Sitting in their briefing room, the acting members of The Tough Nuts and Varin had just finished listening to the details of Kaden's plan.

"I don't like it," said Wraith simply.

"Yeah, but you don't like anything," countered Varin with her usual smirk. "I say we do it. If nothing else I just want to see if he can pull it off."

Both she and Wraith then turned to Torque who rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "This production has a truly complicated score. I fear the performer may not have the talent necessary. However, if his skills are genuine then the symphony would be of a most exquisite beauty... I wish to attend this show."

"As leader I believe that's a yes," declared Lacera. She then glanced at Varin who nodded to confirm her interpretation of Torque's words. Lacera smiled and then turned to Kaden, "Well, Kaden, that makes the vote one to zero, since my vote is the only one that matters. Luckily for you, I'd also like to see what you're capable of. You're on."

"Yes!" Kaden exclaimed happily with a small fist pump to emphasize. When he looked up again though, Lacera was glaring at him, "Oh, uh… thank you, boss," he added quickly.

Lacera nodded her approval.

"We're live in five," said the set manager of the Solar Flare news room, with a small chuckle at his own rhyme.

Dana Tayori rolled her eyes from where she sat at the anchor's desk, "Chuck, I'll admit that it was mildly funny the first time you said it, but it's been over a month now."

Chuck's face soured, "Five minutes then," he said bitterly and walked off.

Dana watched him leave, "Sheesh, what's got Chuck's tail in a twist?" she said to her co-anchor.

Todd Berita was triple checking the list of news topics for the show's next segment in the seat next to her, "If I had to guess," he began dryly, "I'd have to say that it's probably because 'Chuck's' name is actually 'Steven'."

"What?!" Dana questioned in surprise. "I've been calling him Chuck ever since he got promoted to stage manager."

"No," replied Todd without looking up from his digi-pad, "this is the first time you've called him by that name to his face. Before now, you only mentioned it when you talked 'about' him and the 'first' time you did so, you couldn't remember his actual name, so you decided to call him Chuck because he 'chuckles' at his own jokes."

Dana put her hands over her face and flattened her ears with embarrassment as she remembered. She felt bad about what she'd done, but knew she had to apologize.

She looked up at the stage manager, who was speaking to a cameraman, "I'm sorry Steven," she called out in apology. Steven turned and just glared coldly back at her while shaking his head slowly.

"Hey Al," yelled Todd to the same person Dana had just called Steven, "my NID's audio connection seems a little glitchy. Can you take a look at it?"

"You got it, Todd," Al replied eagerly, before taking one last disdainful glance at Dana and walking off to find the audio tech.

Dana was almost shaking with anger from once again being made a fool of by her co-anchor, "I can't believe you," she hissed under her breath. "Do you think just because you're two levels above me that..."

"Dana!" shouted Al agitatedly. "We are trying to fix an audio issue with less than three minutes to show time. Could you try 'not' making any noise for just a minute?" Dana pressed her lips together tightly and fought hard not to explode. "Thank you," continued Al sarcastically. "Now Todd, what's the problem sound like on your end?"

"It's this loud sort-of grating noise that pops up all of a sudden," described Todd. "It's right in my ear and extremely irritating."

Al exchanged a few words with the audio tech, "Alright, we're going to deactivate your connection and see if the problem's on our end."

Todd nodded to show that he understood. A moment later there was a click in his ear and a light blinked in his peripherals to let him know that his NID had disconnected with the Solar Flare's wireless audio transmitter. He breathed out a sigh of relief and picked up his digi-pad to resume his preparations. Dana waited for him to acknowledge her again, but Todd simply ignored her.

Finally she'd had enough, "You know, ever since I became your co-anchor you've been nothing but a-"

"Ah!" exclaimed Todd, "There it is again, that annoying, screeching noise. I'm sorry, Al," he yelled to the stage manager with a wave. "It looks like the problem was on my end."

Al waved in confirmation, "Can you handle the problem until the next break?" he asked.

"I'm sure I can," answered Todd with a wry smile. "It's just a minor annoyance."

