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The Juggernaut towered over him, it's various limbs digging into the rock as it inched closer. At first glance, it seemed flimsy and weak. Yet its first response was far too quick.
Void could tell it was fighting against decades of rust, still showing uncompromised mobility.
His eyes widened as he focused on the Juggernaut, its flimsy crawl gradually shifting to a more precise scuttle.
'It's getting better by the minute'
The tunnel trembled as its jagged serrated limbs scored the soft cavern rock. Void faced the Juggernaut, as the two came to a standstill.
An abhorrent mechanical rattling resonated as the gears on its chasse shifted, heavy steam pulsing through its vents. The Juggernaut seemed more alive than ever.
Void locked eyes with its crimson pupil and subtly shifted his body closer to the tunnel's exit, oddly Juggernaut shuffled around, its eyes glued to Void, the air tensed up, an eerie silence lingering for a mere second.
'Maintaining direct line of sight, this bastard, knows what I'm doing.'
Both sides were frozen stiff, Void's muscles grew rigid, his legs drove into the ground, like a spring coiling back.
Juggernaut still seemed dazed from its long slumber. Every passing second, it scanned Void from head to toe, thousands of simulations running inside its head. It seemed akin to a spider webbing its prey.
Patiently waiting for Void to make the first move, the moment he so much as flinches, his fate was sealed. Void, knew that, a minute had passed, yet he didn't budge an inch.
Was he paralyzed with fear? No, that wasn't it. He was preparing for his next step.
'If its waiting for a reaction, I need to be faster. Faster than I've ever been.'
His thoughts raced, power coursing through his veins. Void's aura grew dense, a suffocating pressure emanating from his silhouette.
A jolt ran through him, Void seemed to coil up further, ready to blast off, a smirk flashed on his lips.
Immediately, Void sprang forth, releasing every ounce of power he had collected, shooting towards the exit with electrifying speed, his figure blurred, leaving behind a flickering shade.
In the same instant, Juggernaut leapt forwards, two rail guns mounted on his shoulders locked on, the muzzle flashed a hundred times a second, thousands of bullets chased Void as he darted to the end of the tunnel.
A fraction of a second later, he jumped, shooting towards the last platform Void grabbed the ledge and swung back on top. The instant his feet touched the ground, Void's aura multiplied and he lunged to the platform above.
With his precise control, Void deftly stuck the landing, bracing for a mere instant.
"Hhhaaaa", Void sucked in a deep breath.
His legs drove in and he shot up, power coursing through his veins, Void scrambled across the cavern's face as he latched on the next platform.
A second later, Void felt an eerie pit in his stomach, a sudden urge overwhelmed him to stay put, yet his mind was pushing him to keep running.
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The confusion caused him to freeze, 'It's not making any sense.' His breaths quickened, 'Did it stop following me?'
The Juggernaut was nowhere to be seen, the cavern rumbled, Void glanced back as his body urged him to lean forward and press on. His eyes shivered, unable to spot the behemoth.
Void blinked, hunched over, he pushed himself ahead, lunging at blinding speeds he dashed towards the next platform.
Just as he scrambled across the floor, the rumbling echoed, Void felt the air whip through his cloak as he shot forwards, faster than a bullet. Just as he did, the world seemed to slow down.
His eyes were glued towards the cavern face, cracks propagated from within. Suddenly, the rock fractured, the Juggernaut tore through, bursting forth hurling itself towards Void mid-air, its railguns firing in overdrive as a storm of bullets shredded anything in its path.
"M-ther F***er"
What now? Well it was simple. All hell broke loose.
In a mad frenzy, Void dashed left to right darting erratically as the Juggernaut chewed through the rock nigh on his tail. He fiercely scampered ahead, digging arm and leg into the rock, scrambling with each limb to get just an inch ahead as bullets grazed past him.
The two rose through the valley at blinding speeds, a torrent of bullets cleaved through the cliff face, scratching Void's armor as thousands of sparks flew,
The previous stillness of the valley now ravaged by the screeching bullets, the calm crevice seemed more like a hell hole as death itself clung to Void trying to mince him alive. The megaton behemoth scurried closer, it's spindling legs hooked to the cavern's wall
Drowned out by the chaos, Void felt Obsidians voice faintly echo in his head, Void's figure went translucent as the bullets that appeared to graze him simply pierced a mirage, he scuttled and zipped through the uphill climb, darting from rock to rock as he dug his fingers in.
"Urgent transmission. Nightstalkers issued a internal code red, the Cosmodrome's on lockdown. The gigs up, they're rushing here." Obsidian hurriedly relayed.
'Code Red?', instantly everything fell into place. The identity of the hunters who trapped the Juggernaut here, why the behemoth was corroded and chained up, and most of all, why it had immediately been able to adapt to his ability.
Void clenched his teeth, the Juggernaut lost his scent for a mere second, yet it hadn't stopped moving, it knew where Void was going to be.
Flickering away to the top, he could almost see the thin gap separating him and freedom, the harrowing screech of spinning gears rattling pulsed behind him, inching closer each instant.
But he didn't spare it a glance, Void immediately reached for three pellets launching them towards the rusted staircase as a thick fog engulfed everything. The tactic seemed to hinder the Juggernauts vision.
Void immediately triggered his warp scattering into a thin mist dispersing through the gap, the momentum carried over, throwing him across the moment he gathered himself. He slid across the floor slamming into the wall.
His hands dug into the wall, Void hastily got to his feet and tensed up. His gaze lingered to the gap behind him, all of a sudden a titanic tremor shook the walls, he could hear the Juggernaut grinding away at the crevices in the walls.
Every second, the walls grew thinner, for now, it being stuck back there was a huge boon, Void caught his breath, a sudden wave of light washed over him, as his bruised armor and shredded skin began to heal.
He rushed towards the exit, limping but as he went on, his cadence subtly shifted to his flickering stride. Void could still hear the Juggernaut, whatever that horror was, it hadn't given up.
Void kept running, and between quick breaths he began transmitting his location to the squad.
Void wiped the blood of his cloak, "Obsidian, contact the Captain open the channel." Immediately, the transponder buzzed as his location was received.
"VOID, what the f*ck are you doing there?" Tevis's voice was drowned out by the squad's sparrows throttling through the Cosmodrome.
"There's no time to explain, I'm the one who triggered that trap and its hunting me down, I trapped it in the base but its gonna smash through it any second."
"You....We're coming, hang in there." Tevis's words slipped off as he clenched his teeth.
Void traced back his steps to the entry vent as he darted off, the base rumbled once more as walls collapsed in the distance, an abhorrent screech echoed as the Juggernaut's gears grinded.
With no time to waste, Void flickered towards the vent, "Meet me here, there's no running from this." Before he could finish his words, a metallic shriek tore through the lull as the transponder's signal scrambled, sending out a muffled reply.
Tevis frowned, his squad of twelve blasting towards the marked spot at breakneck speeds. He brought his wrists closer.
"Hold that f*cker down till we get there, but when this is over, you owe us an explanation."
He let go and raised the throttle, the sparrows previously piercing through the sandy plains now were a mere blur, leaving behind a massive shockwave.
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