Slowly, steadily, Louis crept along the length of the caverns. A small pebble there, a crack in the ground here, a sliver of sunlight radiating down from a tiny hole in the ceiling. Every once in a while, a noise echoed through the cavern. Metallic scraping? Not necessarily. The sounds were not rhythmic enough to be SIF footsteps, and standard UBM bots rolled, not walked. More likely? Fritz was still messing with the remains of the SIF. The cavern carried sounds far. Louis had been scouting ahead for at least a half hour now, and it still sounded as though he were right next to the group. The cave hadn’t forked yet, at least, substantially. Louis had made sure to mark where he passed, and had found that several of the side routes of the cavern had so far merely looped back onto the main path.
Louis’ ears perked up. Instinctively, he crouched down. His cloak fanned out below him like a flower blooming in the sunlight. A secondary sound, much like Fritz’s tinkering, came from elsewhere in the caverns. Holding still, Louis listened. There was silence, awkward, tense, terrifying silence. One second, then another, one more, then again. Nothing. Louis furrowed his brow. He began to second guess himself. Was it Fritz again? Louis didn’t think so. He’d grown accustomed to the sound.
The crackle of faint radio static reverberated against the echoing walls. There! Louis crept forwards, the cavern ramping upwards before him. Something else was here. Other people? Survivors? Possible… but unlikely. The entirety of the field command for the deployed units were far behind him. By their own accounts, and by his own eyes, no others should have survived the train. Besides, the desert was uninhabited, even before the UBM occupation of Norone. No, something else was down here.
The static once again cut through Louis’ thoughts. It was closer. The cavern before him leveled out and seemed to dip into a larger, more open area of the cave. Louis stopped just at the peak, peering into the area before him. Just below, about fifteen feet down, he saw it. An antenna strapped to a large device sitting in the center of the area. It didn’t look like a radio, despite the static it emitted. It lacked the various knobs and dials of a radio, and instead, a single SIF was directly plugged into one of the many open ports on the machine. Alongside it, a squadron of the bronze-colored standard UBM infantry bots: vaguely humanoid- shaped machines with a blade for one arm, a rifle for another and a head reminiscent of a knight’s helm from long ago. Below the torso, the machines rolled on perfectly spherical metal balls, offering omni-directional movement.
Louis weighed his options. The obvious answer was to turn around. His troops outnumbered these machines handily. The infantry bots were not too bad of a threat, especially with the vantage point given by his current position. However, the machine in the center was of concern. He didn’t know what it did. Moreover, it seemed that the SIF was still toying with it. He could shoot it. Maybe more than once, breaking the machine. Actually, in thinking about it, he did have some explosives on him. Everyone in Margot’s squad had been handed multiple breach charges. It wasn’t unreasonable to just toss one in and detonate. Hell, it might even take out the SIF and the others. Although, it could collapse the cavern and—
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It had been thirty minutes, and Louis hadn’t returned. Maxwell stared at his pocket watch so intensely his eyes began to draw circles as they followed the second hand.
“Where is he?” Maxwell muttered to himself. He closed the watch and turned to everyone else. Fritz continued his single-minded butchery of the SIF, now humming a tune to himself as he worked. The others however, were getting impatient. Laëtitia stood dutifully at the collapsed cave entrance, still watching for signs of movement outside, yet her left foot tapped out an uneasy rhythm. Damien and Yelda stood at the opposite end, peering into the darkness for signs of Louis’ return. They shot nervous glances between each other as they stood guard, as well as occasional sidelong looks at Maxwell. Levonne occupied herself by carefully counting out what few rations the group managed to bring down from the train. By his own approximation, Maxwell estimated that the group had barely enough to last the trek to Norone. Maxwell crossed his arms and lowered his head. Louis had half an hour before they went after him.
Avril, meanwhile, clutched her rifle to her chest. Well, not her rifle per se, but one given to her nonetheless. After Yelda’s inexplicable resurrection of Chestnut, she handed Avril a gun.