Dana was so angry that she couldn't even form coherent words. She just mumbled half started insults under her breath. Finally she managed to squeeze out a threat, "I swear Todd, this is the last straw. I'm going to-"

Todd interrupted his co-anchor with a long sigh and turned to face her, "You know Dana, there are two important things you need to learn about being a news anchor. One is that you need to be able to put on a smile and deliver the news properly no matter how sick, confused, or angry you may feel."

There was a short pause before Dana replied, "And what's the second one?" she asked through gritted teeth.

Todd turned back to face the cameras and adjusted his posture, "You need to learn better timing."

"On in 10...9...8..." shouted Al, counting down the time until the return of the news show. Dana glared at Todd fiercely as if the sheer intensity of her gaze alone could cause him harm. "6...5...4..." continued the stage manager.

Finally, Dana spun back to face the camera and straightened her posture, before putting on a smiling expression that looked like it had been carved out of granite with a rusty pickaxe. Al held up two fingers, then one, and waved forward to indicate that they'd gone live.

"Welcome back to the Solar Flare, I'm Todd Berita..." began Todd formally.

"And I'm Dana Tayori, bringing you the latest Nova Academy news," continued Dana with an equally formal, though forced, tone.

Todd turned as the camera zoomed in on him, "Tonight is the first round of Nova Academy's famed 'Capture the Depot' games and all eyes are on one match in particular."

Dana nodded her head and turned to her own camera, "That's right Todd, there is no doubt that the match to watch tonight is the one between defending champions, the Tough Nuts, and up-and-coming new team, the Gold Bolts."

Todd leaned back so that he was flush with two holographic images of said teams' logos, "A fateful encounter with one another in the preseason bouts resulted in the Tough Nuts losing their newest member, Viscera Suraisu, in a confrontation with the Gold Bolts' own newest member, Kor Vol'terran. Now, with a new team lineup, the Tough Nuts will get their chance at redemption in the very first round.

"Yes, you can't write coincidences like this Todd," agreed Dana. "With their youngest member still out of commission, I'd say that the Tough Nuts are looking for revenge more than redemption as it seems they've not only replaced Viscera Suraisu with a slightly higher rated student, Alister Azimuth, but have also swapped out their Med. Tech. for a Mech. Tech. This kind of move shows great possibility for more aggressive maneuvers in their next match."

"On the Gold Bolts' side," continued Todd, "there is no change from the preseason lineup and who would expect one? Kor Vol'Terran, also known as the Red Reaper of Nova, has dominated every event he's been in so far and has left a mess of his opponents so graphic that Nova Academy has stopped the distribution of those particular scenes in all forms."

Dana slid over and leaned back so that she'd be lined up with a head-shot of Kor's helmet, "This new censorship of the already elusive and mysterious new Nova student has led to even more rumors and speculation spreading around the school. The color of Mr. Vol'terran's red armor, as well as supposed eyewitness testimony from level one Fuzzies that his fur is also red, have led to him being nicknamed the 'Red Reaper' after his impressive skills were seen by all in last semester's MSET."

Todd shook his head at the report in a scripted, doubtful way, "However, aside from those few level one students, no one at the academy is known to have seen Kor when he wasn't completely encased in armor. What's your take on this Dana? I know that if I was in a new place and getting this kind of attention, I wouldn't go anywhere without my armor on either."

Dana cracked a smile in response, emphasis on 'cracked', "Well, Todd, honestly I'd love to see what Kor looks like under his mask, but I'm too busy fantasizing about you wearing a helmet over your own face to properly answer."

Todd didn't miss a step as he continued reading the teleprompter, "Well, trustworthy sources have confirmed that his authorization to wear full combat gear at all times was granted for medical reasons, but this has led to many new rumors spreading that Kor is 'not' in fact a Red Lombax at all. Many members of the Solar Flare news staff, myself included, have reported on several proclaimed 'Red Lombax' sightings around Nova's vast grounds, most of which have ended with red-dyed students wearing sharpened pairs of dentures being escorted to detention where many were then shaved and had their fake chompers super glued to their gums as a punishment."

