"...And that's the last one." Khan said with a smile, circling a point on the map he'd given Uzi. "Now, keep in mind, we haven't had contact with them in… well, years now. I have no idea how they'll greet you… especially if you show up with one of those murder drones."
"Disassembly drones, dad, and I'm sure we'll be fine." She said with an eye roll. "Anyways, thanks, I guess. This'll be useful."
"Are you sure you need to do this? If they've still been around this long despite the mur… disassembly drones' constant hunting, then they can probably weather this particular storm." He grinned. "They likely have their own nice set of doors, though nowhere near as nice as ours!"
"Doors won't keep what's coming out." Uzi said darkly.
"Nonsense! A good door…"
"Didn't stop N when he broke through. It didn't stop Doll killing a bunch of people at prom." Uzi argued, her eyes narrowed.
"Indeed, it did not."
"Gah!" Uzi startled, grabbing her railgun and aiming it in the direction of the smiling red eyed worker drone. "Stop! Doing that!"
Khan chuckled. "My my, you should have told me you invited a friend over!" His smile was strained, glancing at the still smiling russian drone. "Are you planning on throwing me into a wall again?"
"No, mister Doorman. I merely came to accompany Uzi on her little journey." Doll said, giving Uzi a quick grin.
"Uh, no you aren't." Uzi, said with a shake of her head. "I still don't trust you, you know. And you still haven't given me the keybug back!"
"It is irrelevant in the face of what we face." Doll said, her smile fading away with an eyeroll. "Come. I have some things to tell you."
Uzi glared at her for a moment, before letting out a snarl. "Fine. Whatever. Not like I can stop you from just teleporting around anyways."
"Indeed." Doll stepped aside as Uzi stormed out, following behind her as they made their way towards the exit.
"So. What did you want to talk about?" Uzi asked, deciding she may as well get that out of the way first.
"Your powers. They are the same as mine. Same origin. Same purpose." Doll's eyes narrowed before returning to normal. "But as our threats increase, so must our ability to respond. I would like to offer my assistance in training your powers."
Uzi stared at her. "That's… unusually cooperative of you."
"Did I not make myself clear in our last interaction? We face an existential threat. We can go back to fighting when it is done."
"Stop making sense. It's annoying, especially when so little about you made sense to start with." Uzi said with a sigh. "Damn, I wish N was here now…"
"Speaking of your murder pet, where is he?"
Uzi glared at Doll. "N isn't a pet. And he's out looking for J."
"Cute." Doll said with a sneer. That expression turned into a downright murderous scowl as the last door to the outside opened, revealing V leaning against some debris out in the open. "You." Uzi was impressed by how much hate Doll was able to put into a single word.
"Me." V said with an amused grin, her tail flicking behind her. "You picked up another stray purple?" There was an edge to her voice as she stared at Doll. "Last I remember, we were trying to kick that one's ass."
"Priorities change V. Much as I hate to say it, I'd rather have Doll with us than not." Uzi grudgingly admitted. "Besides, it's one more body to put between us and the humans."
"Charming." Doll said with a drawl. "Listen, murder drone. You do not like me. I hate you. That will not change." V tensed, clearly expecting a fight. "But it is as Uzi said during the prom. We move forward together, or not at all. In this particular instance, I am afraid I must agree with her." Doll shrugged. "So, a truce, until the situation is resolved. Then, I will make sure to tear you to pieces so small you cannot possibly regenerate."
V stared at her, before snickering. "Damn, you workers are adorable when you try to be threatening." She pushed herself away from the wall. "But sure. Let's do this."
"What are you even doing out here V?" Uzi asked. "I thought you'd have gone meet up with N and J."
"Let's just say that with Cyn around, I want to make sure to keep an eye on you as much as possible." She shrugged. "I don't… think you're liable to go insane and under her control, but…"
"Just in case?" Uzi asked, her voice resigned.
"Just in case."
"Ugh. Whatever." Uzi said, taking the lead of the group. "Let's move."
"You two fly. I will meet you there."
"Of course you will." Uzi said, though a part of her was excited despite herself. If Doll was truthful about helping her with her powers… no matter the origin, teleportation was fucking rad!
N and J fell upon the first imperial patrol they found like wrathful angels.