“Found it out there, not sure whose it is, but it won’t be serving them anymore,” Yelda had said. As far as Avril could tell, it was operational, though her judgment didn’t really mean much considering her current track record with firearms. Still, if there was anything that wasn’t in short supply for the group, it was bullets.
A sudden mechanical whirring filled the cavern. Instinctively, the soldiers all whipped around and leveled rifles at the source of the noise. They each found themselves pointing their weapons at Fritz, who sat upright with a wide, open-mouthed grin on his face. His wide eyes were hidden under his goggles as he stared in amazement at the SIF before him beginning to move on its own.
“I’ve done it!” Fritz yelled out. The machine’s head began to move, jerking slightly as it seemed to scan the area around itself.
“What’s it doing?” Maxwell demanded.
“Booting up it seems,” Fritz responded. The machine began to move its arm, perhaps to grasp at its surroundings, or perhaps to unsheathe its blade in an attempt to attack. Regardless, Fritz immediately plunged his hand back into the mess of machinery before it had the opportunity to do either. Suddenly, the machine jerked still, its arm falling to its side once more as the head snapped to a forward position.
“Did you break it again?” Levonne asked.
“No ma’am,” Fritz said, “now, it’s time for the fun part. Ask it something.” Nervous eyes and raised brows were exchanged until they all landed on Maxwell.
Maxwell lowered his rifle, crouched down beside Fritz, and spoke with authority, “How did you take Norone?”
“Passcode required,” an automated voice from within the machine spoke.
“I’ve never heard one of them talk before,” Damien whispered to Yelda. The woman nodded slightly in agreement.
“Seems we’ve hit a dead-end,” Fritz sighed. “Any ideas on a passcode?”
“Chloe Abail?” Laëtitia wondered aloud.
“Passcode incorrect,” the machine announced. A sudden electrical jolt visibly coursed through the exposed machinery. The SIF spasmed wildly for a moment and then fell limp.
“Shit!” Fritz frantically tried to pull at the SIF’s innards, but quickly gave up. “I think it killed itself,” he concluded.
White as a ghost with eyes wide as they could go, Laëtitia mumbled, “I… I’m sorry, I didn’t think…” Maxwell shot a brief glare at his subordinate before his complexion softened into his usual resting scowl.
“Nothing to be done now. Is there no way to do anything else with it?” Maxwell turned his attention back to Fritz.
“Nope… well, hold on.” Fritz once again went to work on the machine. However, instead of trying to seemingly connect the various pieces, he was instead purposefully pulling parts out, further mutilating the broken machine.
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A gunshot rang throughout the cavern. Instinctively, the group turned to stare down the dark mouth of the cavern. Expressions hardened, fingers curled around triggers, and heels raised, ready to take off at a moment’s notice. Avril stared helplessly as her comrades began to move without instruction. Levonne quickly began to shove the rations into bags, Fritz hurried his tinkering, Yelda ran up to Chestnut, now awake and alert, and hopped onto his back. Maxwell and the rest of his squad began to jog down the cavern.
“Fritz, Levonne!” Maxwell shouted, quickly turning back to look at the two other Infantrymen before running into the dark, “Gather our things and rendezvous further down!” Avril pushed herself off the ground, her rifle strapped across her chest. However, before she could even take a step, Maxwell’s voice boomed back at her, “Vanguard Tiene! Stay with Infantrymen Fritz and Levonne!” Startled, Avril looked at Maxwell with wide eyes. She tried to stutter out a response, but Maxwell’s reply was quicker, “That’s an order Avril!” Without another word, Maxwell ran off to join the rest of his squad.
Avril remained stuck in place. Her hands limply held the rifle, barely sustaining the weight of the weapon. Her eyes wandered to Levonne, who continued to repack the supply bags with fervor. Yet, the slightest tinge of relief seemed to cross the woman’s face. Levonne was shaken, no doubt due to the ambush on the train, but she hid it well. She packed the bags efficiently, but slowly, methodically, as if buying time.
