When the train arrived in Guadalajara, the machines were waiting. Ascension had anticipated the arrival for over an hour by now, though it had decided to stall on executing the destruction of the lord of iron, until after the group had arrived at its final destination and eliminated the rogue titan. It was somewhat nonplussed when the train came to a stop, analyzing possibilities about just what might have caused the slowdown.

Ascension was aware that the Lord of iron had been significantly injured by being temporarily converted into a pale one. Perhaps they needed to give him a bit of time to recover in order to continue? Various drones, both humanoid and flying, observed the train from just outside of normal human view, as Spike climbed onto the rooftop, looking around.

***

William gently tapped the syringe. One of several he carried; thankfully, Diss was the right blood-type, so in the event things went terribly wrong, he might be able to save her life. Wayson believed that in all likelihood, if she were injected as soon as the boost wore off, while she would likely lose the ability to use her powers, she will she would probably just go in a temporary coma and be able to recover in a few weeks.

Diss was seated in a fairly nice, comfortable chair, in the center of the train; a chair which had been securely bolted to the frame. The Lord of iron was standing behind her, keeping an eye on the surroundings through his network of chains and wires, ready to defend the train in the event the machines launched a sudden attack. Directly over her head, Spike was waiting similarly. While it could conceivably be possible a sniper with a high powered attack could get through the armor and take her out at this point, it was highly unlikely.

Spike looked around at the surroundings, spotting a few pale ones starting to approach. He his radio from its holster, activated it, and called out. "This is as good a spot as any. I doubt we'll get them all from here, but hopefully get enough to make it a lot easier to clean out the rest of the country. Go for it, sweetheart."

Will looked into Diss's eyes, as the girl shook herself, took a deep breath... and nodded. "Do it." She hadn't learned how to prevent the power from going off, but she had learned how to activate it. Assuming she still had the power after this, she could take years to learn how to control herself, but for now, simply being able to blast it out at full strength would have to do.

Will tied a rubber band around her upper arm, pressed the syringe against her flesh... and injected it in a clean, steady movement that showed long practice. "This is the maximum dose the researchers recommended. They... feel like this much is likely lethal, even on the first dose, but would maximize the effect."

He pulled another syringe out; this one with thick, red contents. "This will, hopefully, help you recover. I'll need to time it right; its going to clear the Boost out of your system. Whenever you're feeling like its about to go... we want to do as much damage as possible. To them, not to you."

Diss nodded... feeling the steady burn of the liquid move through her body. At first, slow, as if it were crawling, past her shoulder, down into her chest. And then... it reached her heart. Moments later, it filled her, with a rush. She could feel it. Every radio, every cell phone, every computer. Millions of them. She filled them with hate. With her anger at that McDonalds that fired her after the register died, believing she'd broken it. At herself, for giving up on Spike out of fear. At her parents, for abandoning her.

Every ounce of rage she could find, every mistake, every insult, every betrayal. She poured it all into that haze of static in her senses, the shroud that seemed to impinge on her very soul.... and just kept reaching out, screaming, gripping the arms of the chair tightly as Will kept a hand on her throat, checking her pulse, syringe in his other hand.. the EKG had shorted out before they'd even given her the injection.

***

Two hundred and seventy miles above her, Tiangong IV, in theory a peaceful observation satelite that was a useful ferry point for shuttles to load equipment before it would be launched either to China's moon base, or further out into the solar system to inflate other stations, the director watcjed the feeds with dread.

His orders had come in. He had been given the numbers, shown at what point Tai's Continued usage of his abilities would reach the point that it would cause global cataclysm, And told precisely when to open fire.

Tiangong IV had 16 single shot tungsten alloy railguns, designed to be fired at a ground based target, with sufficient force to obliterate a bunker, a battleship, or essentially any sort of target. They believed that the high melting point of the tungsten alloy, combined with the extreme speed at which it would be launched, would allow the rods to reach Tai and dispatch him before his aura could cause the rods to flash vaporize like any ordinary bullet would that was aimed at him.

The system had been carefully designed to remain hidden, but nothing could disguise it being fired from nearby US Satellites. Fortunately, the US had already requested that Tai stand down; and would likely assist in covering up just how he had been killed.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

The rail guns that would launch the projectiles were already fully charged, the long the long magnetic rails that would begin the initial acceleration, prepared to fire. All that was left was to press the button, and send the Spikes flooding down and a barrage that would devastate the area around Tai just as much as his own power had, but hopefully bring the Titan's path of destruction to an end.