Dana leaned back again to line up with another image, a close up of an armored hand with a grainy image of a red-helmeted face in the corner, "The Solar Flare's own field news teams have tried to get to the bottom of this mystery, but all attempts to get a comment on the subject from the enigmatic Lombax himself have failed."

Todd made a solemn expression, "We at the Solar Flare would like to wish our reporter John, and the rest of his film crew, a speedy recovery."

"Regardless of fur color though," Dana continued, "Kor Vol'terran has shown a skill in military combat not seen since the Military Field's own Commander Fortis came to the academy almost a decade ago. Many analysts believe that Kor may reach level four before he even finishes his first year at Nova."

"The Capture the Depot games will begin in just a moment," continued Todd, "so stay tuned for live commentary on the action as it unfolds, right here, on the Solar Flare."

Five heavily-armored Lombaxes appeared in a flash of blue light at the edge of a very large clearing in a vast wooded area.

The clearing was sloped up to its center where a tall, industrial building stood. Leading into it were several large ramp entrances and some smaller ones as well.

In-between the newly arrived group of Lombaxes and the tall building was a no-man's-land of bunkers, razor-wire, hidden landmines, and hundreds of military androids.

Lacera took a step forward and inhaled deeply before releasing the air back out, "Ahhhhh, it's good be back," she said whilst cheerfully studying the warzone before her.

There was an open path through the razor-wire that lay straight ahead of them. It went straight to the closest entrance ramp of the Depot, but it was blocked by three separate bunkers, each one designed to cover the next with its field of fire.

The third, and furthest one, however, was twice the size of the first two. It looked more like a small fort than a simple bunker.

Many Depot teams that came up against these obstacles lacked the firepower or fortitude to assault these structures head on, which forced them to take a more time consuming route through the wire and mines.

Kaden had brought an advanced minesweeper with him that he'd designed himself along with a set of high-spectrum laser-blades to cut the razor-wire without arousing suspicion.

The tan Lombax studied the heavy bunkers and the army of robots that occupied and surrounded them carefully through his visor. He had many visual upgrades to his NID, but nothing beat the clarity of a visor's HUD. It mapped out every target and weapon within visible range and even counted them… there were a lot.

Kaden nodded when he'd finished studying the defenses, "Good luck with that," he said as he began to make initial in-field preparations with his equipment.

"Try to finish before we reach the last node, ok?" said Lacera with only half her attention turned to him.

Alister walked forward to help Kaden with his equipment, "You sure you got this?" he asked, knowing the answer already.

Kaden smiled back at him, "Just focus on staying alive. I'll do my part," he said as he hefted the equipment back over his shoulder and began walking off along the clearing's perimeter.

The rest of the group watched him circle around the no man's land for about a minute or so, when the echo of explosions from the other side of the building reached their ears. It was clear that the other team had chosen to try a direct assault on the bunkers.

Kaden made it to a point that he liked and, with his minesweeper out, started heading into the danger-zone. He twisted left and right as he avoided the buried explosives.

The tan Lombax then cut through the first layer of razor-wire and was about to climb a mound of dirt when two robot guards appeared at the top of it on routine patrol.

One robot had machine guns instead of arms and the other had two large swords instead of hands. They scanned the area as they marched in unison over the mound.

Kaden waited until they had passed before scrambling up behind them. But, just as he made it to the top, the guards began to turn around.

Mere seconds before Kaden was in their line of sight, he activated a device on his chest that transformed him into an identical replica of the sword wielding guard with a flash of holographic light.

The two robots examined their new companion and tried to process how he'd gotten there from seemingly nowhere. The new robot guard, which was actually Kaden, then waved a greeting toward the first two. The two robots reciprocated the wave, which switched the focus of their processors from 'search and destroy' to 'socialize' long enough for them to forget the question of verifying the identity of the newcomer. When they finished waving, they turned back around and continued their patrol.

Wraith put down his Plasma Striker, "I guess he doesn't need saving yet," he said with a small hint of disappointment.

"He won't," Alister assured him.

