August 22nd. Tijuana, Mexico. 16:39. PST

Tijuana, Mexico. A city formerly riddled with crime and human trafficking. In recent years, these problems started to diminish and peace seemed to return to the city. Unfortunately, this all changed when the Zlocu arrived and ravaged everything. But now, the city looks worse than the Zlocan takeover, half of the city is deserted and half of the buildings gone, with explosions holes, rubbles and bodies scattered across the streets A battle is raging on between the Zlocan troops and various rebels which have launched an uprising against the former.

The streets filled with militias and gangs banding together against Zlocan occupation with everything they have. The odor of gas fills most of the streets from the destroyed vehicles, the air being a huge cacophony of gunfire, explosions and hellish screams that many won't ever, ever forget.

And even so, things are looking grim for the rebels. The technologically advanced forces of the Zlocu are pushing them back hard, driving some into quickly surrendering to them, others fighting bitterly until their last breath. Whether it was because they're holding for the hope of their city being free one day or not is another matter.

And even if it will be free, will it recover the beauty it once had?

In Libertad neighborhood, between an armed school and pair of destroyed building blocks, a huge firefight between a Zlocan battalion and a militia is happening. A Zlocan Walker is opening fire on a block where thirty-five rebels are hiding and taking cover from it. There enough walls from the blocks to give the rebels enough time to take cover from the fire, all while dodging the ruble and grazing laser blasts in each angle.

One such soldier, a man with Reddish short hair, squinting hazel eyes and a fair skin worthy of any beautiful Latino, all he's wearing is an armor vest while strafing at the Zlocans with his G3 rifle through a wall.

"Laureano! You'd better provide some nice lead to the carajos out there!" a voice says, it's a feminine one. A woman with brown, straight hair, round amber eyes, set charmingly within their sockets and a scar reaching from the right side of the forehead, running towards the left side of her lips and ending on her upper lip. A fearsome warrior it seems.

"What?! There's enough shit to care of with our weapons already, Amanda!" he says while continuing to cover fire to their troops.

"Make a way please, we won't last long if we waste all of our ammo!" a male soldier says.

"But how do we outsmart these idiots without wasting our precious ammo!?" an elderly officer replies.

"I don't know, pull grenades out of our asses?!" Amanda replies as she growls under her breath.

"They don't do shit anyway, better to pick those spicy bottles but still don't do shit!" Laureano replies.

"Then let's find some good shit to use!"

As they continued to cover fire, Amanda stops for a second while going to check on something with her rifle near her hip, briefly glancing at the emptiness of the building while trying to shift her attention away from the fire and while trying to make her eardrums as resistant as they can from the noises.

"Hold...Hold your fire!"

"Amanda!?" Laureano asks bafflingly

"Trust me! I said hold your fire! I know what to do with this! And trust me...it will be the useful shit you've been looking for."

"All men, hold your fire!" the elderly officer orders as he raises his hand to signal the troops. They all comply with it, causing the entire zone to be silent once more.

The Zlocans looking confusingly stare at the place, with the troops accompanying the walker looking on while glancing at each other over the odd move from the rebels.

"Hmm? Did they ran out of weapons or what?" one Knight asks.

"Well, it's obvious that they're trying to surrender. A sudden silence is a sign of it," another Knight replies who is a female one.

"Don't be so sure, you know knows Humans are known to be very tricky to deal with according to reports from the Coalition's archives. Let's find them! The rest of you keep an eye on us," the pilot of the walker says.

They start to slowly walk towards the zone of the building blocks where the rebels are hiding, all aiming their rifles steadily at them. Any opponent the Zlocans face, they will all exterminate them with great prejudice and judgment. Even the ones staying in position from the school aim steadily at the position of the rebels, all to carry out their orders with precision.

Near the block, the rebels are positioned to the nearest corner they can find on every side of the building, all ready to do what should be done when the Zlocans come nearby.

The troops enter the ruined block, ready to check what's coming. It's all silent, almost nothing but the sound of dropping rocks and wet drops around the building.

"DROP 'EM!"

They start tossing a handful of smoke grenades to the ground near the Zlocan troops, all of which cause them to start aiming their rifles at the rebels but it gets too foggy to see anyone.

"Damn it! An ambush!" a Zlocan knight says.

"Ignore the smoke! Just fire whatever you can!"

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The troops start to open fire on the rebels with all they can in spite of the smoke, trying to achieve what their commanders told them to achieve a part of the battle in Tijuana.

"Bingo," Amanda whispers as she sprints from her position near a wall, quickly firing her rifle near the Zlocans' position, taking them down one by one in rapid succession, where even the others aren't quick enough to react in time from the attack.

"Atta girl! Alright boys, blow up that piece of metal!" Laureano says as some rebels get out from the walls as some hold some AT4 rocket launchers whom they proceed to get in position to get a clear fire from it.

"Wait, boys, got one more thing to play!" Amanda says as she jumps while tossing her rifle near the hull, jumping high enough to reach the walker's leg while holding on to it as it turns on both sides, trying to get a clear shot in what's going on. Quickly reaching atop of the walker's hull, Amanda quickly grabs her rifle while the hatch opened just in time for the Zlocan pilot to come out and try to shoot her, only for her to quickly use the butt of her rifle to knock the Zlocan down, hitting him hard enough to be knocked out cold.

"Amanda? Going for another trick of yours?" a rebel asks.

"Let my niña do what she will do...I know how much she can think of things like this," the elderly officer replies.