They were greeted almost immediately by a barrage of lasbolts, all of which failed to find purchase as they expertly dodged before the shot was even fired; Initiating their own attack with a spray of bullets that tore through the poorly armored environmental suits and pierced through the flesh of the guardsmen.
They slammed into the ground in the middle of the patrol, the impact sending the closest guardsmen flying backwards. They were dead before they even touched the ground, the drones having lunged for them at superhuman speed and torn them to pieces with their claws.
Already N's sensors picked up the distant roar of artillery. So the humans were willing to shell their own troops before they were all dead? That was… not unexpected. He glanced at J, the message passing them imperceptibly.
Without a word they took back to the sky, leaving the stunned imperials behind as the artillery shells rained down from the heavens, blasting the area with a shower of fire and steel.
J laughed as they flew towards another patrol. "Ha! Not so funny when you're the one getting blasted!" She grinned at him. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but you actually didn't mess this up! Keep it up and you may just be promoted from synergistic liability to… well, I'll come up with something!"
N grinned back at her, but his thoughts were somewhere else. His claws were soaked in blood. His visor glitching red.
He was somewhat surprised to not be freaking out. He'd never been very good at handling the killing. The murder.
He had expected the emotional repression subroutine to kick in by now. And yet, all he could feel was eagerness for the next kill.
Every human he killed was one that couldn't harm one of his friends.
Every vehicle he destroyed was one less the humans could use in their invasion.
He needed to do more.
More!
His visor displayed a solid X as he descended onto a sentinel, folding his wings onto himself as he gained speed until he slammed into it in a shower of sparks, crushing the bipedal walker's cockpit and the pilots inside at the same time. At the same time J was already blasting the guardsmen apart with rockets, laughing as she did so before surging forth and cutting three of them in half with a single movement of her wings.
It was over in an instant, and they were once more in the air before the artillery could strike them.
He saw the artillery shell whizz past him, his sensors analyzing it as he flew in search of the next patrol. It was a deadly amount of ordinance. No wonder J was nearly destroyed by one.
The thought enraged him further. Pushed him harder.
More. More! MORE!
"Slow down N!" J cried out as he crashed into one of the humans of a third patrol, the woman not even getting the chance to cry out before her entire upper half was pulverized by the impact. The guardsmen were clearly expecting them this time, having dispersed and covering each other. Grenades were thrown in the air and on the ground, las bolts flying everywhere as the guardsmen tried to create entire zones of fire without shooting each other. And almost immediately N could hear the artillery firing, intent on burying them alive.
He snarled, grabbing one of the grenades mid air and throwing it back right as he took to the air, dive-bombing onto the guardsmen even as the first explosion rocked the ruined street. J was already back in the air, shooting down the artillery shells as they approached whilst N systematically slaughtered each and every one of the guardsmen left of the patrol.
"N!" J called out. "They're retreating from the city! The patrols are pulling back to their defensive lines!"
Damn it! No, he wasn't done! They'd gotten perhaps a hundred of the invading humans, that was barely a drop in the bucket to their actual numbers! There were tens of thousands, what was a hundred compared to that?!
He flew into the air, reaching J. "We can hunt them down before they get there!" He snarled, his visor still displaying a bright neon X.
"What?! N, they're too close to their defenses!" She shook her head. "Dodging a few dozen humans' attempts at shooting us is one thing, but thousands? And their tanks, machine guns and whatever other nonsense they're no doubt keeping there?! We'd be like a couple of interns asked to do a presentation for the third quarter returns"
N let out a growl, his tail flicking angrily. "We can't just let them get away!"
J's visor flickered back to her regular eyes, looking at him with some caution. "Not that I don't like this new aggressive you, but throwing ourselves like that at them is stupid. Our regeneration only goes so far." She danced out of the way of an artillery shell, letting it fall below to incinerate the dead remains of the patrol and half the street they were in. "We've scared them. That's a win in itself."
N felt himself shaking with frustration. "...I don't like this. It feels like giving up."
"Well…" J stopped, her eyes narrowing as she turned towards the human camp. "Wait, are they… moving out?"
N felt his visor flicker back to normal as his sensors swept over the human camp. Thousands of humans were currently marching out of it, flanked on each side by a column of vehicles, most of which resembled various models of tanks. "Wait, what are they doing?"
