He felt like one of them, right now, and it was incredible. The heroes. Maybe it was a preview of what he was about to become, or maybe this would be the only moment in the sun that he ever got...but either way, he was thrilled that it was happening.

Daredevil and the kid with wings didn't need an assassin, right now. They needed a soldier. So, Sentinel-3 had stepped out of the shadows, grabbed a pair of blasters, and waded into battle. The scene looked like something that Captain America would deal with. A secret base, an army of bizarre soldiers, some kind of doomsday device. If Sentinel-3 wanted to wield the shield, this was the kind of situation that he needed to excel in.

He'd shot half a dozen of them before they even realized what was going on. They were fighting back, now, but it wasn't making much of a difference. Sentinel-3 was right in the thick of them. He shot, kicked, and elbowed his way through the crowd of soldiers. He was constantly on the move, using his closely-pressed enemies as cover. The General's men kept hitting each other with friendly fire. He was getting winged, as well, but he didn't really care.

His blasters were dialed down to a non-lethal level. He needed to conserve "ammo," and he wanted to avoid shooting through the floor, as well. If his beams weren't as powerful, there was less of a chance that he'd accidentally puncture the transparent surface that they were all standing on. That giant wheel-looking thing underneath was probably radioactive. He'd been taught about atomic facilities, and the transparent material most likely served as some kind of shielding.

Sentinel-3 ducked a direct blast, swung his own blasters in an arc, and shot four or five men in their midsections, including the shooter. He straightened his posture and slammed an elbow into a goon's throat. (During his training, a Japanese ex-cop had taught him the art of engaging in martial arts while also holding a gun in each hand.) A soldier that he'd disarmed tried to jump on his back-Sentinel-3 reflexively jerked his head back and shattered the man's nose. A second head-butt caused his opponent to slump and go limp. The weight didn't bother him, so he kept the man on his back, using him as a human shield. Sentinel-3 marched forward relentlessly, shooting anything that moved and stomping on people's feet.

When a desperate group of soldiers tried to rush him, he shot the first few, unleashed spin-kicks on the craniums and jaws of a few more, and pistol-whipped the last one. The man on his back jerked abruptly and slid off; Sentinel-3 smelled scorched fabric and skin. He dropped and rolled away from the six o'clock fire, came up all fours, and turned around. After doing a sweep-kick that floored everyone around him, he popped up low and fired at the shooter that had hit his shield. Two blasts knocked the soldier on his back. One of his guns ran out of juice, so he dropped it, gave the nearest soldier an open-handed blow underneath the jaw, and ripped his blaster away from him before he even hit the floor.

He'd been waiting for this moment all his life: saying that he was "ready" would have been an understatement. On top of that, the fight with Daredevil had pushed him to a new level...and so had seeing the glowing thing underneath the floor. Something inside of him had just clicked. Whatever that thing was, the city was in danger. It had given him something better to fight for. So many of Sentinel-3's missions had been dark, murky things-cold-blooded murders done in the middle of the night, which only allegedly helped the "national interest." This was different. The General's men were undoubtedly bad, and something undoubtedly dangerous was going on. Sentinel-3 had never realized it before, but, he'd been holding back. Now that he really believed in what he was doing, he was tapping into previously-undiscovered wells of strength and willpower.

Sentinel-3 fired, and fired, and fired some more. Green beams were crisscrossing all around him, but he felt like he could see them coming from a mile away. Compared to Daredevil, these guys were slow...in his mind, it was like they were lumbering around, taking forever to aim and fire.

Above them, Daredevil and the kid were fighting the mutant. That was good. He'd keep the soldiers occupied, and they could deal with the space-program escapee. Sentinel-3 was giving the heroes a chance to be heroes. Once they'd beaten the mutant, he'd have to kill him, and they'd hate him for it. But there wasn't anything they could do. Even if they handed him over to the cops afterwards, the Agency would cover it up and have him released in no time. Sentinel-3 had a job to do, and he'd do it, but he didn't really want to think about it. Not right now. At the moment, he was just glad that he wasn't fighting alone, and you could argue that the big machine was more of a threat than "Halo Knight," anyway. His original mission could be completed after they dealt with that.

