As they loaded their weapons, they prepared their automobiles and carriages. Striders, mechanical horses made of iron and powered by a steam engine, were used to pull the carriages. One Strider would not budge. Its metal skin was cracked and scratched, and it had numerous bumps and scrapes. The slaver pulled out a baton with electricity emanating from its tip. He electrocuted the strider, which grunted in pain but did not move. He repeatedly struck it down, and it cried out in agony.

"Ada, give me an estimate. How long until they reach the village?"

"Judging from the time it took for us to get here and by the looks of it, they have a walker and striders. I can estimate two hours, very possibly less."

Luna watched as they prepared cannons and mounted them on the automobiles.

"Can we take them head on?"

"You are joking, right?" Ada chuckled; Luna did not. "I’m pretty sure your eyes are fine, so you can see that there is a platoon of men fully armed with cannons and a grunt type walker. Taking them head on is one hundred percent suicide!"

"G did you find them yet?"

Tinkerton-G made his way down to the tavern’s cellar. "Well, no, not yet. Wait. Luna I can see them!"

"G how many?"

When he got down, he could see the cellar filled with cages of Elderly, women and children, and they were all so packed together that all they could do was stand. They all came from different races, from humans to bestians, orks, glorkans, and even alar.

"Damn Luna, there must be sixty or more of them and they are packed together like sardines."

"G how about guards? Or weapons?"

He surveyed the room. "I see four guards. That’s it. But there are a lot of weapons down here; small arms and light explosives."

"How light?"

"Dynamite, cannon rounds, Walker ammunition. There is not a lot, but they are taking them upstairs and I can feel who they will use them all on."

"Meatbag, I don’t want to alarm you." Ada said to Luna as they watched the slavers load the ammo. "But we still need to rearm traitorton's walker, and I’m estimating that if we take the time to rescue the civilians, we will not make it in time to save Baldric and the children in the village! They might already be under attack if we get there!"

"You’re saying it can’t be done?"

Tinkerton-G joined in. "I’m with Ada on this one, Luna. If we are going to wait for them to leave and they get there first, Baldric and Sylvie might be overrun. "

"G, get out of there now. G you are going to have to go ahead first."

"Whaat?!" Both GEAs said it in unison.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"I need you to warn Baldric and the village of the oncoming threat and evacuate them before they are encircled. Once the slavers leave, I head to the tavern, arm up, get a strider and catch up with them. Then, with you all defending the town and me coming from behind them, we got them in a pincer move."

"Are you forgetting that Baldric and Sylvie don't have enough ammunition to last that long? We can get them out of there without a struggle if we leave now."

"And leave those people to be attacked? We can’t do that. If these slavers want a fight, we will give it to them. End of discussion."

G managed to escape from the tavern as the slavers made their final preparations. He met up with Luna and Ada, and the three of them headed back to their walker.

"Remember." Luna said as Tinkerton-G turned on the machine and she put on her armor, coat, and hat. "Tell him to get the civilians out of the village and keep holding on no matter what."

G gave him a nod and then left. Luna and Ada returned to town, where they saw the platoon of soldiers on striders leave as well. A fully armored iron walker was right behind them, guarding a caravan of cannons and carriages loaded with automatons.

=0o0=

As soon as they were gone, the streets were quiet.

A silver ball was thrown out of nowhere at the soldiers lounging outside the tavern. It exploded with blinding light, and they screamed in agony.

A shadow darted towards the tavern and slammed into the nearest soldier. They could not even fire as Luna made a mad dash straight at them. Armed with nothing but her staff she landed heavy hits on their faces and the one guarding the door was hit so hard that it sent him flying inside.

When one of them was thrown inside, a figure dressed entirely in black with pale white eyes appeared from behind him. Luna had thrown her knives and landed hits on their hands and legs before they could draw their weapons, then got close with her staff. Ada signaling to Luna from behind the ones she had missed.

One slaver attempted to use a woman as a shield and yelled at Luna to surrender as he was a good distance away, but she fired a projectile from her staff, hitting him in the face. As he roared in pain and separated from the hostage, Luna charged at him, knocking him down and repeatedly struck him until his face was a bloody mess.

The slavers in the cellar stood at the ready with their guns pointed at the staircase. They lay in ambush as it was the only way down.

The sounds of a fight instantly vanished, and only a still silence came from above.

The floor above them exploded, and Luna burst through. Before they could recover, she had already taken down the four guards with heavy hits on their arms, legs and faces. By the time the dust cleared, no slaver in the tavern was awake.

=0o0=

The people around the tavern heard the commotion and saw that the slavers outside had been knocked out cold. The Caitor shopkeeper could not believe it as he watched from his window, the young woman charged in alone, and within minutes, dozens of their captured neighbors came out of the tavern. Everyone in the town came to help the hostages, while some started striking down the unconscious slavers.

Others went inside the tavern to help those still locked in cages, but they all made way when Luna came out, carrying rifles on her back and holding sticks of grenades and dynamite. She headed for the automaton strider she saw earlier that had been beaten by a slaver.

Luna gently touched its face, and the strider shakily got to its feet. She looked at its eyes, and Luna knew that they both had the same idea in mind.

"You trust me?" She whispered, and the strider softly huffed in agreement.

The caitor shopkeeper approached her as she got on. "You are going to fight them all? You can’t chase after them! There are too many! They will kill you!"

"They are on their way to massacre a nearby village, and my family is there. Listen, tie them all up and lock the slavers down. Then one of you should leave right away to go to the nearest city to ask for support from the military or the enforcers. Tell them Captain Leonard Triferus is the one who ordered you to do it. Also tell them to send soldiers to all the nearby villages as there could be more slavers among them."

"We will." The caitor extended his slimy hand and Luna shook it. "And thank you. May the Maker bless your way."

Luna only nodded back and immediately left, hoping she would make it to the village in time.