Columns of smoke rose from the road ahead, punctuated by fresh ejections of pavement from landing shells. Explosions marched down the highway as the artillery fire blanketed the approach to the mine. Alice threw open the van door and ran for cover among the trees. Robert was close on her heels.

"Follow me." Weizza's voice buzzed in Alice's ear. "I will navigate the approach. Be prepared to dash."

Weizza bounded off through the pine forest, heading overland toward the mine entrance. Ba Kuang followed close behind.

Alice worried she'd be unable to match the graceful lopes across the uneven ground, but the suit made her movements preternaturally easy. The rush of wind and visceral sense of power set her heart thumping. This must be what wolves feel like on the hunt.

"AWOOOOO!" Marcos howled beside her. Apparently Alice wasn't the only one.

"Silence," Weizza relayed over the comm, but there was a hint of laughter in her voice. Maybe she was still part human after all.

Their van had intentionally followed the bot transports at a distance, wary of being caught in an ambush. A well reasoned precaution, as it turned out. But now the group had to catch up with their support forces.

A rhythmic thumping of helicopter blades sounded from straight ahead. "Sprint!" Weizza urged over the comm.

Alice's suit seemed to respond even before she did. The sound of wind built to a roar as her augmented legs poured on speed. An icon on her HUD highlighted the helicopter rushing at them over the pine trees.

Puffs of brown dirt spouted from the grass around Weizza and Ba Kuang. Occasional sparks flew from their suits when the puffs drew too close. Alice realized belatedly they were taking heavy gunfire.

Ba Kuang stumbled and fell under a hail of bullets. A flash burst from the back of Weizza's armor, then the helicopter exploded in a fireball as her missile hit home. Flaming wreckage rained down around them.

"My armor was hit," Ba Kuang broadcast over the comm. "One leg is busted."

Robert slowed to help, but Ba Kuang waved him on.

"Retreat to the warehouse. I will provide you an escort." Weizza redirected a chunk of the swarm to cover Ba Kuang's retreat.

Alice passed him in a blur. She couldn't see blood; with luck the damage was limited to the hardware.

Weizza signaled the group to drop back into a lope. The power readout on Alice's suit had dipped to 90%, the mad dash having taken a toll on the battery. Still plenty of power left though.

Ahead Alice saw the air and ground shimmer with the passage of innumerable bots. Artillery shells tore jagged rents in the carpet of drones, but the gaps quickly closed as fresh bots replaced the fallen.

Weizza relayed a grainy video feed to Alice's HUD. Over the next hill a ring of giant tanks belched flames. The ground-based bots were held at bay by the wall of killing heat, while the aerial Wings could do little against the heavy armor.

"I will deploy your mortars," Weizza informed them. "Hold still."

Alice's HUD switched over to a targeting system that Weizza tele-operated in a blur. A handful of parameters were selected, then Alice felt a trail of heat race across her back. Three clouds of smoke appeared on the far side of the hill.

"Two more volleys should be sufficient," Weizza commented.

It was strange being operated like a piece of machinery, but Alice clearly couldn't match Weizza's prowess with the equipment. She held still as ordered, a glorified Howitzer.

The mortar strikes blasted a gap in the ring of tanks, and the rest soon fell under the robotic onslaught. Soon the robot army was advancing once more.

"Sprint!" Weizza commanded. Alice lurched forward, then felt the concussive force of an artillery shell landing where she and Robert had just been standing. Nice to have a competent commander, Alice thought.

The handful of remaining Blackmountain troops fell back to the mine entrance as their perimeter defense collapsed.

"Keep running," said Weizza. "We must beat the blast doors."

Despite the formidable speed of the power-armor, they were too slow to stop the retreat. Alice crested the hill and watched helplessly as the mine entrance closed tight.

The doors had sealed to an impeccably machined solid surface. The engineer in Alice admired the tight tolerances on such a gigantic piece of equipment.

Marcos pounded the sealed blast door in seeming frustration, great resounding booms echoing from the impacts of his power assisted fists.

"You'll never break through," Alice chided. "Save your power."

Marcos continued with his pounding. "Watch and learn," he replied.

The door developed faint dents from the onslaught; Alice realized each strike was precisely positioned on either side of the central seam. A small gap had begun to open as the steel plates deformed.

"That oughta do," said Marcos. He grabbed a piece of steel framing from a shattered fortification and wedged it into the gap, then pulled with augmented might. The lever deformed under the force, but the crack widened.

Marcos's pry bar clattered to the ground, the opening now large enough to stick a head through.

"Give me a hand you three."

Weizza and Alice each took a side, grabbing a door edge and pulling hard. Marcos and Robert braced in the center between the doors, using their bodies like hydraulic spreaders.

Alice's power armor issued ominous pings and pops as she strained against the door. Whatever mechanism resisted them was robust, it felt like trying to pull down a mountain.

The door groaned, then a shrieking of shredding metal rang out and the door flew wide. Standing on the other side of the door was a single Blackmountain troop, frozen in fear. Marcos struck an armor-assisted kick to the solar plexus and knocked him flying into the far wall. He slumped to the ground and lay there motionless.

Marcos flashed a smile that was all teeth. "Let's go find Lynch."