Hilda looked up as the ceiling of the arena exploded in several places, unleashing packs of wolfkins inside the arena. The strongest landed on their feet among the crowd, the weakest, warriors and lower, used ropes to lower themselves. The crowd screamed when the soldiers began to tie them up. Regular troops start descending along with the wolfkins, to allow packs to advance deeper into the facility. Hilda moved her arm to her terminal and Annie could have sword that Hilda’s eyes widened behind her helmet.
A firefight erupted in the arena owner's balcony. Restraints fell from Ultis’s arms, allowing her to leap at the guards, while Roll fired at another guard. Mercenaries also turn their weapons on their former allies. The figure in a black cape and clad in power armor used her sword to cleave one of the guards in two. She took off the helmet from her head, revealing Blaze’s face underneath.
The cameras within the arena started transmitting information on Annie’s display, and she saw how the medics of the arena tried to obey emergency protocols and inject the patients and fighters with drugs that should cause a berserk state. Only the delivery system no longer worked. When guards moved to deliver the drug manually, they came face to face with Ron. The Omega walked to them, smiling, while teeny nanomachines ran from the metal beneath his fur, spreading across his body like water. He jumped, and the guards shot the wall behind him. Still having a liquid form of power armor around himself, the Omega landed between guards, blades forming on his wrists. He took three lives before the other guards surrendered. Now the Omega stood in full power armor of elegant design, made of countless nanomachines. His armor was of green color, with blue lenses.
The mercenaries, holding their positions in the trophy room, found themselves relieved when Dragena, Kayleen, Carty, and the other members of Dragena’s attacked the guards from behind. Even despite being on the mission, upon coming face to face with the Ice Fang member in the trophy hall, almost all wolfkins gave her a wide berth, only Dragena asked Ulrica a couple of things, before leaving her to be escorted to safety by the regular soldiers coming from behind.
Creatures meant to be unleashed in case of attack remained in their cells, as the computer’s protocols responsible for their release were corrupted. The members of the Omega team rushed into the section that belonged to Doctor, liberating the still alive slaves in there. This was the first time Annie saw the Omega team in action. They shared no sense of comradery, they did not cover each other's backs. There were no ranks within the Omega team, no wolf hags, no warriors, and no scouts. Each of them was perfection taken form, or at least they thought so. Not all members of the Omega team were here, many of them were still out there in the Ravaged Lands, furthering the will of Alpha and, by extension, the will of the Dynast. But the ones who were here overwhelmed the foes before them. Their power armors, made from countless nanomachines, could withstand the gunfire, yet the omegas weaved around the aim of their opponents, dodging the bullets before they could even be shot, as though the mere thought of being hit by the lesser beings was offensive to them. They rarely killed, preferring to knock down the foes with the dull sides of their wrist blades, polishing their skills even during the mission.
And from the ceiling of the arena, another massive form jumped in, bending the cage that surrounded the arena’s dome with her weight. Alpha stood up, encased in an enormously thick power armor. Her helmet allowed her crimson topknot to come up freely, the armor on her body was as thick as the armor plates of a heavy tank. The armor on her legs and arms allowed her claws to come out freely, and energy guns were installed on the outer and inner sides of her power armor's wrists. Alpha threw her left arm up, taking aim at the massive defensive bot that was pinning down some of the attackers. The duo of her energy guns spit a surge of bright light, melting the side of a tank-sized bot, overloading the systems within and exploding the ammo. The guards opened fire on her, more out of desperation and fear than of bravery. Laser beams kissed the power armor of the warlord but left no more than a few burn marks. The warlord touched... Annie could think of no better word than this, the guards before herself with the outer side of her claws. Normally, the claws of Wolf Tribe members were sharp on the inner side. However, Alpha was and has always been an anomaly. Her seemingly slow touch bisected the people before her, slicing through the bones and muscles with the same ease as the sharpest knife could cut through ordinary paper.
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Chaos now reigns throughout the arena. Defensive systems no longer work. Only a few defensive bots came to the aid of the guards and all turrets were turned off. The guards found the armories locked and, being unable to get the power armors and heavy weapons, surrendered in droves. The remains of Hekanta’s crew never left their quarters, laying asleep due to the sedative in today’s meal. Instead of the anger-inducing drug, the creatures in the holding cells received sedatives. The exits were blocked, forcing a few guards who were intent on fighting to cut through the armored doors. Communications of the defenders were blocked after Kassandra, Angoro, and their troops took over the command center. The troops of the Reclaimers knew the layout of the arena. All that could go wrong for the defenders, went wrong.
"Stop!" Hilda shouted, pointing at the slaves behind the energy shield, "Anyone move and they…"
Alpha turned to the arena owner. The warlord was still standing outside of the dome. And yet, something crept from her, like destruction in the wake of a sandstorm. Annie remembered all her fears. The fear of losing Sveta, the horror of being left alone, the fear of harming her sister. She relived all her worst fears once more. It became hard to breath, her heart hurt, goosebumps covered her skin. Virginia felt the same, falling on her knees along with Annie. Even Hilda croaked from something. But while whatever touched them was wicked, it was merely an edge of the storm cloud. The center was among the guards who prepared to kill the slaves. Most of the slaves screamed, feeling horror, but their would-be executioners simply died when unnatural horror arrested their hearts. They didn’t scream, they didn’t twitch, each and every one of them simply fell to the ground like a broken toy.
"Wolf hags Annie, Rabbit, stop messing around. Deal with the enemy in front of you." Alpha commanded, turning away and jumping to a nearby group of guards, shredding them with her claws.
"It’s not over," Hilda said, as if she was trying to convince herself, "I still have the card to play. I can turn it around…" She saw how Annie and Virginia stood up, "Whatever it may be, I have grown too sick of you!"
She raised her arms and the wolfkins darted to the sides, evading her aim. Lighting shot from her palms, crashing into the wall of the arena. Virginia was the first to close on Hilda, the right fist of the wolf hag came blow to blow with the armored left hand of their foe. And the steel of Hilda’s arm gave up upon the contact, her fist crumbled under the pressure of Virginia’s punch. Virginia cursed, and Annie's power armor revealed that the idiot's knuckles had been shattered. Annie met Hilda’s right arm. Unwilling to use her damaged right arm, Annie used the palm of her left hand to direct the blow aside. What she did before in the battle against Palatine with casual ease, now came off as a botched attempt at best. The ring finger and pinky of Annie got shattered, but the blow was pushed aside. She spun in place, slammed the elbow of her left arm into Hilda’s right side, shattering the armor plate and devices within. Virginia jumped in the air, kicking with both legs into the chest of the massive foe. Hilda stepped back, two leg footprints on her chest plate. Annie charged behind the arena owner, not giving her even a moment to concentrate. She grabbed the waist of the foe, using the momentum of the enemy’s movement back in order to throw Hilda over herself and crash her against the energy shield.
The spinal column, or whatever was fulfilling its functions inside Hilda’s massive armor, ended up broken, and the arena owner slid from the energy shield, helpless and immobilized. Hilda’s helmet cracked, showing one eye beneath, mad with rage.
"Hecktricktsen!" She shouted with pure rage in her voice, "Kill them! Kill them all!"