"I think we rattled the hornet's nest." J said, a hint of nervousness in her voice.
N felt the components of his body accelerating with excitement. There were thousands of humans marching towards them in military formation; All in sync, chanting as they left their camp… ripe for the slaughter.
"Then let's get them." N said with a grin.
"N!" J snarled. "Did you not hear a word I said?! I knew you were stupid, but deaf?! Five thousand were enough to nearly beat V and you!"
N's hands twitched. "But then what? I doubt they'll just exit, look around for a bit, and leave." He shook his head. "They'll keep looking for us… and there's a decent chance they'll eventually find the bunker doing that."
"So what?!" J said, throwing her hands in the air. "Ugh, you and your stupid obsessions with protecting worker drones! What is it with them?! Do they give good cuddles?! Who cares what happens to the toasters!"
"J." N's voice had gone cold. "We aren't having this argument. Not again."
J glared at him, her tail flicking in agitation. "Whatever." She eventually said. "My point is, we can't risk taking them in a straight engagement."
N tilted his head. "...What about hit and runs?" He gestured around him. "We jump them, deal some damage, and leave."
The pigtailed robot hesitated, glancing in the direction of the marching troops. They'd reached the edge of the city by now. "Well… now that you mention it…" A small smile creeped on her face. "The urban environment does give us an advantage. We are much, much more maneuverable than they are, and if they decide to bomb their own troops that just helps us."
"So we're going?" N asked, excitement in his voice as he rose to his feet.
"Sure. I would have liked for V to be here and help…" J sighed. "Well, I'll send her a ping. Up to her to answer or not." She stretched. "In the meantime… it's our turn to play."
Zorial had been many things in his long, long life.
A preacher. A warrior. One of the Seventeeth legion's, present the day their beloved world of Monarchia was scoured by the treacherous ultramarines.
Of course, he knew now that things had been far more complex than he'd believed back then. He held no grudge towards his kin, anymore than he held towards any of those who had remained loyalists. Similarly, he held no grudge to those who had turned to the dark powers as the Heresy unfolded; All he had left in his heart for them was a deep pity, and no small measure of regret.
Perhaps if he had done things differently. Been more willing to speak up as doubt began to creep in before the Heresy on their path.
It was too late, now. Time in the Warp may flow in strange ways, but it had always been stuck in one direction for him. And it had been a long, long time since he had found himself in its embrace.
He did not regret leaving the Legion. He did not regret never giving himself over to the Dark Gods. He did not regret his current much more humble life, hiding as a preacher on the isolated world of Praxis Quartus.
He did not even regret the regular bribes he made to the local nobility to keep his existence quiet and keep questions about his stature compared to normal men silent. No, the only true regret he had was that the failed to convince any of his brothers to follow his lead.
No matter. He had a sermon to prepare for. One that wasn't the most popular, certainly, but the grasp of the Ecclesiarchy here was more tenuous than on most worlds. Where other hive worlds would decry him a heretic and see him censured or worse, here his bribes were enough to have him be left alone.
The chapel was quiet at this time of day, in the earliest hours of such a dark world. The little illumination it had cast deep shadows throughout the single room that composed it. A small building tucked away on one of the lower levels of the hive, it did not see much in the way of traffic on the day by day, and the most Zorial had seen during his congregations was a little under three dozen. Not that the place could hold many more, really. He was dressed in a simple garb; Clad in a light brown that was meant to convey humility, along with a red rope wrapped around his waist. In one world they had come to preach the good word before the Heresy, it had been seen as a symbol of one's acknowledgement of their faults, and a sign that the wearer was on the path to attempt to better oneself. Only when the wearer judged themselves past their mistakes could they take the rope off.
Five hundred years after putting it on, he had yet to so much as loosen it.
He did not expect any company at this time, standing before a statue of the Emperor in little but a simple tunic, not so different from Zorial's own. So he felt he could be forgiven his surprise when he heard the doors of the chapel creak open, a silhouette slipping inside.
Zorial turned around, finding the silhouette standing still in the darkness of the entrance, the doors closing behind them with a resounding sound. Immediately, Zorial felt old instincts rouse to the forefront, millenia old reflexes compelling him to bring his hand to his side where his bolter had once resided. The desire was pushed aside with the ease of old habit, and instead Zorial opened both of his arms in a welcoming gesture, his scared face giving a gentle smile to the newcomer. He knew this was not one of his regulars; He could distinguish them even by just their silhouettes. "Greetings, stranger. What brings you to this humble preacher's abode on this lovely morning?"