"Well then, it's time for us to get moving," said Lacera. "Torque, would you be a dear and play me my favorite song?" she asked sweetly.

Torque laughed heartily, "The quality of the opening number sets the tone for the rest of the performance. I shall endeavor to play notes worthy of your ears, boss," he declared dutifully.

Torque then walked forward, over the cusp of the danger-zone. The large Lombax was wearing an almost legendary class of armor, 'super-heavy' combat armor.

Lombaxes usually selected their gear with agility in mind. They used their natural swiftness to jump around the battlefield in order to dodge and avoid the vast majority of damage.

However, every once in awhile there comes a Lombax who has completely forsaken any thought of avoiding incoming fire. For these special few, the super-heavy class was designed.

Super-heavy armor is defined as being at least three times tougher than standard heavy Lombax armor, which was still designed with mobility in mind, and it usually weighed five times as much as well. It was reinforced with so many different alloys that even an extremely skilled and attractive fiction writer wouldn't be able to entertainingly describe them all in a story.

Torque's armor also boasted colossal storage bays mounted on his back for carrying extra power cells and ammunition.

Once Torque stepped a foot past the danger-zone line, the first bunker's defenses began firing at him. They were still some distance away, so many shots missed, but the few that did strike their target either fizzled out or pinged harmlessly off his thick armored plates.

Using this as his cue, Torque lifted the muzzle end of his weapon towards the first bunker.

The weapon in his hands was a hulking block of mechanical metal that was over half the size of his own, considerably large, body. Torque had dubbed his specially crafted, heavy weapon platform 'The Dirge'.

A dozen barrels protruded from the front of The Dirge while three belts of different ammunition, plus one power conduit, snaked under his arm and fed from his armored backpack to several intake ports spaced around its frame. Lines of rockets hung off the weapon's sides and underneath was a single, massive, nuclear-warhead-tipped missile.

Torque braced himself and squeezed several of the many triggers on his gun. Instantly, a stream of sharp, metallic cracks filled the air so densely that they sounded like a single buzz as hundreds of armor piercing, high explosive, and anti-personnel machine gun rounds blazed out from three of The Dirge's barrels in a wash of fire.

The targeted bunker was blasted with a hail of hot metal an instant later. Chunks of metal were ripped away like paper by the armor-piercers, leaving the metal and concrete fortification looking like Swiss cheese in moments.

The high explosive shells found the openings made by the anti-armor rounds and detonated inside the bunker's walls. They shredded the heavy weapons emplacements and the defenders within, leaving them nowhere to hide while any androids outside the bunker were quickly cut down like wheat by anti-personnel rounds.

Small, aerial attack drones were floating lazily all over the no-man's-land until now. In unison many turned toward Torque's massive form and sped forward. Dozens began appearing in waves, before hovering within striking distance and spraying Torque with light weapon's fire.

The Lombax himself, however, was too busy attacking the bunker defenses to bother with the airborne threat. Luckily, his armor was more than enough to protect him.

Just as Alister raised his Combuster to give his ally some support, a twin pair of auto-lasers sprang from the top of Torque's backpack. The tiny turrets didn't hesitate for a second before unleashing a hail of bright green laser bolts into the flock of drones above, cutting them down like flies.

Two rockets then spat out of the sides of the backpack as well. They whistled loudly as they arced up and sailed straight for the densest part of the drone flock.

Just before impact, they exploded, spraying the flying robots with superheated shrapnel like a shotgun. Within seconds the majority of the drones were gone, the rest zoomed around in a futile attempt to avoid being wiped out by the auto-lasers.

Alister gawked at the sight, Torque was like a walking fortification.

When the first bunker was left nothing more than an annihilated heap of scrap, Torque began marching forward again. The stream of sharp cracks from bullet fire died down to a trickle as he switched to picking off the few survivors with single, accurate bursts.

Torque was almost to the base of the first bunker's shattered remains when poorly aimed long shots from the middle bunker began kicking up dirt around him. The occasional ping of metal would ring out as a round bounced unnoticed off his armor.