Don't focus on that part of the job-don't let it drag you down. It may not feel like it, but, killing the mutant is just as life-saving as stopping this machine. If the Russians can't get him, the country will be a lot safer.

Enemies continued to flock to him. He fired his blasters, dodged beams, and did a jumping kick that hit a man in the sternum. Sometimes Sentinel-3 ran while shooting, and sometimes he planted his feet and unleashed a flurry of green beams and elbows. The soldiers were increasingly wounded, but they were also terrified, and the terror was making them act irrationally. Sane men would have broken and run. But they were almost religiously devoted to the General, and Daredevil's presence seemed to be having some strange effect on them. They flinched whenever they noticed him.

Sentinel-3 hadn't joined the main battle right away...after whooping the small group of soldiers that had come after him, he'd taken time to grab the remaining scientists and "question" them. He wanted to know how to disable or destroy the machine. At that point, the kid had been fighting the mutant upstairs, and Daredevil had been holding his own against the General's men. The scientists hadn't wanted to cooperate-they were pathologically loyal to the General-but he'd gotten them to talk. It became clear to him that the scientists who could shut off the machine were already dead. Normally, the government wanted men like that alive, so they could use them, but Sentinel-3 didn't think they could ever be trusted. When Daredevil started to flag, and the mutant returned, Sentinel-3 had eliminated the remaining scientists and rushed to help the heroes.

He kept fighting. Sentinel-3 wanted to steal a glance at how the heroes were doing against the mutant, but he couldn't afford to be distracted. He was distracted, though, because he kept imagining how this was going to end. When he killed the mutant, they'd look at him like he was a common criminal. He was sure of it. And, with that painful thought working on his mind, he didn't notice a soldier that was behind him and to his right, and he was shot in the back.

IDIOT-

If the soldiers had been smart, they would have kept their distance and shot him from afar. But they were desperate, panicked, and dazed from their injuries, so they chose to dogpile on him, instead. Sentinel-3 kicked at them and clubbed them with his blasters. Shooting them was out of the question, right now. They were trying to get his weapons away from him, and the blasters' barrels were swinging back and forth in a tug-of-war, alternately pointing at them and him. He took some punches to the face. Sentinel-3 had been a wrestler, and he knew a thing or two about leverage. Though it went against his training, he let go of his weapons, seized two of the soldiers, and flipped them onto their backs.

His close-range training kicked in. Quick jabs, even more elbows, kneeing groins, open-handed blows to their noses and jaws. Sentinel-3 braced himself against the floor, lashing out with a forty-five-degree kick that snapped a man's leg. Only three or four men had him pinned against the floor, now, and that was a number that he could deal with. It took him mere seconds to slip away and get back on his feet.

Sentinel-3 punched one man, backhanded another, and kicked a third soldier in the stomach. The fourth tried to punch him. He sidestepped it, seizing the man's wrist and yanking his arm taut. A quick application of force to his elbow broke his arm. Sentinel-3 tore his blaster away, using it to shoot the first three men he'd physically attacked. Once they were down, he picked up a second blaster, rolled low, and came up sprinting and firing.

The machine had been deafening him the entire time, but the noise it was making suddenly changed. It was still just as loud, but it sounded more...uneven, now. Jagged and rough.

I may not be a scientist, but I know broke when I hear it. Something's wrong with that thing. Whatever they were trying to do with it, they pushed it too hard, and now it isn't running right. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Maybe it'll peter out and stop working, or maybe it'll overheat and take out the entire city. But...what if that's the point? They're practically brainwashed, and they know they're getting captured, so what if this is some crazy kamikaze thing? Oh my god.

Sentinel-3 leapt sideways, firing both blasters. He had them on the run, now, but he wasn't sure if it really mattered. Unless Daredevil or the kid were secret geniuses, they were up a creek.

He had no idea what would happen next. But...win or lose, live or die, at least he'd had the chance to fight alongside the titans of the Atomic Age.