“Sunspot again? Oh, good Lord: that Black Knight really has a hardon for me!” Jessica groaned.

“Don’t worry,” replied Wendy: “this will be a simple in and out, fast and furious. He shouldn’t get the chance to get close to you.”

“That’s what you say,” grumbled Jessica: “You’re the one with twice my speed and jump. Of course he’s not going to have a chance at you: but I’m a sitting duck!”

“He doesn’t have jump jets,” replied Wendy: “Just jump up on a building, or over one, and he can’t get to you.”

“That can be easier said than done, sometimes,” Jessica retorted: “I still need to be out there to make attacks: can’t do that from behind buildings, not at that range.”

Katarina broke in. “Queen of Spades, you tackle the Black Knight. That will distract him from the rest of us. Then you don’t have to close with the targets, and can stay back among the buildings.”

“Gotcha,” groaned Jessica: “Somebody hand me a hook, so I can play fresh bait.”

“Hey, now you know how I feel,” grinned Kenny: “The fastest on the field, but they still come after me. Guess they figure they can take me down easy, with one shot, so they try and usually do. We’ve got a standing contract with Hammered Hands & More to keep six Spider legs available at all times just for me and Armando!”

“I don’t care much for that kind of life for you, Babe,” Wanda muttered: “I want you around for the long haul! You and me retiring someday together, you know?”

“I hear ya, Honey. But for now, this is what pays the bills. Can’t be helped, ya know?”

“Hey, lovebirds! Cut the chatter: we’re on mission now. Time for that stuff later.” Katarina was not unsympathetic, but right now they all needed their minds focused on business. She vaulted over a pair of mountain ridges on the north side of their target, staying away from the Black Knight and its companion mechs and heading towards the objective. Wanda followed suit.

The Black Knight fired the PPC at Jessica, the beam again curving away thanks to the rarefied gasses in the air. She fired her LRMs back at him as he shot several lasers into the ground, forcing his heat up to activate his triple-strength myomer. She watched in foreboding as the heat scale rose, wishing she had inferno missiles to force it even higher into a shutdown. But she didn’t, and that wasn’t likely to change anytime soon.

Kenny watched Katarina and Wanda virtually flying towards the targets from the North, and softly crooned: “You take the high road and I’ll take the low…” as he boosted to the South,

both splitting the enemy forces and setting up to hit different targets than they had chosen.

One of the opposing mechs moved towards the South to intercept Kenny, but the remaining two chose to focus fire on Jessica. “That’s your mistake,” she growled, “and you’ll soon regret it!”

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She backpedaled, walking backwards as fast as she could given the terrain, trying to force them to chase her. She succeeded, while the other three Avengers continued towards their goals.

The Black Knight charged across the field, running twice as fast as she could either jump or walk backwards. It came down to simple math: he would be on her in 30 seconds, unless by some miracle she took him down. She fired again, praying for that miracle. This time both salvos hit, and the Black Knight staggered for a moment. But he was soon back on his feet and running again.

There was something about that Black Knight, the way he moved so naturally it was as if he were born to pilot that 75-ton metal mountain: like he could tap dance in the thing if he chose to. No wonder he never fell: no wonder his blade never missed.

Katarina continued to jump, passing up one safe target to leave for Wendy as she continued on to the next target. Wendy approached the target and began firing, scoring the walls of the building, apparently some kind of warehouse.

Kenny opened fire on his target as well, having to stand exposed on a ridge to do so. His two medium pulse lasers didn’t do huge amounts of damage but they, too, scored the walls and started the collapse of the structure. Kenny did not notice any people exiting the building as he made his attack: apparently the buildings were empty.

But a Wolverine had followed him and opened fire with pulse lasers, carving rips in his left torso and right leg. Nothing internal was damaged, but everything in those areas was exposed. Kenny did not return fire, saving every shot for the building he was trying to bring down. The faster it fell, the faster he would be out of there and away from enemy fire.

Katarina had managed to approach a building out of the range of all enemy mechs, and promptly set about reducing it to scrap. Wendy likewise opened fire, blasting bricks and mortar to rubble.

Jessica had the Black Knight in her sights now in the sweet spot where she could fire everything, and did. Everything hit, and yet the Black Knight kept right on coming. She didn’t seem able to do enough damage even to faze him, let alone handicap his mech. She jumped backwards onto the upper level of a building at the edge of the compound, realizing too late that it was not far enough. The Black Knight vaulted up to the level below her and then to her level. It was inevitable: she raised her right arm to try to fend off the blade…

Katarina had finished cratering the building she had chosen as a target, and now jumped behind the Black Knight, though still at a distance. Between the range, her jumping and his pace, there was little chance of hitting him directly, so she didn’t try. Instead, she fired at the building he was standing on, smashing through a couple of main support pillars and bringing the building down with him on top. For once the Black Knight toppled, crashing to the ground four stories beneath where he had been. Jessica whooped in exultation, then jumped down the other side of the building.

But the Black Knight did not stay down. In an instant he stood again, firing all his lasers and his PPC at the wall between him and Jessica, then smashing his way through to strike at her again.

Her arm caught the brunt of the damage, but plenty of force remained to crush most of her right torso. She stumbled but stayed standing and jumped once more onto the next building, well away from the edge so that he could not repeat Katarina’s actions on her.

Katarina had run much closer, and this time focused all her fire on the Black Knight’s right leg. Under the barrage of pulse lasers the leg crumpled, finally bringing the Black Knight down on his knee.

She took stock of the situation in a second: Kenny had lost his left torso and arm but had also destroyed his building as had Wendy.

“Avengers, retreat! We got three targets, that’s good enough. Get out of here as quick as you can!”

Wendy jumped to obey, but not before she landed a pair of shots on the back of the Wolverine that was plaguing Kenny. That diverted his attention while Kenny jumped to safety. He fired back, damaging a bit of armor on the Viper but not penetrating. Then Wendy jumped away as well.

With the Black Knight down they were able to outrun everything else on the field, and return triumphantly home…