The bipedal tank that was Torque came to a halt and positioned his feet for optimum recoil absorption. He then raised the front end of The Dirge and targeted the bottom left corner of the second bunker.

With a casual turn of a handle, a low hum began to build, emanating from the massive weapon. The noise began to grow in pitch and the power conduit that ran from The Dirge to Torque's backpack glowed bright yellow with power.

As the hum became a piercing screech, small orbs of focused energy began forming around the second largest gun barrel on Torque's weapon.

"Don't look at it," Wraith warned their newest member as he activated the shading function of his visor.

Alister was still staring in awe at Torque's weapon when Wraith's words finally registered. He looked away just as a blinding flash of light burst from The Dirge's mouth and instantly ripped across the battlefield toward the second bunker. With the echoing hiss of vaporizing metal filling the air, Torque carefully guided the beam along the bunker's front, just above the ground.

Explosions went off inside the metal structure as the piercing shaft of light sliced through ammo dumps and power generators, eventually turning the whole thing, guards and all, into a steaming pile of slag.

The beam died out and smoke drifted from the smoldering remains. Two guard bots had survived the onslaught. One pulled itself along the ground, as its legs had been melted off and the other stared at what was left of the bunker.

Unable to process what had just happened, the robot turned to examine the two-legged battle cruiser that was its assailant. As it watched, a glowing, steaming, metal canister ejected from Torque's backpack with a clang, before another, identical one slid in to replace it. This new powercell was brought to an idle charge with a soft hum of energy.

Wraith raised his Plasma Striker in business-like manner and placed its crosshairs over the other robot on the ground. There was a swift snap and he blasted its head clean off its torso.

The robot guard that was still standing up then chose to deactivate its own systems and fell to the ground in a heap.

"It's time for the finale!" shouted Lacera excitedly with a wicked grin across her face.

Fire spewed angrily from the back of The Dirge. The hiss of rapidly expanding gas quickly grew into a roar as the intensity of flames pouring out of the large missile on the bottom of The Dirge increased. The roar reached its apex and with the clink of releasing rocket clamps and it zoomed off into the distance.

About a second later, it buried itself into the center of massive, third bunker. The bunker's armor proved formidable though, as the missile's rocket motor was still visibly protruding from the wall, futilely trying to push its payload deeper. The thick plating had prevented it from penetrating all the way through, but luckily, this was one of those few cases where 'almost' counted just as well.

In a flash that blinded every Nova game camera, every Depot android, and anything else with eyes unfortunate enough to be looking in its general direction, the nuclear warhead detonated. The immense fireball it generated consumed the bunker in a second and vaporized it to nothing in just a few more.

Alister was blown completely off his feet by the shockwave of air and heat that hit him. He couldn't breathe, or see, or even comprehend what was going on. He just gritted his teeth and weathered the nuclear storm until it passed.

Silence came to greet Alister's ears at last as he blinked repeatedly to try and regain his vision. The dazed Lombax stood up a few seconds later with a few bright spots still impeding his sight.

There was nothing left of the third bunker now, or the area around it, for that matter.

A tall mushroom cloud now loomed high above a massive crater where the bunker had been previously while Torque still stood, unmoved, in the same position as before. Steam drifted off his armor as it cooled from the heat of the explosion.

Lacera and Wraith moved out from the ditch that they had taken cover in, having 'forgotten' to tell Alister to do the same. They took a moment to study the destruction unleashed by their heavy weapons operator before applauding energetically. Torque turned his massive body around to face them and released one hand from his weapon before resting the heavy device on the ground with the other. He then took a deep bow.

"Bravo!" cheered Lacera through the comm.

Wraith put his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly. Then both he and Lacera turned to look at Alister who stood with his mouth gaping in amazement. After a few seconds of expectant glaring, Alister finally caught on and joined his team in applauding Torque's performance.

"There is no greater reward for an artist than the appreciation of his audience," declared Torque happily over the comm.

Wraith, Lacera, and Alister reached the entrance to the depot. Torque, who was weighed down with enough armor and weaponry to load out a couple of star fighters, was still making his way forward and was only halfway to the third bunker's crater.

