Ricky shrieked as his heart pounded in his chest. He was convinced that he was going to die within the next few moments as he hurtled down the corridor traveling at excess speeds. By the time he neared the north elevators and the fighting, he had a slightly better grasp on the controls as they worked mostly intuitively using a mixture of voice and EEG controls.
Ricky found that he could control the speeds with a simple thought, and he was not sure, but muscle control may or may not have something to do with it as well. The altitude was also controlled through the thought to speech function, but also through fluid shoulder motions and by shifting body weight, much like riding a motorcycle.
Ricky modified the display to show indicators on his HUD overlay where his brothers were located. He saw the indicator light up ahead of him, closer to the elevators as he came roaring up on the edge of the firefight. Ricky stopped his forward momentum and hovered for a moment when he saw a group of Titans leaning out of windows and from behind cover, firing in the direction of the advancing robots. It seemed like the whole block was involved in fighting back against the invaders.
“Everyone fall back!” He yelled above the booming din of combat.
“Ricky!” Came a voice from the direction of the hab-unit. Ricky turned to see Atani in the thick of the fighting. “Good to see you back on your feet ol’ chap. We could use the help!”
From the looks of things, the Titan defenders had already fallen back a few times. Ahead of him, the hallway was filled with smoke and fire, more than a few dead Titans lay where they fell. A line of hab-units on both sides of the commons walkway was completely destroyed and little more than smoking rubble. Ricky hovered closer to Atani’s position.
“Quick, give me some explosives!” He yelled to the Titan.
Atani looked around and Ricky noticed one of the scientists was near him. The scientist reached into a bag and pulled out some homemade improvised explosive devices.
“Did you figure that thing out yet?” The scientist asked as he began handing them over to the floating Titan.
“Not exactly.” Ricky replied. One of the things he did figure out was that the pack had magnetic sides and he was able to store his rifle and pistol there. Very handy indeed.
Now armed with an armload of explosives, Ricky nodded and willed himself into the fray. Atani turned and began yelling at the defenders who did not hear Ricky’s instructions, prodding them to fall back further down the corridor.
Ricky flew through a cloud of smoke and saw a line of advancing robots suddenly appear through the swirl of fog. He armed two of the explosives and threw them that direction, not waiting to see if his aim was true. He willed the pack faster, and acted like a bomber, flying over the heads of the robotic units, dropping all the explosives until his arms were empty, then he turned to fly towards Rocco not bothering to track how much damage he had done.
“I’m coming, don’t shoot me!” Ricky growled into the Net-Comm as he heard gunfire ahead. He saw a whitish-blue ball of energy come from a window and slam into the crowd of robots, destroying several at once.
A moment later and he saw his brother and another Titan leaning out of a building and firing at the Trade Alliance units. Ricky came as close to the ground as he could and realized he did not know how to land. Rocco seemed to be trying to yell something, but Ricky was moving too fast to hear. He mentally switched the device off a few feet from the ground and came rolling to a stop a few feet away.
“That was a better stop than the first time I tried it.” Rocco replied with a smile, holding out a hand to help his brother back to his feet. “Good to see you back on your feet.”
“Well now we have to figure out a way to get out of here.” Ricky returned. “But first we have to get Rocky.”
Gunner began running down the corridor towards the rest of the fleeing Titan residents after exchanging a nod with Rocco. Ricky noticed the gun with the glowing canister and brought attention to it.
“What on Titan is that?”
“Plasma gun.”
“Cheers. Let’s go find your brother.” And with that Ricky turned his pack back on, hovering in the air.
“I don’t think I’m actually related to him, he’s your brother.” Rocco’s feet lifted from the ground also.
The pair of Procyons rocketed down the hallway the opposite direction, passing a wave of Titans that were fleeing the oncoming wave of robots. At a higher rate of speed, they zoomed past the blocks of hab-units and it took little time for them to near the other end of the building. They both saw Rocky and Jardan being chased by five large, menacing CMIs. Something curious came after, it seemed as though another Titan was even then chasing these advanced robots. And in the distance, there was a line of combat units that were advancing and would soon overwhelm all the remaining defenders with sheer numbers.
“Leave them alone!” Ricky yelled at the hulking heavily armored CMIs as he dropped out of the sky. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he was already firing at them and drawing their attention.