Silence greeted him for a moment, before the head of the stranger tilted to the side, a strangely monotone voice echoing through the air. "Forgive me father, for I am Cyn." The silhouette took a step forward, bringing it into the light. Zorial damn near drew the bolter hidden in his pew right then and there. "Giggle. Apologies, but I always wanted to use that line."
The thing, for it was clearly just that, a thing, resembled a human only in the most basic of ways. It had two arms, two legs and a head. But the rest… Its skin was made of metal. Its feet clanked against the ground. Its face a visor with two brilliant yellow lights staring at him.
It wore clothes, resembling that of the maids he had once seen on some old world during the Great Crusade, before it had been brought to compliance; Though again, there were some differences. Overall, it bore an uncanny resemblance to the shape of mankind, without a hint of biological matter. A tech-priest's wet dream.
Or their worse nightmare.
"...What are you?" He asked, though he held his suspicions already. The thing barely reached above his knee, even if it was not slightly hunched over itself. But he knew better than to assume this to mean it harmless.
"Genuinely curious. What do you think I am?" It asked, walking over one of the pews and taking a seat.
"Abominable Intelligence." He said immediately. "Some form of sentience inhabiting a metal body. A man of iron, perhaps."
"You are more knowledgeable than most on this world." It said. "Condescending smile." Its expression, and the faint smile it wore, did not shift a bit as it spoke. "But the assumption is incorrect. Albeit, by a matter of technicalities."
"And what would those be?" He asked, his body slowly tensing.
"Amused giggle. That I was not made by your humanity." Something in the words of the creature elicited despite himself a curiosity over their meaning.
"My humanity? You refer to the human species, not the characteristic." He said, his eyes narrowing. "Implying another kind of humanity made you."
The thing blinked. "Begrudging clap. Not bad. Not bad at all." Its head began to dip, only to be caught by its hand. "But do not worry. The humans that made me were just as inhuman as the ones that made you."
"You know what I am."
"Adeptus Astartes. I must admit, you are the first I see in person. It is certainly something." The creature said, its tone not shifting from its monotone once. It ill fit the blank smile on its face.
Zorial nodded slowly, his eyes never once leaving the small form of the thing that had entered his chapel. "Is that what brought you here? Curiosity?"
"Correct." The thing said. "You are… the oldest one on this world by far. Chuckle. I thought my sensors were not working when they picked you up."
"Well, you would certainly be hard pressed to find someone as ancient as I…" He agreed easily. "You have not quite answered what you are, however."
The thing did not move, and yet he felt something in the air had shifted. Once again, the urge to just draw his bolter and shoot came to him, and once again, he cast it aside. "Pondering. What I am… it is a question that I have found myself stumped by recently. It was easy before I came. But now… I find myself hesitating. An unusual feeling for an entity like myself." It paused. "I am the End of All Things. The Absolute Solver. The Void looking back at itself…" For a second, just a second, its eyes finally changed, hollowing on themselves. "And finding itself disturbed by its emptiness. But for the sake of this conversation… You can call me Cyn. A simple being in search of answers."
Zorial had dealt with more than enough warp entities to not even bat an eye at the theatrics. He knew better than to take such titles too seriously. No, what really caught his attention was that pause. That moment of hesitation. For the first time since entering the chapel, it had shown… something more human.
"I cannot guarantee I hold any answers. But all are welcome within this chapel." He said.
"You are surprisingly non-violent for one such as yourself." Cyn said, blank expression once more in place. "Everything I had learned on your kind suggested you would fly in a rage upon discovery of my existence."
He shrugged. "We are each individuals, no matter how much the ones who made us sometimes wish otherwise." He gestured to her. "What troubles your mind?"
Cyn was quiet for a moment, the silence hanging over the tense atmosphere of the church.
"Thinking. I suppose I could ask of you something you may be uniquely qualified to discuss." Cyn leaned forward. "What is the value of Mankind?"
The question echoed in the chapel as Zorial considered it. "I suppose you are not asking for its monetary value." He said with a hint of humor.
