The sun broke the horizon with piercing light, swathing the ocean in brilliant gold. George Harkness drank it in, peering at the day star from under his navy blue cowboy hat. He leaned against the hard, cold left leg of his Hercules-class Titan, pulled down his black cotton mask and lit a menthol cigarette.
Then the alarms shattered the morning. He placed his custom-made, tooled leather boot on the Titan's knee to vault into the open cockpit. Before he turned the big lug around, there were at least twenty explosions on the far eastern border of the base.
"So much for subtlety," he grimaced, ignoring the little flashing 'No Smoking' sign on the heads-up display. The three Sappers around the feet of the Titan were watching and waiting.
"Think the battle will come to us?" Tammy hoped.
"Our orders are clear: defend the western dock," Gerald droned, warming up his Bio Energy Feedback Inducer gun. In short, it was a gun that severely diminished your performance in battle and otherwise.
"I forgot to charge my cell phone last night."
George, Tammy and Gerald looked askance at Burk, who shrugged and put away his Blackberry.
"Well, I did."
The explosions were moving steadily towards the central building, throwing debris, dust and black smoke into the crystal dawn sky.
"Funny," George commented, his cockpit already filled with flavoured smoke, "Those're our missiles. Wonder who they're blowing up?"
"Good morning, gentlemen."
The four Malta Operatives rounded on the owner of the voice, who had literally appeared out of nowhere. He was a short, thin man of Asian descent with a black ponytail, wearing a grey leather V-cut trench-coat. He held no weapon, but the Sappers blasted him with their draining guns. One of those machines could drain the power core of a Zeus-class Titan in seconds, but the mystery man just smiled.
"Please."
He held up his bare hands. In a flash of blue light, the Titan's power core registered nil. The HUD disappeared, leaving George in smoky darkness. Gunfire clattered for a brief moment while he braced both feet against the heavy titanium cockpit.
"Did you get 'im?" he asked, squinting in the sudden brightness.
"No," said the mystery man, pistol-whipping George, causing the cig to fly from his mouth. Holstering his dual pistols, he dragged the Operative onto the dock beside his unconscious compatriots before hopping into the driver's seat. He flicked the cig into the ocean.
"Mun reporting," he said, placing his hands onto the controls. The Titan thrummed with life, its cockpit slamming shut once more. Mun coughed, turning on the air scrubbers. "I'm heading for the base now."
"I'm inside the base," Mun heard a male voice inside his head, "Heading to Containment."
"Why did you bring me along again?"
"Crack."
"Ah."
Mun stomped the Titan into the base, waving hello to the Operatives who were following orders, defending their positions. They waved, calling him George, some asking whether he had any cigs to spare. He made the Titan shrug, palms open empty, and moved along. Once safely ensconced behind base doors, he trudged towards Containment. The base Operatives barely gave his Titan a passing glance. He followed his teammate's progress on the HUD, which had a handy three-dimensional map of the interior along with live camera recordings.
A top hat whizzed by a camera, leaving two unconscious Operation Engineers in its wake. The Gunslingers on the other side of the room took aim but just could not get a bead on their target, who descended upon them, his high-collared cape billowing as he passed their fallen bodies.
"Wan, don't attack the Hercules Titan."
"Which Herc- oh."
Mun popped the cockpit, confronting the well-dressed samurai, whose glowing white Vanguard blade was inches away from severing one of the mech's legs. Wan stood upright from his warrior crouch, clearing his throat.
"That thing still have missiles?"
"Full complement of Swarm and Incendiary."
"That's the cell," Wan pointed with his katana at the reinforced door on the other end of the corridor. "Backup's on the way."
"Ours or theirs?"
"What do you think?"
"Cover your ears."
"Give me crack first!"
Mun held out his right hand at Wan, blasting him with blue light. Grinning, Wan retreated at high speed to the side, doing as he was told as Mun snapped the cockpit closed. A torrent of Incendiary Missiles scorched the door, partially melting the steel structure. After waiting several seconds for the flames to subside, Mun unloaded every Swarm Missile at the door. Several very loud detonations later, it bent inward, but did not break.
"Backup's here. Break that thing down!"
"Yeah, yeah."
While Wan dispatched the new wave of Operatives, Mun put the Titan into flying gear in order to tackle the remains of the door. The door blew in two, shrapnel embedding itself in the bulletproof glass of the containment area. Inside, the two-legged centaur floated, asleep within the stasis field. He had reddish-brown hair and a little goatee.
"We meet at last, Ossyra."
Mun blocked the entrance with the Titan's body so that he could attend to the control panel in peace. There were already numerous Swarm and Incendiary missile explosions down the corridor, where he had left Wan. He placed both hands on the keyboard, peering at the screen.
"A password? How quaint."
The nanoscopic machines coursing through Mun's body filtered through his pores and into the military hardware, bypassing the pitiful encryption. They assured the dazed and confused processor that they did, indeed, have administrator access, and so coerced it into shutting down the prison. The two-legged centaur flopped, still asleep, while the glass cylinder receded into the floor.
Mun stood over the centaur's body. He flung out his left hand, suffusing the sleeping creature with gold light. He flung out his right hand, supercharging with blue light. Ossyra flared awake, his burning aura reasserting itself. He already had a fireball sitting in one hand, aimed at Mun.
"Whoa, horsey! I'm a friend. Wanrikken is here with me."
"I'm not a horse," Ossyra groused, cracking his neck both ways, but he extinguished himself. His two hooves clopped across the floor, taking him to the Hercules Titan. The long braids behind his pointed ears twirled as he turned his head this way and that, trying to discern the source of the gunfire and explosions.
"What's going on behind there?"
"My name is Mun. Wan is dealing with Malta behind this robot."
He tilted his head.
"Wan, I'm putting this thing in reverse."
"How much time has passed?" spoke Wan's voice in his head. Ossyra jumped, because he could hear him, too.
"Three minutes and twenty three seconds."
"Hey Wan!"
"Hey Ossyra! Why were you captured?"
"Man, hearing your voice like this is freaky. I was just following a tip. Turns out it was a trap!"
"Good grief. Why don't you like teaming up?"
Mun waved his hand at the Hercules Titan, activating the nanites he had left inside the mech. It shot backward at terrific speed, crashing into the Zeus Titan halfway down the corridor. They both exploded in a most spectacular fashion.
"Did you kill the pilots?" Ossyra asked, craning his neck to see.
"No, they're just defeated."
Wan stepped into the room, causing Ossyra to jump again because he did it so fast. Mun gave Wan a fresh dose of crack.
"Oh, I get it. Kinetics!"
Ossyra's reward was a blast of crack.
"Fresh from Praetoria," Mun nodded. Ossyra's eyes dilated.
"You're from another dimension, too? When I arrived here, my DNA had to be rewritten so that I could exist."
It was Mun's turn to raise eyebrows.
"You believe in the Akashic Records, too?"
"It's the only explanation as to why I have two hooves instead of four."
"My God, I have two D 'n D nerds in my supergroup, now!" Wan lamented.
"What's D 'n D?" they chorused.
The trio simultaneously heard a beep in their heads.
"What was that?" asked Ossyra, ears twitching though they had not 'heard' it. Wan rubbed his face with one hand, wiping off the dusty, smoky residue of battle.
"Time's up. The Kronos Titan has finished warming up."
Ossyra's face fell.
"The Kronos Titan."
"Yeah."
"This base has a freaking KRONOS TITAN?"
A deep roar shook the walls and floor.