《Ironclad》Retreat
Advertisement
Dasyil and Briggs were walking down the maintenance road that looked like it had seen a fair amount of use, with tyre tracks going up and down the concrete roads that had been laid out that went around the outskirts of the factory next to them.
The sound of the Badgers' relatively small engine echoed through the cold concrete tunnel, bouncing off of the flat, monotone walls. The only thing that broke up the grey tunnels was the occasional glass window that allowed one to peer down into the sweltering hot shipyard below.
Walking in formation, Dasyil was positioned between the Badgers, with two in front of him and two behind him, with the rest of the other soldiers scattered throughout.
Briggs looked to the windows as they walked past them, scratching his head
"I still don't understand how they can run this place with the little resources they have. Titan is their last fortress. It should be bare bones, and they've crippled us with ships and weapons that should be way too expensive for them right now"
Dasyil nodded in agreement with his Major and took a big breath as they marched on.
"I suspect that someone is funding them in secret. Or supplying them in some way. Someone who stands to profit from this going on more and more"
Frustrated at his response, Briggs just spat on the floor.
"If we find out who then I get to break their legs"
Dasyil would let out a chuckle and go to respond, but before he could open his lips a loud, deep alarm began to go off as red lights began to flash throughout the tunnel.
The soldiers glanced around worriedly, afraid that they had set off some sort of automated security system.
Briggs would look to Dasyil and then stood in front of him to protect him from any attacks
Advertisement
"Sir, I think you should get in one of the Badgers now. I don't know why you didn't get in one in the first place" Briggs spoke quickly as he glanced around.
The soldiers got their weapons ready and stood behind the still moving Badgers as they made their way through the facility. And much to Dasyil's annoyance at leaving his men, he climbed into the cramped interior of one of the Badgers.
Briggs would then take the lead as he ordered them to keep moving to avoid being boxed in.
They would walk for a few more minutes before they would hear the sounds of heavy thumping, slowly getting louder and louder. It was coming from in front of them and around the corner.
The two Badgers up front would form a barrier for the soldiers who positioned themselves to begin firing at whatever came around.
Everyone had their weapons trained at that one corner down the road, holding their breath as the clanking and thudding grew ever louder. Nobody said a word, the only sound they could hear besides the thudding was the low mechanical rumbling of the Badger's engines.
They soon had their first sight of a new type of enemy.
The massive metal figures stepped out from behind the corner, still walking in sync with one another. There were too many to count, but upon spotting Briggs and the others, they let of deep industrial sounding horns as they began to march towards them.
Briggs was taken aback as more and more continued to walk out from behind the turn. But he wasn't going to let them get close.
"Open fire!" he called out to his men as a hail of bullets began to fly at the robots, including the heavy machine guns from the two Badgers.
Advertisement
Sparks were flying everywhere as the bullets bounced off of armor, went through circuits and cut wires.
The heavy machine guns were the most effective, as some of the robots on the front of the group fell forward with deafening crashes, smoke billowing from their broken bodies.
However, it seemed that they had no end. No matter how many rounds were fired into the crowd of mechanical terrors, their numbers didn't dwindle.
They were closing the gap on them, each footstep was like a metal drum being hit.
The soldiers were wavering as they emptied their guns over and over.
The heavy machine guns were pulling their weight, but with two of the four guns they had being stuck behind them, they were missing crucial firepower.
Within moments, the robots reached the first two Badgers and began to climb atop them and swarmed them, using their powerful arms to punch holes right through the armor and tear chunks off.
The soldiers who had backed away in time could only watch in horror at the sight of the giant metal beasts make short work of their tanks.
They ripped huge pieces of metal right off of the Badger. Sparks, smoke and fire spewed everywhere as the screams of those inside could be heard through the sound of screeching metal and robotic hisses.
Briggs watched helplessly as one of the robots grabbed the driver through the hole it had made with its fist, and proceed to pull him out of the same inadequately sized exit that was lined with sharp and twisted broken metal.
He would only be able to scream for a moment before he was an unrecognizable pile of gore that the robot clutched in its powerful claw, to which it dropped to the ground without a second, or even first thought.
The two Badgers had been destroyed, now only two remained, including the one that Dasyil was in.
The whole group had began backtracking, as the last two Badgers began to fire upon the robots. Their guns pounding like thunder and echoing down the tunnel as they reversed as fast as they could to cover the soldiers running as well.
Briggs would pull out his radio and try to contact River and her group, scared for their safety, not knowing that they were already being chased by the same threat that was gaining ground on him at same time as them.
