"Sensor's jammed," one of the soldiers noted as he scanned for the cocooned Vecto. "Proceed with caution."

The ground rumbled.

"No readings. What's underneath us?" another questioned, pointing at the cracked surface.

The surface shook, and the team tracked the tremor beneath them. A lone soldier stepped above the source, reached in his sack, and placed a mine on the ground, holding a detonator in his other hand. He slowly stepped back, but the ground quivered below him. He didn't get far. A metallic hand thrust from the ground and snatched his leg, pulling him under as a sinkhole formed, taking the mine with him. An explosion thudded underneath the surface, and bones spat from the ground.

"Fire the ground diggers!" the team leader yelled as they switched to their shatter guns and fired bullets through the ground. The powerful, nearly frictionless shells slipped through the surface as if streaming through water, colliding with Vecto's stronger shields. But when they ceased fire, Vecto's dome-shield quickly expanded, forcing chunks of earth in the air, as well as soldiers. The reddish shield surfaced, still inflating, tidal-waving across the ground to form a crater.

The shield retracted as gravel showered from above, and the remaining team members hastily fired. In a blur, Vecto's body leaped out from the crater and landed before them, swiping his hand to sever a soldier in half, turning to blast another, and running to a third. The soldier fired loose shots as the robot knocked the gun from his arm, broke his arm, spun around him and shot him in the back.

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Another soldier came at Vecto with a pulsesaber. A blade extended from Vecto's arm, blocking the shielded energy sword. He blocked more swings, then swung low, slicing the soldier's leg off. Vecto grabbed his face as he fell and slammed his head into the ground.

More shots streamed toward Vecto as he stood up and reflected them back, killing all but one.

"Have you no honor?" the special ops member yelled at Vecto, yanking his gas mask from his face and pulling out a thick rod. He reached out as the rod extended into a staff. He twirled the staff in his hands and thrust it into attack position.

Vecto shot him in the head. With that done, he noticed sniper fire striking his shield and followed the source to nearby rooftops. He hovered his weapons back over to him, absorbed more carbon from around him, and stared at one of the roofs.

"I will never die!" he said loud enough for them to hear.

The snipers kept firing as Vecto retaliated with a barrage of missiles. They exploded in the air from sniper fire as Vecto leaped, grabbed a couple of his airborne missiles, and brought them down on the snipers himself. He landed on the roof, slashed one guy, and turned to shoot another.

The remaining jet made another pass. Its engines roared through the air as Vecto waited for his gun to charge. The plane swooped overhead and dropped a cluster of Milestone bombs at Vecto. Instead of blasting the aircraft, Vecto fired at the building below. The recruitment building exploded as Vecto fell through the roof. A mushroom cloud formed as the pilot glanced back from his cockpit to confirm the target was hit. The jet swooped around and made another pass at the flattened building, its crosshairs focusing on Vecto's heat signature amidst the rubble.

"You'll all die!" Vecto yelled. He emerged from the smoke with his flame boosters ignited and jetted for the aircraft. He grabbed its right wing as it flew overhead and slung the plane toward a barracks building. Its pilot ejected, and Vecto sniped him.

Vecto fell toward the surface, watching as the jet crashed into the barracks building and the west end of the base lit up in flames.