Inside the cockpit, Amanda takes a look around it to familiarize for a moment. All almost identical to a modern tank, except that there's a monitor in front of the pilot's seat that allows them to observe the battle while using the machines around them to coordinate the battle.

"Hmm, few common beings can share this kind of thing, aren't we?" Amanda mutters as she sits down to the pilots' seat. Quickly reaching to the pedals near her feet and gaining a hold of the two control sticks near the cockpit. Moving the right one makes the gun in front of the mecha to move to each side and up and down. She briefly touches the trigger which some of the laser blasts from it to a nearby wall.

"Well, I'll be lucky..." she then moves the left one which makes the hull of it to change direction between left and right. With the combined movements of some of the pedals, it moves back and forth while changing to different directions, barely hitting walls and such while keeping the balance of the walker.

"Now, to the finest touch!" Laureano says.

Amanda, in spite of the initial clumsiness, starts to smile from her newfound skills with the walker, quickly getting a grip on the control sticks as she starts to turn around to the exit of the building. Facing near the entry of the school next to it, the Zloca knights look confusingly as to why did the walker start to walk back to their position.

"What's up, freaks!?" she starts to open fire from the turret, killing most of the knights standing in the area. While this is going on, another Zlocan battalion accompanied by a tank nearby notices the assault.

"What's going on?! Why's the FCX9 attacking our very troops!?"

"Must be some rogue inside of it."

"Then let's take it down!"

They all start to open fire at the Walker manned by Amanda, but she manages to turn in time to open fire at the group, killing most of the team. The tank fires one of its shells to the walker, hitting a bit hard to cause it to stagger back. Nonetheless, Amanda can still find a through it as she looks around the control stick to see if there's another function for her to use.

While it all seems hopeless, she eventually finds the answer when she presses one of the triggers from the control stick, this time firing a large-pulse laser blast from the cannon located near the hatch. A blast so strong it completely obliterates the Zlocan tank into a fiery wreckage.

Soon most of the rebels emerge from the building to give a stand to Amanda whose wits and skills enabled the group a good victory for them. Cheering and clapping can be heard from the crowd surrounding Amanda as she opens the hatch. Even in occupation, the spirit of the Mexicans lives on.

"Another great victory for our dearest Amanda!"

"We knew we could rely on you!"

"So, this is the good shit we've been looking for after all. Another goddamn good impression after all, querida," Laureano says as he gently caresses Amanda's hand.

"Oh, you sly devil, Laurie..." another soldier mutters.

"Hehe! Alright now, all we have to is to regroup with our comrades around the other side and try to give all the support we can. A path to victory always needs a handful of steps, all we need to do is to follow the next one, and that is by-" the elderly officer says before Amanda notices something in the sky, something mysterious yet at the same time, a menacing feel can feel from it.

"What the hell?"

"Something so dark in the sky...wait...it's a..."

Some flashes in the sky appear, in which by closer look, Amanda can now see what they really are once they get closer, with her eyes widening and the body suddenly having the urge to move out of the way.

A pair of incoming missiles.

"Take goddamn cover!!" Laureano shouts as he and the others start to run away from the walker. where the missiles are fired upon, with Amanda following suit by jumping off and running away as well. As they run off, the missiles impact the walker, causing it to explode massively with some of the pieces flying off to many parts of the neighborhood.

But that's not the end of it. The flying object starts to fire a barrage of machine gun strafing around the area. It hits many of the rebels who were trying to take cover while injuring others as well.

Amanda, Laureano, the elderly officer and a handful of others take cover near a platform near the school, where most of the gunfire didn't stick out.

After crouching down for a moment, they move away for a bit to check if it's gone.

It all appears to be secure now.

When in fact...

"It's coming back! Run boys!" The flying object flies nearby once more, firing again its deadly barrage in which kills the injured rebels on the ground, likely an extra measure in ensuring they get out alive from the battle.

By looking closely at the object moving at high speed, Amanda could see what it is.

A highly advanced Hind with a handful of modifications around it.

And to finalize the entrance of such attack, the door opens while the helicopter flies to the skies once more, in which five figures are seen descending from it.

"These cabrones...killing our own precious people...people with hope! Don't they have enough to kill already!?" Laureano shouts while holding his fist tightly and flaring his nostrils as he proceeds to grab his gun, only to be taken back by Amanda.

"Don't go yet!"

"I don't give a shit if I can handle them myself!"

"Stop being such a fool! You want to get murdered like the rest of your comrades did?" the officer interrupts.

Laureano stands silently from his words, such state of mind won't do anyone's favors at all. And sometimes the best time to fight is when the mind is rational.

"We should split up! All of you return to the buildings, I'll get cover from Amanda and Laureano!"

Most of the rebels do as he says as they all enter the building while the rest head towards the school.

Firmly landing on the ground, which causes a bit of a shockwave to come out enough to cause some smoke. Once it clears, it's none other than the infamous Inquisitors, all ready to give some trouble once more.

"I guess I should say, this would make some good target practice," Jason says while holding a large Pecheng machine gun in his hand.

"Be mindful of it, soon they'll know how to become proper Humans once this is done. Jason, Dakrin, Lucy, you take care of the guys on the blocks. Yamja and I will have some matters to deal with here," Raven says while detaching his claws from his hands.

"With pleasure."

Both Inquisitors then head out to their objectives, ready commit in what could yet another thing that's better not told.

Not many horrors can be told at all.