Rocco was only a moment behind, but his rifle was firing at the same time as his brother’s. The armored units shrugged off the E-Rifle projectiles with little attention given to them, but the superheated glowing blue plasma pulse hit the lead two and knocked them back, melting straight through the thick armor.
“Smoke.” Rocky spoke to his rifle, changing the round selector. He fired several smoke rounds behind him as he caught up to his two brothers.
As the hallway began to fill up with thick clouds of smoke, Rocco fired a few more rounds, missing his target a few times but eventually melting another CMI. Before the remaining two armored units could unleash their rounds back towards the three Procyon brothers, they were jumped from behind by a furious cybernetic Wolverine.
Bingo engaged the pair in hand to hand combat, and the brothers watched in awe of the display. The robots had the upper hand on brute strength, being pure machine, but the small Wolverine was filled with a fury that was hard not to be impressed with, if not even a little scared of.
“Is he on our side?” Ricky asked quickly.
“Mostly I think.” Rocky responded slowly as if contemplating the subject. “Though I’m pretty sure he’s gonna try to kill us later.”
“I’ve never fought whatever he is before.” Rocco said while sizing the other Titan up. It was hard to tell from the tone in his voice whether he seemed excited by the prospect or hesitant.
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Bingo did not come out of the encounter unscathed, but it was an impressive feat that he came out at all. When it was over, both mobile infantry units were destroyed, and the Wolverine seethed with anger, looking like he was ready for more.
“I guess now we’re even.” Rocky said to him. “I saved you and you saved me.”
“We ain’t square yet, not by a longshot. But we get out of here and your scientist friends help me? We’ll consider the grudge squashed eh?”
“What grudge?” Ricky turned to Rocky and asked.
“He was friends with that Felid the moron killed.” Rocky chucked his thumb in Rocco’s direction.
“I seem to remember that being more or less a team effort.” Rocco returned coldly as he lowered his glowing weapon. “But then again, our team effort is usually the two of us doing eighty percent of the work, so I guess you’re right.”
“Sod off, you wanker. While you were off muckin’ about, we were finding an escape route.” Rocky pointed towards the hole in the wall between two hab-blocks, a line of exposed metal pipes descending into darkness. “I also got us a ride out of this city if we can get the hell out of this building alive.”
“We’ll have to hold off that army of robots and get the rest of these Titans out of here first.” Ricky looked behind him. “Contact them and tell them to get over here.” Ricky said to Rocky, then to his other brother “Let’s go.”
Though the hallway was still filed with smoke, they knew it was only a momentary distraction, for most of the robotic combat units were equipped with infrared. Ricky and Rocco took up positions behind cover and both switched their E-Rifles to smart round ammunition. Bingo came up alongside the pair, offering to help fend off the horde.
“You’ll need more guns.” Bingo replied, picking Ricky’s spare Axiom machine pistol from the side of his flight pack so that he now wielded a pistol in each hand. “At best we can hold them back for a few minutes.”
An explosive grenade came through the smoke and all three ducked for cover. It luckily landed short and exploded without doing them much harm aside from throbbing eardrums. All three Titans began firing at the shadowy figures emerging from the smoke headed their direction.
Rocky watched the scene, frustrated that he was tasked to a non-combat role, even though he told himself it was just as important to get others out safely. He had radioed to the others and told them about the escape route, and now was waiting for them to arrive. He switched his E-Rifle to smart rounds and began firing at the robots as well and was immediately greeted with return fire that nearly hit him. He pointed the muzzle of his rifle out and fired another burst, dropping the robot that had him targeted on the other end of the hall.
Several minutes went by of intense combat. The defenders brought down waves of robots but many more were coming, and eventually, the return fire had them all pinned down. They fired the remainder of their smart rounds, which still enabled them to shoot from behind cover, but eventually those rounds were expended.
Rocco switched back to the plasma rifle and took aim for the ceiling. Before Bingo or Ricky could stop him or tell him what a stupid move it was that he was about to make, he committed to action and began firing at the ceiling above the advancing robotic horde. Three superheated rounds from the powerful gun exploded above them, and they all heard the rumbling coming from the ceiling.
“Move!” Bingo shouted, though the other two were already beginning to move, even without the enhanced reflexes the cybernetic implants gave the Wolverine.
