As the foursome reached the rope dangling down into the pit, Eyeball pulled to a stop. They could hear the loud grinding of machines moving rubble in the distance for the whole walk... and now they could also hear the stomping of metal feet. None of them were slow... but with one man being dragged, the machines would be reaching them in moments; they just hadn't gone fast enough.

Eyeball started tying the bottom of the rope to Brees as soon as they came to a stop; hooking the two belts under his shoulders to the rope itself before tying it securely, and yanking on the cord. "One wounded, for withdrawal! And fast, we've got incoming."

There was an audible whine as Brees was rapidly yanked up towards the surface... and the first of the machines came into range, opening fire. This was a nightmare scenario; no cover, nothing to hide behind... except, well. Cobalt. As bullets started striking nearby, Eyeball pulled Cobalt close, using him for cover in an awkward way... and firing his rifle around the meta's torso. Kin was taking fire as well, a few hits to the gut, one glancing off of his helmet; but after several seconds of sustained fire, they'd brought down at least fifteen of the machines; forming a clog of broken metal and weaponry right at the optimal firing range the machines had chosen.

Eyeball ducked down, crouching, and leveled his rifle; making single, precise shots at further than the machines were programmed to fire from; each downed bot buying them a few more seconds, as it also slowed down those that would be forced to move past it in the narrow tunnel. When the rope dropped back down, Eyeball pulled off his EMP grenades, dropping them to the floor, and turned to Cobalt as he grabbed the escape rope.

"If they get close enough to be a problem, set them off. Let Kin go up next, they might actually hurt him if they shoot him enough."

"Alright, we've got him tied off. I'm gonna ride up with him. Cobalt, you come last; I don't think they have anything that can actually hurt you nearby, and I..."

His words were cut off as the winch ran at the top of the shaft... and Eyeball hurtled upward into the light. He kept a firm grip, watching the upcoming ground... and when he arrived, leapt off of the hook.

"Drop it again! Kin should be coming next, then Cobalt will be last!"

The young private at the winch nodded and simply dropped the rope back down, continuing the cycle, as two medics were kneeling over Brees, checking him. "What happened to the Corporal?"

"C4 detonation gave him a possible concussion, possible burst eardrums from overpressure, and he knocked his mask off. No clue what he was inhaling, but it rang alarm bells on my mask... and is heavier than air or it'd be coming up out of this hole. If you've got a healer, now would be the time."

The medic shined a flashlight in his eyes, and looked up, tapping his radio. "This is Dawson at point epsilon. We have possibly terminal respiratory injury by Corporal Brees, unknown toxin. Class C meta, priority recovery."

He listened to his earpiece for a moment. "Alright! We've got a healer in a designated tent about a click north!" He reached over, grabbing a stretcher, laying it out.. and with the ease of practice and too much experience, Eyeball helped move the heavy man onto the stretcher... and immediately grabbed one end.

He glanced up, noticing Emerald had been approaching... but she nodded at him as he moved, understanding his desire to help the man who'd been watching his back in the tunnel.

A few of the nearby soldiers seemed a bit surprised, but none stopped him as he followed, holding up Brees legs as the two jogged northward; trying to jostle him as little as possible. When they reached the medical tent, Eyeball was surprised to see a vaguely familiar man, seeming in his thirties, wearing simple dark grey scrubs. What was far more surprising were the giant stacks of... chickens. The medical tent literally had cages filled with chickens... and even a bin of dead ones? What!? Even more surprising was the dark, shadowy state of the tent. Normally medical facilities kept things brightly lit, to easily spot injuries, signs of infections, contamination.

Where had he seen this man before...

The medic led the way, laying Brees out on top of a cot; there were at least a dozen other soldiers in the tent, most looking, outwardly, fine... though there was quite a bit of torn bloody gauze lying about.

The man glanced up, spotting the medic, and Eyeball. "Ahh, thank you, Dawson. And... you. Stay here for a moment, mister Bennet."

Eyeball glanced behind him. "I wouldn't mind chatting, but I need to make sure the others made it out of the hole. And, well. That we don't have a thousand machines pouring out into the camp. Raincheck?"

He turned to Eyeball. Glowered. Eyeball felt things out for a moment... another super-durable sort. Only spot he could reliably kill him would be the eyes with an AP grenade...but then, he could reliably hit the eyes as much as he needed, now.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The man sighed. "I invested time and effort in getting you back on your feet a little over six months ago, and you wasted it by turning to crime. The least you could do is come back and explain yourself to an old man." One hand laid down on Brees chest; and after a moment, Brees shivered, coughed... and started spitting out some sort of noxious black-green substance, the man rolling him onto his side.

Eyeball nodded... and then turned, sprinting back to the hole, easily hopping a few obstacles on his path, ready to make sure the remainder of his temporary team got free. And, of course, to join with Emerald in handling anything else that might make its way out.