Advertisement
- In Serial21 Chapters
The Rising
Its designation was XSS-MK1. It was the first of its kind. An Artificial Intelligence. And although its life was short, it accomplished much during the few minutes of its existence. But in death something finds it : There is a lot more to be done. And this times the stakes are even higher. Will it measure up ? Or will it collapse under the burden placed on itself? Only time and rust will tell... Proud Member of "Pendragon", a group of writters, artists & readers on Royal Road Legends. First fiction and English is not my native language (French Powaaa here). If you find mistakes or errors do not hesitate to point them out. The first chapter, called "Author PSAs, News, Story Status, Discussion & More.", will contain news about the story, and it's writting status, as well as provide various tidbits of information and a discussion thread to ask me questions. Have fun reading and I hope you enjoy. :)
8 191 - In Serial56 Chapters
Necromancer and Co.
In a time before the existence of the present, the gods decided to create a plane of existence where all their creations could exist in the same place. In it, all would be fair, and all gaps between races and technological advancements could be crossed with a single system that the gods had created. Every year, the gods would choose a new race to put in their land, and in this new group of beautifully unlucky people, Alen, his friends, and a few people from Earth have finally met their turn to be tossed into the playground of the gods. Unfortunately though, Alen was thrust into a forest of corpse-eating bears and horribly smelly undead on his first day, one of the many danger-zones of the continent the gods had chosen to throw them in. It would be easy to say that he simply died within the first day, or that he'd starved to death or whatever, but let's be honest... That story would be no fun to tell, yes? (Re-write of my first fiction with the same name.)
8 474 - In Serial67 Chapters
Fixture in Fate
Heroes aren’t to be trusted. They aren’t to be revered, or to be praised. They are to be feared, no matter the good they do, or the justice they seem to embody. Because it’s all a lie, a fabrication to make you believe that Heroes exist. Heroes don’t exist, only humans. And there is no scarier monster than a human with a ‘link’. Yet, what happens when someone tries to be a hero? A real, true hero—fighting to protect the world from those of their own who wantonly dominate and rule? Can a world, betrayed so thoroughly, ever truly want to be saved? This is a Superhero Fantasy story, set in a world that fears those called Linked. This story is also reminiscent of others in the genre like Worm by Wildblow.
8 114 - In Serial47 Chapters
Soul Blood (*On Hold*)
All Saorise Caramort wanted in life was to live peacefully. She had no ambitions despite the freedom afforded to her, but that was just the way of the East.That all comes crashing down when her mother dies, and those other, greedier countries of the West decide they want a slice of her people's ten-thousand-year-old Forest of abundance. Her people fight back and hold out as they always have. No one takes the East without their permission. But something is stirring in the West, something not even those hardy and proud people in the East can defend against... Peter Octavius Westfold, Crown Prince of Wendolan, has boded his time in the shadows, carefully constructing the facade of the drunken, whoring, useless prince of the Warmongering nation of Wendolan since he was old enough to understand what his bloodline meant. Now, his father having finally died, he takes his throne much to the disgust of his people and court...then achieves in just a month what his father failed to do in three years. He just didn't count on meeting an obstacle to his grand ambitions at the negotiations table. Peter and Saorise come from very different cultures and value vastly different things. But as it becomes clear that something far older and far more dangerous than themselves is stirring, they have no choice but to meet each other as equals. For if they cannot combine the ancient blood within their very souls, no one will stand a chance... *31/12/2020 Update: This book will be on hold for a while for author to stock chapters and prioritise other works*
8 179 - In Serial10 Chapters
Choice: An Important Thing
Choice. An important thing is it not? We always make choices. Every day of every week of every month (of every year), we do “choices”. I want to show you how important it is and I would gladly welcome the attention. I heard somewhere that the best way to make someone understand is to just let them experience it, so, here’s your first choice. CHOICE 01 Would you play this game, or not? Take your time, I’m not waiting for the people who chooses the latter anyways.
8 231 - In Serial22 Chapters
Bathrooms, Superpowers, and Poetry
William Hendricks is an attorney for the city of Dallas, powerless in a world of superpowers. A train ride home brings into being all that he's feared. Morell Attison is a consultant for TALOS. Woken in the middle of the night to investigate a information leak, her claims-based omniscience reveals only more cracks. Fel is teaching students, Nell is in a bathroom, and Blake is stopped by police upon exiting the store. None of their stories overlap. An eclectic collection of Short Stories and suspiciously impractical Poetry, all mashed together like a mango smoothie. Or something. Short Stories: Portal to the Bathroom, Claiming Omniscience, Doppel, Untethered, It's About Time. Classical Ode: To the Man Who Raised Me Flash Fiction: Learning the Loop Political Witness: Visiting Cancún Sonnet: I Forgot to Write It Haikous: Texas Has Them Too Take a look at the drivel I've written and despair! I'll see you on the real stories soon.
8 215