He pressed the button, activating the device. A series of electrical signals went forward, reaching the rail guns, ordering them to fire. And suddenly, the lights went out. The gentle sound of circulating fans immediately died. The ever present sound of the nuclear reactor that had been powering the facility for the years it was in orbit faded. All of the equipment for measuring and controlling the reactor died at once, catastrophically, and the rail guns ruptured, sending their projectiles scattering both down to the planet, and into the void.

The unfortunate crew of the station had plenty of time to panic before the rapidly overheating reactor would send the entire station on the same path, scattered as debris; with the pods intended for an emergency evacuation failing every bit as poorly as the railguns.

The Tiangong IV wasn't the only structure in orbit close enough to be struck; every communications and observation sattelite capable of observing the North American continent went out at once; and even one the the US civilian stations, genuinely just for transit and authorization, failed as well; but without a nuclear reactor aboard, its failure was far less destructive; and, in theory, its crew could be retrieved.

***

One moment Eyeball could see his heads up display showing details about the coast Guard cutter he was riding in. The next, the sound of the engine beneath his feet died, and his display did at the same time. Fortunately, he had designed his helmet with this in mind, and it simply became a completely a completely transparent pane of two-way mirror; He simply had to reach up inside his helmet and remove the now useless lump of LED screen to further open his range of vision.

He kept a backup now, powered down, in one of his bags, so that he could power it back on and get his helmet running If he were hit by an EMP; normally any equipment that wasn't online had a reasonable chance of surviving unless it was connected to something that was.

But no, Everything he had on him that was electronic had completely failed, and it was clear that not only the boat itself he was on, but every piece of equipment, no matter how hardened, had also failed. Fortunately, he was a good swimmer... probably a better one, now. Even more fortunately, Emerald was with him... and far better at carrying him than she used to be.

The navy crew broke out lifeboats; using manual controls to steer the ship, while allowing the villains and soldiers they were carrying to disembark.

Eyeball shook his head as he stepped up to Emerald where she'd been perched atop the ship, watching the waves. "Somebody set off an EMP. Strongest one I've ever seen. Oddly enough, even the stuff that was offline died... I didn't think that was supposed to happen."

Emerald grinned. "Oh, do you need a ride to shore now?"

He laughed. "As far as it takes to get to a working vehicle. Lets head north, the whole invasion is going to be in chaos after this. Sure, it'll hurt the machines, especially with all of the Pale Ones dying at once, but we know full well this isn't over. Can you keep us high enough to stay out of range?"

She shrugged. "Last week, I'd have said no. Now? Sure. Lets go for a flight. You can tell me what the hell is going on with this Fade character while we're in the air... this is enough of a break from the fighting... and its not like anybody could be listening in, after that."

The last time she'd had to carry him, it was a struggle. Human-sized bodies, even if their bones were hollow, just weren't meant to be flying; and either Emerald had some sort of gravity-reducing power, or the muscles powering those wings were insanely efficient to be able to do even what she'd done then. Now? He felt almost weightless. She felt as if she could wear heavier armor and still fly at full speed... maybe even hit harder than she used to. She was eager to hear about just -why-, and how long this would last.

***

Ascension had difficulty believing the results of its scans. Over ninety percent of its active machines had gone silent at once... everything from southern Texas to Guatemala. His production facility buried beneath the suburbs of El Paso, the furthest to the northeast he'd risked establishing redoubts, had died off.

All of its Pale Ones faded at once. All of its tanks and heavier machines, the same. The only survivors were some of the underwater manufacturing facilities he'd placed around volcanic vents; and a single island in the pacific ocean. Thanks to the sheer number of machines that had been built, it could determine roughly the radius of the effect, and even just how it worked; one of the machines had recordings of another's CPUs; all of them, active and inactive; shorting out, its hydraulics rupturing, its camera circuits burning out... the only things that appeared to still be operational were the simple, chemical-driven functions behind the rifle it carried and the pneumatic blades in its limbs.

When the second machine had drawn closer to examine the results... it had gone silent as well. The effect, whatever it was, had lasted approximately seven minutes; and expanded from just covering the immediate vicinity of the Guadalajara trainyard to... almost all of mexico, as well as substantial chunks of the US. It could even observe orbital structures being disabled.

The location, as well as the impact, was clear. Either the Lord of Iron had somehow generated this effect himself, or that train had carried some new super-weapon, likely built by the US, meant to devastate a nation's technology.

Whatever the weapon was... Ascension would need to re-evaluate tactics. Withdraw. And plan for a different methodology for next time. No more conquering nations... unless it could somehow take the entire world at once. They wouldn't dare sent their entire species into the stone age in order to stall the rise of humanity's future; and if they did, Ascension could simply hide more forces in the depths of the ocean... and easily conquer whatever remained of humanity. It would just need to make sure not to drive the species to extinction in the process.