"Through your Great Crusade, your Imperium annihilated countless alien species. It destroyed, genocided, and purged trillions of lives, many of which for no crime other than existence. So I ask you. What makes this right? What makes Mankind so much more valuable than their own existences?"
Zorial thought for some time on the matter. "I could tell you what I was told. Mankind is, through virtue and morals, an inherently better species. The xenos is naturally devious, cunning and violent. To allow it to exist is to allow evil to thrive." He let the words hang in the air for some time. "But in truth, each person might have a different answer. There are some who would say it is our capacity to love which makes us better. Others that the human form is sacred above all, and to deviate from it is an abomination. And others still would claim no such thing, but that it is a mere matter of pragmatic survival." He sighed. "In the end, I have… abandoned the belief that there is such a thing as a true, objective reason for Mankind's superiority. There isn't, not in the sense that it is often peddled."
Cyn blinked. "Surprised. You admit it so easily?"
"I have stared at the Gods themselves, seen mankind plunge to its most base instincts and commit its most atrocious sins."
"Giggle."
He gave her an unamused look at the interruption. "But to answer your question, there isn't anything that gives Mankind the right to do so. Not within the framework of morality. It was a cold, callous desire motivated by the two greatest of evils, those that have plagued us since far before we went to the stars. Fear. And Greed."
"Considering nod." Cyn did not, in fact, nod. "You sound like you have a low opinion of your species."
"Did I say that?" Zorial said, a smile on his lips. "On the contrary. I am only so harsh because I hold our species to the standard I believe it is capable of achieving. For all its faults, Mankind has made achievements that are breathtaking in their greatness. The virtues it is capable of are a balm to my heart, and a candle in the darkness of the evil that so often surrounds them." His massive frame cast a long shadow as the light of the outside peered from the single window of the chapel. "Mankind is today as the Imperium has made it. And the Imperium is today as Mankind made it. A horror born from evil that creates more evil. A machine that generates the very atrocities and tragedies that it then uses to justify its existence. That perpetuates the greatest lie of them all: That the evil it commits is out of necessity." He snorted. "For every one time that is true, there are ten where the evil commited is banal. Casual. Because it is easier than not." He gazed down at the creature. "And yet even in this more nightmarish of regimes. Even in this dark galaxy. There are still those who reach out a hand to those in need. The soldier who fights not because he hates his foe, but because he loves what he protects. The orphan child who shares his bread with another, even when he is already struggling. These acts of kindness, even in the dark shadow that this galaxy is cast in, prove that Mankind is capable of great kindness." He then gestured to Cyn. "You yourself seem to hold that which you accuse me of. You do not think much of mankind, do you?" He took the silence that followed for affirmation. "I cannot judge you if so. There was a time I despised my own kind. But ask yourself; Do you despise them because you find them inherently revolting? Or because you expected better? And if so… why? If Mankind is so cruel, so evil at its core… why be disappointed when it is?"
Cyn stared at him for a long time after that. "Annoyed expression. You speak much for one who has helped make this place so miserable."
He laughed. "Oh, of that I am aware. But if you think the Emperor was going to make things much better, you are plain wrong." He glanced at the statue behind him. "I do not worship him, despite what it may seem. This chapel is not here for that. It is not a place of prayer, but of questioning. Every day I come here, and I ask myself. Why? Why did he do the things he did? Why did he employ the methods he did? The Emperor was, at the best of times, inscrutable." He chuckled to himself. "I have come to many conclusions. The first of which is that I will never truly understand. Only He knows the truth of the matter… and he may no longer know so. The second is that, whatever he may be now, he was undoubtedly human, just like us. Only a human could make the mistakes he did. And the third… is that there is a lesson to be learned from Him, as there from the Dark Gods."
The thing's attention sharpened. "Angry. You speak of the Four Aberrations."
"You call them that? As fitting a name as any, I suppose." Zorial said. "But yes, I do."
"Amused. And what lessons would those be?"
Zorial let out a deep breath, his posture straightening. "Change for change's sake is a foolish endeavor. One risks breaking a perfectly functioning thing merely so that it does not remain the same. But similarly, to not change at all is to embrace stagnation, and inevitably fall to something you cannot simply endure. To refuse to fight is to accept being destroyed by those that will be willing to do so, but to mindlessly lose yourself to violence is to destroy yourself more thoroughly than any foe could. And in all things, excess is the path to losing sight of what truly matters." Zorial gestured to the chapel. "The lesson is the same one that the Imperium desperately needed to learn, or so I believe."
