It was Midday.
The atmosphere was completely calm a sparkling azure without the slightest intimation of clouds or jetstreams to disturb its pristine nature. At that hour, the sun was present directly above the urban city as it casted its rays down on the towering buildings and the accompanying avenues. No person could escape the reach of the star's warm embrace, and so, alongside the serenity of the living blue sky, it had seemed that all of the conditions were set up so immaculately that the people couldn't escape the idea of a peaceful life as they traversed through the sidewalks, streets, and subway systems all the same.
It was a welcome change not having to go about their lives living in fear or having to anticipate some sort of disturbance that was sure to end life as they knew it. And they relished the opportunity to feel that way, as after a bit over six long years, the dreaded Nanite Event had finally come to an end.
It had only been two months since then, on "The Day That Everything Changed" as the world had came to call it. Though the title was once reserved for the fateful day it had all begun, it had been appropriated for its end since there were few who wished to acknowledge the six years of hardship that was endured. But even if the world would never be able to bury that period of time in the past, they could begin reconstructing what they had lost in order to move forward once again.
But it wasn't an easy job making the transition, as even though Evos were no longer a concern in the new world, there still remained those who sought to take advantage of the society's frail state and wreak havoc on all who couldn't defend themselves.
At least, such was the mentality shared by those like the deranged madman who was piloting a large mech through the interior of the city. Though such events were not nearly as common as the previously rampant Evo occurrences, they were still far more common than they were before the event had begun. Perhaps Nanites messed with the chemicals in some individuals brains, who knew for certain? But regardless of whatever compelled such criminals to perform such actions, there would be no rest for the wicked for there would always be that one organization that would be sure to seek justice for their actions when no one else could:
And the name was that of Providence, the group responsible for the conclusion of the Nanite Event.
The large mech was trapezing through the city, its simple frame maneuvering around through the usage of the eight tentacle-like appendages that were four-and-four on its left and right sides. Windows shattered and glass shards peppered the ground below as the arms penetrated building walls, cries of horror audibly heard on the ground and inside of the buildings as office spaces were violated and people nearly skewered by any of the eight metal arms.
Thankfully the limbs themselves were not inflicting any serious damage to the supporting frame of any of the structures it crashed into, but it didn't seem that was the goal of the machine nor its pilot who was muttering various Russian phrases beneath his breath, in an effort to recall how to control the device he had put in storage for so long; Instead, it seemed that the moment the nightmare inducing frame had backed out of a large semi-truck only a minute prior, its objective was to reach a specific destination which was presumably the high rise tower it was currently heading towards.
It was an enterprise building which housed the headquarters for a major energy distribution company that delved in nuclear operations, and at the penthouse suite the meeting room for its board of directors who were all present in a conference which would entail the company's future involvement with restoration efforts around the globe. The pilot's intentions with the group were unknown, but if he really planned to proceed towards the group in such a matter, it could be possible that some blood was intended to be shed.
He certainly wished there were a less obvious way to go about the process, such as with the traditional Dragunov sniper rifle, or even by simply infiltrating the building and mowing them all down with an automatic rifle. As a matter of fact, just a week prior his intentions were to go with the latter plan up until the company had suddenly and unexpectedly integrated a major upgrade to their security measures which had included but was not limited to an increase in security guards, active cameras, and police patrols all around the block. No doubt the company was anticipating some form of espionage or attack, so the unplanned for precautions had become major obstacle in his plan.
And so, he decided to go with the giant-death-machine route since it was the only alternative he had left, lest he sought to fail the orders of their superiors. But the former KGB member understood his line of work well, and knew that if he had even attempted to defect on an assignment after payment from his employers, even if complications should arise...To put it simply, he would see the mission through at all costs. Even if the likes of Providence were to get involved and it seemed they already were.
Hearing the patter of light artillery strike his contraption at the side after landing on the face of another building, he put the pause on chase and continued to cling onto the apartment complex. Rotating the main body of the mech, he glanced down to see that there were already two providence tanks that were on his pursuit many stories below, machine guns fashioned on top of the roofs and a pair of agents firing their rounds at him.
" Cyka Blyat! " He swore in his mother tongue, not anticipating the deployment speed of Providence to be so remarkably swift!
"No, no...Providence could not have known about this in advance, and not so quickly either...It is bad luck they happened to be on same route as truck, but it will not matter once I take care of them!"
Thrusting the joystick rig forward, the Russian and the mech dropped from the dozen story elevation right onto one of the tanks. Both of the gunners saw the quickly approaching hazard and hastily retreated within their tanks, and with a massive crash, the roof of one tank indented several meters inwards before being promptly torn open by the several tentacles the mech had at its disposable.
"He's tearing the other tank apart! What do we do Skwydd!?" The masked agent called out to the driver maneuvering the tank.
"Damn if I know, Tuck!" The masculine sounding voice replied.
"These tanks are obviously not equipped to deal with this sort of situation! Have you gotten Kenwyn on the line yet? She should've picked up by now!"