A sudden weight on her shoulder caused Avril to spin around once more. She yelped and found herself face to face with Fritz’s goggled visage. He wore a warm expression, completely unnatural for the crazed man. Fritz sighed lightly, releasing his grip on Avril’s shoulder.
“An angry man that Maxwell Margot. Don’t dwell on him girl. Besides, I have orders for you myself,” Fritz stooped down and produced his newest contraption: a makeshift crossbow constructed out of the remnants of the SIF Avril killed. The bowstring was already pulled taught, a long piece of the SIF’s innards loaded in place of a bolt.
“I hear you have a bit of a bad rep with guns hm?” Fritz looked back up at Avril. “Hopefully you fare better with this. Only one shot though, so make sure to hit the first SIF you see with it, understand?” Confused, Avril dropped her new rifle, letting it dangle by the strap. She held her hands out and took the crossbow into her arms. It was heavy, much more so than the rifle, yet it was strangely lighter, as though something that was adding weight to the rifle wasn’t affecting the crossbow.
“I’ll help Levonne clean up here,” Fritz continued, walking past Avril. When the girl simply spun about to follow his movements, she locked eyes with both him and Levonne. The two Infantrymen shared a knowing glance, before giving Avril affirming nods.
“Go, we’ll be right behind you,” Levonne said. Avril inhaled for what felt like the first time all day. She gripped the crossbow, turned around, and sprinted into the dark cave.
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Yelda and Chestnut led the charge, barreling down the length of the caves. From atop Chestnut, Yelda kept an eye out for the seemingly innocuous markings that Louis had left in his wake. Small, nearly imperceptible scratches and notches in the cave wall would have flown right under the attention of anyone coming down the caves; anyone, except of course, his own squad.
As the cavern ramped upwards before her, Yelda heard yet another gunshot, though this time the flash of the muzzle lit up the area ahead. The brief flash of shadows told her and Chestnut all they needed to know. Without hesitation, Chestnut and Yelda jumped from the higher cave entrance and crashed into the crowd below. They narrowly missed landing on either Louis or the machine in the center of the room, but did manage to crush one of the infantry bots beneath Chestnut’s feet. The bear roared as it landed, and made sure to stamp its feet to ensure the machine wasn’t getting up. At the same time, Yelda raised her rifle and began to fire at the UBM troops.
From Chestnut’s side, Louis shouted up at Yelda, “It’s a trap! There’s more coming!” Desperately, Louis pointed towards one of the other caverns leading to their location. The subtle glint of metal shone through the darkness as another group consisting of a SIF and four more infantry arrived. Louis quickly dove for cover behind the large machine in the center. Chestnut quickly dug its long claws into the floor of the cavern, and as though it were parting loose sands, began to burrow underground. Yelda continued to fire as she descended on Chestnut’s back, though she made no attempt to get off, and soon her head dipped and disappeared beneath the earth.
The remaining UBM troops began to surround Louis. The two SIFs pointed specialized firearms at Louis while the infantry fanned out, with some approaching the burrow hole left behind by Chestnut. However, before Louis could be executed, the SIFs were met with a hail of bullets. Louis saw as the rest of his squad were perched high up in the cavern and rained fire upon them. The two SIFs quickly held up arms to shield themselves as they moved for cover, while three of the infantry machines were quickly dispatched as the bullets struck them.
“Pull back!” Maxwell’s voice commanded over the gunfire. Without hesitation, Louis sprinted towards his comrades as the machines returned fire. In one arm, he cradled his rifle, in the other, he clutched his necklace pendant, praying to Vivoran.