***

"This is Tina Lamarc for headline news! Tragedy struck Mexico today when the Titan known as 'Taiyang' swept across the area formerly known as Tuxtla Gutierez in southern mexico. For the past few hours, Chinese forces had been undergoing a leapfrog approach; burning the country one sliver at a time, When they burned the smaller town of Comitan hours before, they notified the locals, gave time to evacuate; and soldiers waited to clean any machines or Pale Ones from the escaping refugees. For unknown reasons, tactics have changed; and with little warning, the Titan swept across the city; only one of several cities that have been burned away by the powerful being."

A handheld video came up on screen; showing a ball of blindingly bright light in the distance, hovering over the ground... and rolling rapidly towards the camera. Trees, buildings, and people were shown igniting as it came closer, and a trail of dark smoke could be seen rising behind it... until the camera fell to the ground, seeing grass lit aflame nearby... and then the picture went dark.

"Estimated casualties are in the hundreds of thousands, possibly even millions. When reached for comment, the Chinese government had this to say."

A recording started; of chinese dialogue, with an english interpreter playing over the top. "Taiyang has been placed in charge of the operation to cleanse this menace from the world. While the measures he takes may seem harsh, hidden machine forces have attempted to ambush our own men numerous times, hiding among civilian populations. If we are to keep all of humanity free from the conquest of the machines, we must be prepared to make sacrifices. We stand behind Tai Zedong, and will continue to support his efforts to save us all."

"President Kennedy gave a statement lamenting the loss of life in southern mexico, and imploring Taiyang and other chinese forces to take whatever steps they could to minimize civilian casualties. Progress against the machines seems to have gone well. European forces have, with metahuman support, established numerous beachheads along the coast, while US forces have begun the slow process of pushing the machines south from the border. General Bates, in charge of the US side of the plan, has refused to comment on existing operations, besides indicating that he was 'Cautiously optimistic' of progress going forward, especially of the controversial but wildly successful plan to provide both pardons and bounty payments to known metahuman supervillains participating in the defense of our borders."

***

Sitting at the conference table, General Bates looked at the diplomat; a severe, calm, very forthright chinese man in a suit. he'd been attached to help coordinate issues between US and Chinese forces. He gestured towards the TV. "We've seen the press release. Remarkably swift, that one. Lets be honest, here, we need your help to contain these machines, and we can't turn it down. But we had a standing agreement; both sides would take steps to minimize casualties, and when we had the whole country secure, we would maintain the polite fiction of a 'Protectorate' state."

"Which, in reality, would be our preparation to eventually convert the northern half of Mexico into our own new southern states, and the southern half would become a Chinese protectorate permanently. I don't understand this approach. It alienates the native population; may even drive them to support the machines; and converts land that you yourselves may be using in a decade into... barren ash and rock."

The diplomat sighed, shaking his head. "When I came here, it was to work out plans to peacably stop Tai's advance; he isn't entirely under control at this point. By the time I arrived, I was ordered to hold off. We received, just now, intelligence from some of your people that the machines may have buried bunkers filled with fabricators, scattered across the nation. Tai's efforts may be needed. We need to move as quickly as possible, and make sure we get underground facilities as deep as what we've already found hot enough the softer metals inside will melt."

He grimaced, and leaned back in his chair. "We've got some of our own metas moving in, not to stop him... but to advise him to burn hotter, and closer to the ground. We're performing ground penetrating scans everywhere we can, but the one you found up north was under a city, the perfect place to hide such a thing. Our efforts must go to saving all of humanity. If you wish to reserve some of your efforts to help evacuate civilians, so be it... but if the US falls due to your carelessness, Tai will be burning it as well."

***

Hundreds of miles to the north, Spike was riding in the back of an armored truck, cruising towards the border, shaking his cellphone... and after an amused look at Diss, casually tossing it out the window. "You know, this puts things into much better perspective, and makes you working somewhere that the only thing you ride around is a horse make so much more sense."

She shrugs. "Sorry about the first truck. I... get nervous in the big ones and, well. Apparently thats all it takes. Maybe we should sedate me on the way south? If we don't, we might have to switch cars again, and I'd hate to take too long to make a difference."

Spike glanced up at the roof thoughtfully. "Honestly, I'm not sure we should. If we can get a good escort, make sure we can get you there in one piece, we can drive to the middle of Mexico in eight hours. Once we get to the border, I'll see if the general has any good fliers we can borrow; some of the guys I've worked with could make it there in minutes." He put his hand on hers.

"I'm gonna make sure, whatever way it is, I go with you though. Gotta be there to get you out. Maybe I can't wipe out an entire machine army without, well... maybe pulling the moon out of its orbit. But I can definitely make a hole in one big enough to get the two of us out."

She laughed, and slid closer on the seat. "I'll just try to focus and not kill any more trucks. Or radios. Or cell phones. Or smart watches. Or cash registers..."

"No wonder you had so much trouble keeping a job. No worries. Even if you still have that power after this, we've got people who can help train you to control it back at the DMA; it just takes time. Just make sure you live that long."