Lacera had assured Alister that Torque would be able to catch up soon and the reason why became apparent.

Just as the white-furred Lombax had crossed the firing line of a pair of orb-shaped defense turrets that were guarding the entrance ramp to the Depot, Lacera grabbed the back of his armored collar and yanked him behind cover as a stream of plasma blasts ripped apart the ground he had just been standing on.

Alister didn't even have time to thank her though, as she leaped over that same cover a moment later.

Both turrets immediately brought their barrels to bear on the new target.

Using the distraction, Wraith swung around the slab of shredded concrete that he'd been hiding behind to line up a shot with his Plasma Striker. With a single snap of plasma discharge, a bolt of ionized gas struck the nearest turret's sensor array, frying its delicate circuitry.

Lacera wasted no time in sprinting straight toward the damaged turret. Her moves easily outpaced the second turret's traversal rate, while the first one had a clear shot, but without its sensors the shots were wide and completely off.

With a familiar bang of jumpboots, Lacera launched herself up toward the first turret, driving her two wrenches deep into the its armored shell. She hung from it as the second one brought its cannon around.

Just before it opened fire, Lacera yanked her weapons free and fell to ground as a stream of plasma blasts tore apart the first turret.

"You're up, new meat!" shouted Wraith over the comm.

Alister had been too busy watching his new 'boss' work that he'd almost forgotten he was involved in the fight too, but he quickly readied himself.

With the one remaining turret still tracking her, Lacera booked it up the entrance ramp and disappeared into the Depot.

The turret was now focused in almost the opposite direction of him, so Alister made his move.

With the shriek of jets roaring under his feet, Alister sped towards his target. Just as he reached its base, he pulled out a 'latch' grenade, thumbed the activation switch up, and then pressed it in. Still holding the switch in, he cut his hoverboots and stopped to line up the throw, aiming for the point where the spherical turret touched the wall.

Alister wound up with practiced ease and pitched the grenade like a baseball, hitting his target dead on.

The moment he had released the activation button, an adhesive gel had oozed from the grenade's shell and when the explosive device hit its target, it stuck fast.

A few seconds later it exploded, blasting the turret out of its nook housing and causing it to slam into the ground like a meteor.

Wraith walked up to Alister casually, "Not bad," he said in a mildly impressed tone. "Now we just have to hope that the boss hasn't gotten into any trouble."

They both turned toward the ramp where Lacera had disappeared a minute ago. Alister was sure that he was more worried about anything that found her, rather than Lacera herself.

The two of them were about to go in after her when a massive fireball spewed out of the darkness and struck the ground just in front of the ramp. Wraith and Alister hit the ground as dirt and plasma splashed the area around them.

Then there was another familiar bang that echoed through the air.

Alister looked up from where he lay on the ground to find Lacera looking down at him, "I see you took care of the turret, nice work Grunt," she noted with what Alister took to be praise. "Now... get up and run!" she shouted before turning around and sprinting back to their first point of cover.

Alister hadn't finished processing Lacera's words when he felt the ground shake underneath him. He rolled over to look at where Lacera had come from and found a large, bug-styled tank stomping its way down the ramp. When it reached the remains of the dislodged turret, it simply trampled it under one of its six metallic legs.

Then the tank stopped moving and the main cannon on its roof swung around to aim straight at the spot where Wraith and Alister lay. The two Lombaxes looked at each other with reflected panic and simultaneously kicked their hoverboots on to full.

They zipped away just as another fireball spat from the cannon and bit a chunk out of the ground they'd left behind. They both made it to cover with Lacera and the three Lombaxes huddled together behind a jutting shard of metal to conceal themselves from the attacking behemoth.

"What is that?" asked Alister through heavy breathing.

"It's a Beat-All," Lacera explained offhandedly. "Standard for Depot heavy guard."

"Yeah," added Wraith with an accusing glare toward his leader, "and they only attack when someone goes sprinting blindly into their territory."

Lacera shrugged as another fireball struck the back of their cover, spraying fire around its edges and turning it a bright, glowing red, "The fastest route to a node is always the most heavily guarded. Once we take this out, it's smooth sailing."