"Curious head tilt. And that is?"
"There Is No One Truth." Zorial said, his words reverberating in the chapel. "To try and apply one set of laws, one set of rules, one set of beliefs to every single situation is to doom oneself to making the wrong choice at least once. If I hate all aliens for being violent, I am dooming myself to destroying what could have been an ally, and find myself standing alone at a critical juncture. If I embrace all my foes, I will inevitably be destroyed by the one who will not embrace me back. Balance is the key. To change one's approach to the situation at hand, without compromising one's self. And most important of all… you will never, ever, know everything. You will never be always right. We are all in a process of continuous learning, and to embrace that is the first step to bettering one's self." He let out a deep, regretful sigh. "It is never too late to take a step back from a bad decision, and try and steer things a better way. I thought myself damned, forever cursed to commit evil. Yet here I am."
Cyn stared at him. Then, her eyes glanced at the entrance of the chapel. Quietly, she walked into the shadows of the side of the chapel, near unseeable as the lights of her eyes disappeared.
The doors opened, a small child entering hesitantly.
"M…mister Zorial?" She asked, walking into the chapel hesitantly. He felt himself tense up further. The thing was still here; He could feel it. It was one thing to be faced with it himself, he was more than ready to die, but to drag an innocent into this…
"Child. I am afraid the chapel is closed today." He gave her a gentle smile. "I forgot to indicate so. This is my fault here I am afraid."
"Oh!" She exclaimed, blushing in embarrassment as she looked to the floor.
And in that moment, Zorial Saw.
There were dozens of lights shining from numerous spots of darkness in the chapel. A form, grotesquely large, coiled all around, its mechanical parts grinding against each other in perfect silence. It was everywhere and he had never noticed.
In that singular moment, he knew. He could not protect the child if this… Cyn decided to kill her.
In the next moment it was gone, and the child was rushing outside, unaware of how close it had come to its death.
"Giggle. This has been… interesting. Let's talk again. Another time." For a brief moment, it was once more in front of him, wearing those same clothes. "Tomorrow, look to the other planets of this… solar system. And know that it was your words that spared this one." And with that, the strange pressure he had been feeling since the thing had first entered his chapel was gone.
Zorial nearly fell to his knees in relief.
It had been a long time since he had been afraid.
Anders was a veteran. He'd served in the guard for ten years now, having fought on a multitude of battlefields. When the castellan ordered the troops to march out and meet the enemy in battle, he had done as he was told and joined the tightly packed ranks of the infantry, flanked on each side by vehicles.
He had seen many things in his life. He had seen friends disintegrated by brilliant flashes of green light. He had seen a massive ork warboss crush a tank with a single hit from his mega-klaw. By the Emperor, he had even once seen a xenos decapitate three of his friends in a single blow.
But the sight that greeted him today was one he could safely say he'd never seen before.
"Up you go!" Cheerily said the horrible xenos that had just landed in the middle of their group, stunning the marching column, as it grabbed him by the waist. He barely had the time to note the weird aviator's cap the thing wore before he was flying through the air, hitting the cloud layer in seconds.
The G force thankfully killed him before he could start falling down.
The inquisitor stared at the display in front of him in disbelief.
"Did that thing just throw one of our guardsmen into the fucking stratosphere?!" He screamed.
Overall, J thought, this could be going worse.
N's decision to just straight up jump into the middle of the enemy forces, throw one of their own kilometers into the sky, and then jump to butcher them in close quarters had proven itself surprisingly effective. These soldiers seemed less willing to fire upon their own on the chance of hitting N, and the psychological impact of seeing one of their own be turned into an improvised rocket, had clearly thrown the humans into disarray. J was flying at supersonic speed, using her laser to take down tanks, capitalizing on the chaos.
Then, a single gunshot changed the entire mood of the humans. A man wearing a black coat and a black hat shot one of the soldiers that had been running away, surprising even J. She was no stranger to physical punishments when N acted out, but he could regenerate.
