decent cover from the incoming volley, but Ricky noticed immediately that the strange geometrical shape that he was behind was quickly being chewed away. The Imperial bots were gathering at the doorway, another squad joining with the first and this one had two hovering sentry drones accompanying them. Ricky knew instantly that would be a problem. Unlike the flying security drone he had cut down, these were equipped with missiles, turrets and some even with lasers.

“We gotta move!” Ricky leaped out from behind the structure, just as the integrity of its design failed and it collapsed into a heap of rubble where he had been standing a moment ago.

Two red laser beams cut the air from the hovering drones. Both Titans ducked underneath them as they cut apart some of the furniture and decorations inside the lobby. A howl came from the hallway and Rocco, armed with his assault rifle came charging ahead like an angry avatar of war, hungry for a fight. He shouldered his gun and unleashed a torrent of fire towards the other end of the lobby where the bots were gathering for their own charge.

Rocky fired a short burst from his sidearm without even looking. He was more focused on his HUD, which he was scanning ravenously.

“We’re surrounded.” Ricky stated the obvious as a line of gunfire erupted from the direction Rocco had come from.

All the glass decorations lining the lobby exploded in showers, including some of the artwork and a pair of statues which had been made entirely out of glass and glasstics.

“What now, brainiac?” Rocco turned towards Ricky briefly between focused burst of gunfire.

“What are you asking me for?” He replied while finding a pillar to hide behind, even as a few rounds pinged off the steel siding. “He’s the one that got us into this.” He waved a frustrated hand towards Rocky.

Rocco pushed his way past the group of science bots who were obediently waiting for Rocky’s next command, all the while being pelted with incoming rounds. The line of Zenith robots was now advancing. He began firing back at them in an attempt to slow them as much as possible. The robot division was not concerned for its safety and felt no fear from the trio’s incoming rounds. They were programmed to attack, and they carried out their programming. If one fell, there was always another to replace it, unlike organic soldiers. As the science bot next to him was hit by a hail of bullets and fell to the ground, Rocco hit two of the battle units on the other side of the high-ceilinged spacious room.

Just then an explosion rocked the side of the room, a fiery wave of heat hit them along with a rain of debris.

“Blimey! They really aren’t concerned with collateral damage, are they?” The scientist shouted bleakly.

“No, they aren’t.” Ricky shook his head and replied over the spattering gunfire. “They own everything, what do they care? They’ll have a team of repair bots in here tomorrow like nothing ever happened. Maybe we can try the roof, come on!”

“Wait!” Rocky yelled excitedly. “This facility has Diode 3 Reactors, right?”

The scientist was ducking underneath the desk now as a hail of projectiles struck angrily around him. He managed to reply over the noise in a strained voice.

“Yes. I’m fairly sure they do.”

“That means Sodium-Ion battery cores. And the waste that goes with it. Ricky, there’s gotta be a waste chute in here somewhere!”

“Brilliant! Find it!” Ricky moved up to Rocky’s position and began firing out from the side of the mammoth globular object. He had never been much for art, but he had to admit, this thing sure was sturdy. In fact, it looked to have been just about the only thing still mostly intact in the lobby.

It did not take long. Rocky looked to the second floor which had windows overlooking the lobby below. He pointed and Ricky nodded. The pair each rolled a small disc out from either side of the globe and turned to run the other direction. A moment later they both detonated, releasing electromagnetic waves that stopped the advancing robots. They had protections against such crude homemade devices unlike the science bots, but it would stun them temporarily.

Rocco came around the corner from his vantage point and used the opportunity to lay down a spray of gunfire that took out nearly the entire front line of the Zenith robots then turned to follow the others.

The three brothers found a staircase leading to the second floor on the other side of the lobby and ran up them quickly, with the scientist working hard to follow. A few of the science bots were still following Rocky but at this point it began to look like a lost cause. He thought a command into his Net-Comm and had nine of them wait at the foot of the stairs. Only four now followed them, and they were falling behind.

Rocco was both the largest and the fastest among them, and he reached the door first. He did not wait for Rocky to come and try to hack into the door console, instead he threw his entire weight into it. The door buckled and he grabbed both sides of the door frame and began kicking until the metal door collapsed inwards.

Rocco waited at the door while the others passed by him into the room. Battle units were coming up the stairs behind them. The science bots slowed them for a second or two, but these were cut down by the advancing robot horde. Rocco leaned around the corner and laid down some covering fire.

Rocky made his way to the center of the room passing rows of upright computerized equipment and found the chute he was looking for. It was not as large as he expected but they could all still probably fit through it. He glanced back at Rocco firing out the doorway. Probably.

“Who’s first?” Rocky asked while pulling off a grate.

“Is this safe?” Ricky looked his brother in the eyes.

“Sure. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Because didn’t you say that this is for dumping some kind of radioactive waste?”

Rocky scrunched his angular muzzle up.

“Yeah, y’know…I guess.”

“You guess?” Ricky roared angrily.

Rocky reached out and pushed him down the chute before he could protest further. He looked at the scientist.

“After you.”

“I’m not going down there. That most certainly is not safe.” He replied. “The waste from sodium-ion battery leakage can eat through…”

“Neither are they safe.” Rocky stuck his thumb toward the door, the sounds of gunfire ringing throughout the corridors all around them. He reached out and pushed him too.

Next came the science robots, and they fell in without hesitation.

“Rocco!” Rocky yelled.

Rocco turned around and, seeing most of them disappeared from the room, ran for it. He dove in, following a moment after Rocky, just as a swarm of Zenith bots came rushing into the room, guns blazing.

The chute was not made for Titans, or anything living for that matter, but it was angled instead of a straight drop. None of them had much time to contemplate the situation they were currently in, as they accelerated faster and faster towards the opening at the end. A flood of light came quickly, and then…

All of them splashed hard in a body of heavily polluted water, hitting with such velocity as to drive the air from their lungs. Rocco was the first to regain his senses and made sure the others made it back to the surface. On the shore of the green blighted lake, they all collapsed. Only two of the science bots made it to the shore to join them.

“Damn, that would have been a right good payday.” Rocky shook his head, lamenting his loss.

“Two is better than none.” Rocco returned, picking some glowing waste material off his arms. “We’re on the other side of the building now.”

They all followed his gaze, knowing their choices were either back into the population center swarming with Zenith security, or out into the dangerous wildlands of Titan. Their beat-up old transporter was back in the square but was probably surrounded by the Zenith drones by now. Neither option seemed particularly appealing.

“Well? Did you have a plan?” Ricky looked back at the scientist, who was still gasping for air on his back in the mud. “’Cause it appears we don’t.”

“Yeah.” He wheezed. “There’s a Union safe house in Kallerish City. Get me and this data back there.”

Ricky’s eyes scanned the forests beyond the city, knowing the many dangers that waited out there for them. Titans lived in cities and population centers between the cities, there was nothing but danger for them in the wildlands.

“Sounds like we got a new mission boys.” He said to his brothers. “Gear up.”