The ceiling caved in and began a larger chain reaction. The AstroBlocs were designed with many fail safes to prevent a full-scale collapse, but the ceiling still fell in, collapsing several tons of weight on the leading line of robots.
Ricky saw the remaining defenders drawing near at that moment from the other side of the hallway and breathed a sigh of relief. Even as the floor underneath them began to rumble, they made their way over and began filing through the improvised exit that Rocky had made. He hoped that the floor below them would hold a little longer.
The cave-in had given them all a much-needed reprieve from the frontal assault, but it would not last long. Even as the Titans began filing through the hole and climbing down the maintenance walkways, the debris was being shifted aside by over a hundred robot units. By the time the remaining few Titans were ducking through the opening in the wall, lead rounds were beginning to whiz by them, and now from both directions as the robots from the other end were catching up.
Bingo leaped past the brothers, who shared a look before activating their flight packs and leaping down the hole themselves. There were very few surviving members of the Union resistance that had made it off floor thirty-four, but there were still a few hundred residents. Now that the brothers were once again reunited, they were all silently resolved to let no more fall under their watch.
* * * *
As the Titans of floor thirty-four made their way down the vertical maintenance shaft that followed the water pipes, Rocco shot the wall and ceiling to cause another collapse, preventing the army of robots from pursuing them further.
Jardan and Atani were out front, leading the crowds down the rickety old metal stairs. They had to proceed slowly, for these old walkways were meant to carry a few workers at a time, not the hundreds that were now using them to make an escape.
The procession slowed as another live feed overrode their systems suddenly. A picture of the Trade Alliance security commander came up, and to everyone’s horror, he once again had a gathering of hundreds if not thousands of Titans in front of him and dozens of battle robots.
“Insurgents and traitors, this is Security Chief Rymond addressing you once again. You have fought and destroyed quite a number of security units this night, in fact I believe that the numbers I am receiving, this may prove to be the most damage any insurrection has done to Zenith Corp and its affiliates since it had first formed. But the building is still surrounded, and you are still outnumbered. There will be no shame if you give up now, you can be content that while your rebellion, like the others before it was ultimately fruitless to overturn the order of our great society, yours will indeed go down in history.”
The commanding Canid figure in the center of the shot paused for a moment to regard the gathering of fearful civilians cowering before the guns of dozens of robotic soldiers.
“So this is no longer a negotiation. You will give yourselves up immediately. If not, we will begin executing another round of this AstroBlocs’ residents. This violence is on you at this point, and the world will hear about your despicable actions that cost so many innocent lives. You have ten minutes.”
The feed terminated as abruptly as it began. The three Procyon brothers glanced at each other with troubled eyes. The younger two looked toward Ricky now for guidance, they were not sure what the correct move would be but did know they could not let the Trade Alliance slaughter thousands more on their behalf.
“Don’t do it mate.” Gunner yelled down from a catwalk above as they floated in the middle of the vertical tunnel.
“He’s right. They will kill you and then they will kill those Titans, just because they can.” Bingo agreed from a level just below the Felid. “You can’t reason with powerful Titans, the only language they speak is power. We should get out and regroup, hit them hard when we can.”
“Atani, you get these Titans out.” Ricky looked down to the Canid who was at the forefront of the exodus. The roguish Canid nodded up at him. He then nodded to his brothers. “The rest of you go with them, make sure everyone makes it out safely. There could still be resistance out there. Make no mistake Union members, you have all fought bravely and won a great victory here today. There will be more to come.”
“What are you guys gonna do?” This time the voice that called out from the walkway was from Wolton. Ricky was glad to know he was still alive.
“We’re gonna go do what we have to. We probably won’t make it out alive, but hopefully one of us will get a chance to get that bastard before they get us.”
Dozens of Titans opened their mouths to protest the decision, but Ricky had already spurred his flight pack to descend. His two brothers followed reluctantly. When they got about a dozen floors down, Rocky blew another hole in the wall after checking for a floor that was clear of Trade Alliance. Once they had gone through the opening, they made their way through the habitation-suburbs, flying in formation towards the far end.
Once they reached the mag-lift, they piled in. The Trade Alliance had shut down most of them, but this was a lower floor they had already cleared, and the mag-lift was still powered on here. Ricky reached his finger out and pressed the button that would take them to the bottom floor lobby, where this Rymond scoundrel and destiny were both awaiting the brothers. The doors closed behind them and the lift began to descend.