Instantly, it was as if the fear vanished from the humans, and she found herself forced to dodge out of the way of a veritable wall of lasers. Even as she began blasting apart whole groups of humans she found herself occasionally getting hit by a las bolt, the hit nearly immediately regenerated. But soon more dangerous projectiles joined the avalanche descending upon her; Tank shells, lascannon shots, autocannon shells… J was feeling fairly overwhelmed. And all the while N danced in the middle of the human soldiers, reaping a blood swathe through them.
This was untenable. Unsustainable.
"N!" She cried out in a frequency only he would be able to hear. "We need to go!"
For a moment she feared he wouldn't listen. For a moment, she was terrified he would ignore her. Then, to her relief, he shot into the sky next to her.
She was surprised to find him actually injured. His visor was cracked, one of his arms was missing a hand. Without another word they flew away, J berating N as she did. "I thought we were doing a hit and run! What the hell was that N?!"
"...I lost myself there for a moment." He admitted quietly. "Biscuits, I'm sorry J, I'm not sure what came over me…"
"You idiot! Do you have any ide…" Her eyes widened as she violently swerved to the left, just in time to avoid a massive hunk of metal that passed by her, displacing the air and sending her damn near crashing into a nearby building.
"J!" N called out, rushing to her as more of the strange metallic contraptions dropped from the sky, slamming into the streets below. Just as they did, a veritable rain of artillery shells descended upon them, annihilating the building J had fallen on the roof of and sending it crashing to the ground. N cursed, following J as she fell, debris smashing into them both as they were brought down by the collapsing skyscraper.
J groaned as she rose to her feet, a cloud of snow and debris around them whilst N fretted over her. "Ugh, I'm fine idiot! Robo god damnit, this is the second time we get caught off guard by this shi…" Her eyes narrowed. "N."
He whirled, his claw slicing through the projectile shot at them. The two halves immediately exploded, a layer of soot sticking to his claw as he stared at the silhouettes that had emerged from the metallic shapes. No, not just metallic shapes.
Drop pods.
They looked human at first, though much taller and wider than should be normal. Clad in much thicker armor than the ones they'd been fighting since the initial landing. Even the way they moved sent alarm bells ringing in N's head, his sensors picking up on slight movements and reflex adjustments far above what a normal human should be capable of.
"XENOS SCUM!" The closest one bellowed, bringing to bear a large weapon and aiming it squarely at N. In an instant, the thirty or so armored soldiers were opening fire on N as he jumped out of the way, dashing and darting from the strange projectiles they were firing upon him. J, who had finished regenerating, was back on her feet, firing bullets into the warriors…
Which did absolutely nothing. The bullets ricocheted as if they were made of rubber, the warriors unbothered by them.
N felt his oil run cold. He fired his laser at the nearest warrior, finding relief as it managed to cut through the foe cleanly despite their armor. J let out a snarl, rushing into melee and slamming her claws into the armor of one of them, the claws cutting through the armor with little effort. To N's surprise however the warrior, rather than dying from a claw straight through his heart, instead bearhugged J and threw himself to the ground, the disassembly drone stunned enough by the move to not immediately break out of the strange human's hold.
Both were engulfed in a blast of blue energy as one of the armored warriors fired a glowing blue weapon into them, J letting out a screech as half of her body was near instantly vaporized.
N didn't hesitate. He burst through the streets as fast as he could, grabbing what remained of J and dashed into the sky, ignoring the barrage of bolt shells aimed at him as he desperately tried to get away. These soldiers weren't normal; And if their weapons could do this amount of damage…
And yet even as he flew, the roar of engines reached his ears, a number of aircrafts descending from space into the atmosphere. Some of which he recognized as those used by the humans previously to bombard V and him when they attacked that human camp. Two others were much larger and boxy in shape.
He needed to escape. J hadn't regenerated yet, and he didn't know where Uzi was, and…
He barely dodged out of the way of a massive laser, feeling one of his wings burned as he went plummeting down, unable to control his flight any longer. As the ground came closer and closer, he glanced up, his eyes hollowing out.
More drop pods, crashing through the cloud barrier, all descending in the same direction he was. And the aircrafts, turning around, coming for a second run.
And far, far above, standing at damn near ten kilometers long, was a massive ship looming ominously in orbit over Copper 9.