Chapter 2: Storm the Gate

The wall surrounding the smoldering city towered over the Gear's heads. "Over there" Dom said as he pointed to a huge pair of doors. Marcus ran to the door and searched for a button. Nothing. He kicked the button but it wouldn't budge. "They locked the door. Damn." Marcus says to Dom. "Can we get Jack to rip it?" Dom asked, referring to the robot they used to open locked doors that were too heavy to kick down. "Nah, it's too thick. We'll have to find another way." Just then the earth shook beneath their feet. "Get back!!" Marcus yells as the sand where they had previously stood erupted upwards to reveal a giant emergence hole. Dom and Marcus hid behind large boulders and prepared to jump out and catch the locust off guard. But nothing came out of the hole. They left the boulders to take a closer look but the hole was empty. "What the hell? An empty hole?" Dom said, visibly confused. The ground began to tremble again. But no hole formed. The shaking was coming from inside the hole.

They ran back to cover as a large machine burst up through the hole. Its left arm's tip was spinning and was glowing a pale blue. The color faded and the rotating section slid back to reveal a metal hand. The machine stood 8 feet tall and was heavily armored. "What the hell is that?" Marcus asked Dom. He answered "Drill mechs. We made them to try and attack the locust underground when the lightmass bomb didn't work but we were too late". "so how do we kill it?" Marcus asked. "The driver is in the chest. But to reach it you'll have to get on and open the hatch." Dom said. "Good. Cover me." Said Marcus, and with that he ran out from his hiding place and sprinted towards the mech. "Shit" Dom said as he jumped out of cover, rolled, stopped on one knee and fired three round bursts at the Locust that were escorting the mech. Holding his Lancer above his head, Marcus yelled fiercely as he revved the engine and sawed through the nearest drone's head. He kicked it down and turned to the next locust just in time to see it charge with a lancer of its own.

The two chainsaws clashed, spraying sparks in all directions. Marcus fought to overpower the monster but it was too strong. It shoved him to the ground and prepared to smash his face under its boot. Marcus rolled out of the way just as it brought its foot down where Marcus's head had been a second before. Marcus revved his gun's bayonet once more and sliced through his attacker's shin. The drone howled in pain and fell to the ground, writhing as it slowly bled out from the cut. Marcus left it to die as he ran to the mech, which was firing a Boomshot, a sort of rocket launcher that was fired from the hip, at Dom's position.

Marcus ran towards it, hoping to catch it off guard, but the mech saw him coming and fired at him. He ran straight into the shell with his arms covering his face. The shell exploded and he was knocked back five feet, shaken but still alive. He got to his feet and continued running. The mech fired a second round, but Marcus hurdled over it. He hit the ground at the same time as the shell, and was shot the last few feet towards the mech by the explosion. He landed on the mech's back and held on tight. He scrambled around to the door on the front of the mech. He rammed the open button with the butt of his lancer and jumped down as it opened. The drone jumped out with a flamethrower in his hand. It growled as it swung the flamethrower at Marcus, connecting with the back of his skull. Marcus fell to the ground and 

was about to be roasted alive when Dom's lancer erupted through the drone's stomach and shredded its guts, sending bits of intestine flying out of the hole in the drone's stomach. "Go to hell you locust BASTARD!!" Dom yelled. Marcus jumped to his feet and shoved is own lancer through the drone, just above Dom's own. The two friends bisected the unfortunate mech driver, Dom cutting down and Marcus carving up. The two halves fell to the ground, quivering and pouring blood. "I hate locust." Marcus said. "At least we have a way in." Dom said, pointing to the mech. Marcus and Dom climbed into the mech and drilled through the doors behind them. The mech burst through the door and powered down. The two Gears got out and prepped their weapons. Marcus swapped his Longshot for the mech's Boomshot and gave the sniper rifle to Dom, which he changed for his Hammerburst. They faced the smoldering city and heard weapon fire. Marcus turned to Dom and said "Lock and Load."