Wraith shook his head, "This cover won't take another blast and we don't have the firepower to take this thing out."

Lacera just smiled, "We do now."

A deep, echoing thud boomed out across the air, but it didn't come from the Beat-All's location. Alister and Wraith turned to where Lacera was looking to find Torque making his way toward them with his weapon held high and smoke rolling out of its largest barrel.

"I'm currently taking requests," said Torque cheerfully over the comm.

"How about a duet?" replied Lacera with an equally cheerful tone. "Your partner is the giant tank that's trying to kill us."

"A truly marvelous request!" answered Torque gleefully. "One can never be disappointed by the charming melody of the Beat-All's."

Another heavy thud rang out and the three Tough Nuts who were behind cover peeked around it to watch the howitzer shell smash into the side of the Beat-All, almost right through of the smoking crater where the last one had hit. The explosion ripped one of the colossal machine's legs off in a shower of sparks and molten steel.

Slowly, the main cannon swiveled away from its previous target and aimed for the new threat. Before it could fire, however, another thud boomed out from Torque's Dirge and slammed into the Beat-All's main cannon, blasting it to pieces.

Lacera nodded her approval, "Torque's specialty is making big things go boom. He's made killing Beat-Alls into an artform… which, I guess he really does to everything… hmm. Anyway, this won't take but a minute."

Sparks spluttered from the Beat-All's ruined appendages and it stomped about angrily. Torque pressed forward and lined up his killing blow, when suddenly, two small cannons along Beat-All's sides popped out from behind several armored panels.

"That's new," chorused everyone but Alister over the comm. channel.

With an odd sounding 'thunk', two canisters flew out of the cannons' mouths. One struck the ground to Torque's right and exploded in a green mist that Alister recognized immediately. The second canister hit right on target. Exploding over Torque's armored body and coating him with green liquid and gas. A second later the colorful chemical reacted with the air and turned to foam, encasing him in a green tomb.

"Torque, are you alright?!" demanded Lacera over the comm.

"No!" shouted Torque in reply. "It is horrible! The music, I can't hear it. Everything is silent. What kind of cruel creature would devise such a punishment?!"

"Well, Torque's fine at least," Lacera assured her team out loud.

"Not for long," countered Wraith with a gesture.

The Beat-All had just deployed two massive buzz saws blades on mechanical arms from its front-undercarriage. It was now stomping eagerly towards the giant green ball that was Torque, and from the way it held its blades out, it was clear what it intended to do.

Lacera took charge quickly, "Wraith, you and I will try and distract it. Grunt, you see if you can get Torque out of-" she began, but she stopped when she discovered that Alister had already taken off towards the Beat-All on his hoverboots.

Lacera glared unhappily at the newbie's back, "Fine then… Wraith, with me," she ordered as she took off toward Torque. The two of them would try to release him from the green confinement. She just hoped that Alister had a plan, or that he could at least keep the Beat-All distracted long enough to excavate their big gun.

The Beat-All saw Alister coming and turned to face him. It fired another set of foam canisters, but Alister easily swerved out of their way. They exploded into green clouds several feet behind him.

As he got within range of its buzz saws, they came screeching toward him without hesitation. Alister ducked to avoid the swipe of the first one and then turned sideways to avoid the second one.

The Beat-All reared up for a second attack, but suddenly it stopped and tried to move away from Alister. It's A.I. had likely figured out what he was after.

Alister had seen it for only for a moment, but he knew what it was. After spending enough time with his mechanically obsessed friend Kaden, he was able to recognize an A.I.'s central control core when he saw one. It was the most vital piece of any robotic system, or so he'd been told. Because of this many times they were not placed in the same spot, even on mass-produced combat models, since targeting them was a top priority for enemy combatants.

The Beat-All unit that he now faced apparently had its core build into its upper-left side, right next to the holes that Torque had blasted into it.

The hulking machine tried to escape and turn its vulnerable side away from the white-furred Lombax, but it was too late.

