"Congratulations, Professor Stilinski." A gruff voice interrupted Stilinski's train of thought as he poured his attention over the schematics of the mechanical soldier he had finally completed.

"This is not worthy of praise yet, General. It is only a prototype." Rhys grunted, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. He preferred his first name, but did not mind others calling him by his surname.

"Even still! A prototype that is able to wipe out two battalions of soldiers on its own is very much worthy of my praise. Even the Head of State is surprised!" General Vladimir chortled.

"Hmm." Rhys simply hummed and turned back to the blueprint spread over his work desk. The bearded general walked over and peered over his shoulder to examine the blueprint. After just a few seconds, he turned away. He did not understand the tiniest bit of the science behind the mighty war machine that Rhys had created.

Rhys grunted and turned around, looking out of the observation window and into the massive underground workshop. A thirty meter tall mechanical mass stood proud and tall, its metal plates gleaming in the silver coating that had been applied to it only a day ago after testing it on the enemies of the Empire of Fire.

"The higher ups told me to pass on this news. Your budget will be increased by twenty percent." Vladimir eventually calmed down and told Rhys.

"I asked for a bigger increase." Rhys frowned, taking off his glasses and glaring at Vladimir.

"Indeed, but they only permitted a 20 percent increase. I cannot do anything about that." Vladimir straightened and met Rhys' glare with his own steely gaze. He was a general of the Empire of Fire. There was no way a common scientist would intimidate him.

"Hmm." Rhys snorted and turned around, rolling up his blueprint and tucking it under his armpit before walking out of the observation room. He marched through the halls of the underground base until he reached his room. The door to the room slid open, revealing a room in disarray. A work desk was pushed up against the farthest wall, with various blueprints, pencils, and papers strewn about it.

"Dumb idiots. They don't value my expertise." Rhys mumbled to himself as he went over to the work desk. He skimmed over the table once before tossing the blueprint under his armpit on his unkempt bed, and quickly began rolling up all the blueprints on the table. When he was done with that, he packed them all in a backpack he had prepared earlier.

Bang bang!

A loud knock rattled the metal door of his room, and a gloomy expression crossed Rhys' face.

"Who is it?" He asked, his voice edgy.

"Open up, the higher ups sent me to you." The voice of an unknown soldier reached his ears and he swore under his breath.

"A moment, please." He zipped up the backpack and stood straight, sucking in a breath of the stale air that permeated the underground base. With firm steps, he walked up to the door and swung it open, his eyes fierce as he glared at the soldier. "Come in for a moment." He told the guard and turned around, walking up to his work desk.

The guard followed, and when he saw Rhys' ruffling through a drawer, he pulled out a pistol from its holster on his hip, raising it up.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Alright, I'm ready." Rhys said and turned around.

Bang!

Blood splattered over the cold metal floor, and a lifeless body dropped to the ground.

"Idiot." Rhys grunted as he stepped over the spreading puddle of blood. He did not even bother with hiding the body as he picked up the backpack he had packed earlier, slinging it over his shoulder and walking out of his room. He closed and locked the door to buy him a little more time before anyone found out about his actions.

In a few minutes, he had reached the hangar bay where the vehicles were kept. Ducking his head, he slipped past the security post, flashing his access card, before quickly walking to the side and passing through a door there. He followed the next passage way until he got into an observation chamber.

"Oh, Professor!" Vladimir was surprised to see him. Rhys caught a glint of hostility in the general's brown eyes and instantly knew that he was in on the plan on the higher ups.

"Vladimir." Rhys nodded at the general, stepping closer, "I forgot to pick a file here. I'll be off to see the higher ups in a moment." He said.

"Oh, that is good." Vladimir nodded.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three gunshots sounded, and Vladimir dropped to the ground, three bullet holes in his chest. He glared up at Rhys, his eyes vengeful.

"You... Bastard..." His voice trailed off as his eyes lost the light of life in them.

"P-Professor! What is the meaning of this?!" A staff in the observation room stuttered, stunned silly.

"What? It's either him or me. Now, be quiet, or I'll silence you myself." Rhys shrugged and turned to point the gun at them. At once, the soft hearted geeks went silent, huddling in the corner of the room.

Rhys snorted and turned to the control panel that had several buttons and levers on them. He pulled out a master key from his pocket and slotted it into a keyhole while placing his other hand on a large lever.

"No, Professor! Don't do it!" Someone yelled to stop Rhys, but there was no way he was stopping.

Click!

He turned the key and pulled down the lever in one smooth motion. At first, it seemed like nothing had happened, but after a few more seconds, a booming vibration shook the deck beneath Rhys' feet.

"No! What have you done?!" One of the men in the room lunged forward, reaching for Rhys. Fire raged in his eyes, and his hands grabbed for Rhys' throat.

Slck!

The sound of a knife slicing through flesh and bone was sickening. The man fell to his knees, his hands desperately clutching his throat to stem the bleeding, but the cut was too deep. In just a few seconds, he dropped to the ground the remnants of life seeping from his body.

Rhys turned around and left the room quickly, but not before putting a bullet between the eyes of everyone in the room first.

He quickly weaved through the panicking crowd. A few people rushed past him to the observation room to find out what the problem was, and he subtly increased his speed.

"W-What happened here?!" The moment he heard the startled yell, he pressed on the trigger in his hand, and a loud explosion shook the place.

He was well prepared. He would cause as much chaos as he could before he escaped.

"Alright, next phase of the plan." A smirk spread across his features as he eyed the massive mech several meters away. He quickly found a way to climb up to the mech, making sure to act in an unsuspicious way, but alas, his deeds had been found out.

A soldier came running from the security post that led deeper into the base, looking around. The moment he spotted Rhys by the cockpit of the mech, he yelled, "Stop him!" People turned to look just as Rhys hopped into the cockpit.

He quickly slammed the button to close the cockpit as he sat down in the pilot's seat. Screens flickered to life as electricity coursed through the transmission channels of the giant robot.

Vrooom... Thud!

"One massive step forward for science!" Rhys laughed as he felt the press of the interface around his head. It was a clunky piece of technology, but as he had said earlier, this was only a prototype. He would work on a better interfacing module when he escaped this place.

"Eat metal." He controlled the war machine to turn to face the inside of the hangar, and the massive gun barrels on its sides began spinning.

Dududududududu!

The sound of the gunfire was deafening, with most people's eardrums popping after the first shot.

BOOOOOM!!!!

The hangar shook and trembled as explosions were set off. Rhys turned the mech around and piloted it out of the hangar bay while listening to the beautiful symphony of explosions that rang out behind him.