"We'll have to worry about that later!" A third, feminine voice intervened. "Let's see if we can at least get his attention away from them! Hit the gas, now!"
Realizing the futility of any other plan that had involved staying behind to help their allies who were at the mercy of the dedicated mercenary, the second tank accelerated and made off in the opposite direction. Not wanting any obstacles to be in his path later on, the Russian ceased separating the roof and hopped off of the tank, galavanting between the walls of buildings to keep up with the group that was attempting to make an escape.
From the top of the retreating tank Tuck reappeared and pointed the artillery gun back at the mech. Looking back at the other vehicle he was able to see several of his comrades crawl out, and while they were most definitely injured, it had fortunately seemed that the wounds were nothing grave and that everybody was alive and breathing Which was more than he could say about his own group at that moment, with the death-machine right on their trail and with an intent to kill.
Thousands of feet above the buildings, a jump-jet careened through the sky as it gradually approached city. The intercom system flared to life, the alarm sounding off for a fraction of a second until the pilot clicked a button and allowed the transmission to go through.
"This is codename Ace speaking, what's your current status?" Questioned the commander as she began her descent to a decent street to land in.
"Kenwyn? About time you picked up!" Cricket sounded over the noise of screeching tires and ammunition being unloaded on the mech right behind them. What's going on with the communications? Are they busted again?" She involuntarily yelped as a tentacle took hold of the tank for a second, losing its grip with Skwydd swerving the vehicle sharply to the right.
"Sorry Cricket, it seems we're experiencing some technical difficulties as usual! But more on that later, right now it seems that you guys are leading some sort of tentacle-bot through the city. What's the story?"
"We've got a Class-2 Situation on our hands here, and it's the same madman we've apprehended two months ago! It seems that he somehow escaped from custody, and now he's using an altered version of his original mech to infiltrate the NuCorp's executive building!"
Kenwyn's eyes widened as she pieced together the purpose of the mercenary within the mech. "And today's the day their board decides where they're going to launch their energy contribution efforts. He's planning on wiping them out for some reason or another, and right now you're the only thing standing in his way!"
"I'm not sure for how much longer, though!" Cried out Tuck as the mounted weapon stopped raining bullets. He jumped back within the tank and addressed Kenwyn personally.
"What's your ETA? If we don't get backup within the next minute, we're probably dead!"
"Definitely dead!" Corrected Skwydd, who took another sharp turn to the left to avoid being pounced on.
"We're just a few minutes away! Are you sure you can't stall any longer?"
"We've already been at this for 10 minutes!"
Kenwyn scowled to herself. "Bobo's tank should be intercepting you soon, and then I'll be there not long after that!" She pressured as she sped up the descent to unsafe speeds, tilting the ship to the furthest it was physically capable without entering an unrecoverable stall.
"Not enough time for that, Kenwyn. I'm gonna have to drop." Kenwyn's heart stopped when she heard the voice and what came next. The sounds of mechanical whirring could be heard for a moment, and shortly after, the back hatch to the jet reeled back into the body of the jet without the pilot's command. The rushing sounds of the wind whistled throughout the interior, rendering all of the messages transmitted through the radio unintelligible.
The agent stood before the exposed section, the wind whipping at his sports jacket while he leaned one hand on the side of the ship, the other one busy bringing down his signature goggles over his face.
"Rex! Whatever crazy plan you're thinking of, un-think it!" She desperately shouted over the intense gusts.
"You can't just jumping out of airships whenever you feel like it! We have a procedure to follow!"
"With all due respect Kenywyn, I'm not gonna let procedure get in the way of me helping my friends." He yelled, preparing to jump ship without a moment's hesitation.
Kenwyn scowled as she tightened her grip on the joysticks. "Then hold on for a second, I'm gonna get you in line with the mech! Once you get off, you should crash into him by the time you reach the ground." Kenwyn began doing a corkscrew like maneuver in the counterclockwise direction in order to be directly above the rampaging robot. Leveling the jet perfectly horizontal to the ground, she sounded off one final time to Rex.
"Rex, just know that I'm gonna have to file this against you in the report!" She warned him while glancing back in order to make eye contact temporarily. He looked right back at her in response, a grin plastered to his face as he said:
"Thrill me."
And with the final word in, he stepped backwards off of the jet and began free falling towards the earth, angling his body like a hawk preparing to devour its prey. After locking on to where he would intercept with the mech, he spread his arms outwards and allowed his nanites to do their task. Blue strains of light spread across his arms as the nanomachines were given their new set of directions. Fading away as quickly as they appeared, mechanical components began to surround his upper limbs, interlocking with each other as they expanded and gave form. Mechanical whirrs were heard with various gears and plates rotating into assembly, and with a final clang, two giant mechanical fists were formed in their place.
Whipping his dominant arm behind him and the other off to the side, he positioned himself to take the perfect stance to collide with the mech in 3...2...1...