“Behind you!” This time Laëtitia’s voice rang out. Louis shot a glance over his shoulder, only to spy one of the SIFs quickly advancing toward his position. It attempted to line up a shot on Louis as the two of them ran, but before it could the ground opened up beneath it. Long, blackened claws parted the earth beneath it and grabbed the SIF’s legs. Chestnut roared once more as his face emerged from the ground. The SIF struggled for a moment, and then aimed its rifle directly at Chestnut’s face. However, before the machine could fire off a round, Yelda too emerged from the earth. From her throat came a guttural scream. Her eyes blazed with intense fury. She thrust her rifle directly underneath the faceplate of the SIF in front of her, and pulled the trigger. The SIF’s head exploded in a shower of sparks and metal. The body immediately locked up and fell over, stiff as a board.
The victory was short-lived.
In the next moment, a small hole opened in Yelda’s chest. From it, blood began to pour out. A slow drip quickly became a violent spray, then a steady flow. Yelda locked eyes with Louis then slowly raised her head to see her comrades. They each bore the same expression: fear, confusion, shock, and anger. Yelda’s body fell limp and her skin turned white. Wordlessly, she slid off Chestnut’s back and fell to the floor.
The moment passed in silence. The sole gunshot came from the other SIF. It turned towards the rest of the squad, and leveled its rifle towards them as well. It fired once more, the bullet on track to meet with Laëtitia’s skull. However, the woman was suddenly pulled back causing the bullet to lodge itself into the roof of the cavern above her. Without moving her head, Laëtitia looked to her side, and saw a hand on her shoulder. She traced the arm up to see Avril looking over her shoulder down at the corpse of Yelda Aphelion.
The silence was shattered, and the attention was returned to the task at hand. Maxwell issued a command, to continue fighting no doubt, but no one heard it. They all knew what needed to be done. Maxwell, Damien, and Laëtitia slid down the side of the cavern and fanned out in the open area. They fired as they moved, rushing towards nearby cover. Louis joined in, patiently aiming and shooting at the infantry bots as they likewise spread out. Chestnut let loose a terrifying howl before stampeding towards the nearest machines. One by one, the infantry machines fell to the collective of the 79th Vanguard, all the while the SIF danced around bullets as it angled for better positioning against the soldiers.
From high up, Avril watched the SIF. At each attempt to fire, it was either struck by another bullet from elsewhere, or forced to move by threat of Chestnut’s rampage. However, the machine moved with superhuman grace, and despite the dwindling number of allies, it continued its advance. Eventually, it managed to dance its way in front of Damien. In response, he transformed his rifle into a cavalry saber and joined the machine in its dance. Unable to engage with its rifle, the machine chose to rely on its bladed arm. The two began a violent tango. Sparks flew as their blades crossed. Their feet moved to the rhythm of gunfire as their shadows were painted across the cave walls by the flash of muzzles. Avril watched silently, and tracked the SIFs movements with the end of her crossbow. From behind, a pair of frantic footsteps grew louder as they moved across the stone floor.
“What’s going on?” Levonne called from behind. Avril didn’t turn around. Soon, the two Infantrymen joined Avril in looking down on the small battlefield. The UBM numbers were thinning, but the SIF still dueled with Damien
“I thought I told you to shoot the SIF!” Fritz shouted into Avril’s ear as the girl continued to aim. She declined to respond, and instead focused on the fight ahead of her. As Damien’s struggle continued, he listened as the gunfire around him grew quieter. Soon, it was just him and the SIF. A small smirk lifted the edges of his mouth. After one more clashing of blades, Damien unexpectedly dived backwards, away from the SIF. In doing so, the machine was exposed. Without hesitation, the rest of the 79th Vanguard opened fire, pelting the machine with an entire magazine’s worth of ammunition with every shot. It could only hold up its arms to protect itself as it slowly staggered towards cover.
Avril pulled the trigger, releasing the taut crossbow string. The makeshift bolt flew in a straight line towards the SIF. In the next second, the bolt cleaved through the machine, shattering its outer armor plates, straight through the innards of its chest, and out the other end. The bullets stopped as the machine twitched. Then, just as the other one fell, so too did this SIF. Its body stiffened and it collapsed on the floor. The room fell silent, and in the center, lay two SIFs in a pool of blood beside the body of Yelda Aphelion.