Alister could almost feel its robotic fear as he lobbed a thermite grenade up into the air and made a perfect basket into the ragged hole on its side. He then spun around, pointing his rockets in the opposite direction, and kicked on his afterburners to speed away as the grenade went off.

The thermite explosive burst into a spray of superheated, burning metal that began eating its way through everything it touched, including the Beat-All's AI core. The hulking bug-tank stomped and thrashed in its death throes, then it froze as commands from its core stopped coming.

As the metallic beast fell to the dirt with a ground shaking thud, Alister zoomed up to his teammates, skidding to a halt in front of the green heap that was Torque.

"Ha," laughed Lacera. "Very nice Grunt, you might just earn a real nickname by the end of this after all."

Wraith shook the look of surprise from his face, "Yeah, well, we still have to get Torque out of this foam stuff," he said, before hitting the foam ball in question with his wrench. He and Lacera had only managed to remove a small portion of it so far.

Alister activated his comm. link, "Torque, the green foam that you're in is called 'Koru' gas. It's made to hold things together with a lot of strength, but it dissolves quickly if exposed to a certain amount of heat," he explained. "Wraith and I can use our boots to..."

A deep orange glow began to grow from the inside of the foam ball and Alister dove out of the way just in time to avoid the torrent of fire that exploded out of it a second later.

The foam quickly receded away from the heat of the blaze, revealing the tip of Torque's weapon with flames blasting out of one of its barrels.

When enough of The Dirge was exposed, the partially encased Torque lowered it, causing the flame to spray the ground. It coated the area in flammable liquid that quickly burnt through the remainder of the foam. A few seconds later, Torque yanked himself free of his prison, seemingly uncaring of the flames, burning at over a thousand degrees, that danced along his feet.

Free at last, Torque shook himself of any remaining chunks of foam and bowed to Alister in thanks.

"How'd you know about that Ko-stuff?" asked Wraith curiously.

Alister smiled and tapped his grenade holster, "I have a few grenades filled with the same thing," he explained. "Kaden can whip up a batch of it from cleaning supplies."

"And what about the Beat-All?" Wraith continued. "How'd you know how to take it down?"

Alister shrugged, "You spend enough time with a robot nut and you're guaranteed to pick up a few things," he answered. "Like what the power couplings of a main AI core look like."

From out of nowhere, Lacera smacked Alister on the back so hard that he almost lost his balance, "Nice stuff!" she exclaimed jovially. "You know, I was half-joking up to this point, but now I think I'm might just get a little serious about it," she added before walking off toward the depot.

Alister straightened himself up and tried to soothe his now aching back as Torque walked toward him, "No good performance goes unpunished my friend," he said sadly through his helmet's speakers before turning and following Lacera.

Alister was confused and still trying to figure out what Torque's words could possibly mean as Wraith walked by next, "I feel for you, newbie," he said sympathetically before joining Torque.

Still confused, Alister watched the Tough Nuts walk away. He thought hard about what they'd said and with sudden clarity he realized what they meant.

This whole time Alister had just thought Lacera's cavalier attitude and jokes were simply a result of combat experience and a way of coping with stress. He stared at his leader with disbelieving eyes. He now saw her in a entirely new light,'How could she not have been taking this 'match' seriously until now?', he wondered in amazement.

Shaking his head, Alister ran off to follow his team toward the opening of the depot. He was sure it was only going to get crazier from here on in.

AN:

The Wave - Kaden's hand waving to the robot sentries is a reference to the Hologuise function from the first Ratchet and Clank game, where you could wave to robot guards while disguised to get them to drop shield barriers or throw off their patrol route so they could be killed while not in the sight of other guards.

The Dirge - A 'dirge' is a song or hymn of grief or lamentation; especially one intended to accompany funeral or memorial rites.

Orb Turrets - The orb turrets I mentioned are the same egg shaped turrets with gatling gun barrels protruding from their center that are prevalent in the early Ratchet and Clank games, especially Up Your Arsenal.

Koru Gas - 'Koru' is a Japanese word that means to congeal, coagulate, freeze, or harden.