REGROUP

"Remy! Becca! Wher—"

BOOM!

The explosion hit Will like a mountain collapsing. The shockwave hurled his mech off its feet, flinging him down the highway in a blur of fire and smoke. He tumbled end over end, metal screeching against asphalt, before slamming hard into the street.

For several agonizing seconds, his mech became intimately acquainted with the ground, bouncing, rolling, and skidding until it finally came to a grinding stop. Dazed and half-conscious, Will's world spun in chaotic fragments.

His ears rang. The distant roar of secondary blasts mingled with collapsing concrete. Through the haze of his spinning vision, he caught sight of a utility grid tower toppling, disappearing in a rising cloud of dust and flame.

He forced a surge of psionic energy through his limbs. His systems flickered back online. Vision steadied. Breath came in ragged gasps. With a trembling arm, he pushed himself upright.

"Easy!" a rough voice barked through the static.

Remy's mech crouched beside him, metal fingers gripping Will's shoulder brace to steady him.

"Where's Becca?" Will croaked.

A pained groan answered from his right. Becca's mech lay half-buried in rubble, armor scorched but intact.

"Becca!"

They rushed toward her. Static buzzed through the comms before her weak voice came through, muffled and dazed.

"I'm… okay. Just—give me a minute."

Will's diagnostic scan flared across his HUD with elevated vitals and minor contusions, but overall she was stable. Relief washed over him.

"What the hell happened?" she muttered, forcing herself upright.

"I think they set off our buried mines," Will said, glancing back at the shattered highway. "We were lucky. The trucks took most of it."

"So… we got them?" Becca asked, voice still shaking.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Remy replied grimly. "The timing was off. The detonation came too late."

As if on cue, the deep rumble of engines echoed through the smoke-choked avenue.

Will's head snapped toward the sound. Massive silhouettes emerging through the haze, headlights cutting through the ash.

"Dammit," he hissed. "Come on!"

The trio charged forward, their mechs thundering across fractured asphalt. Smoke and debris churned around them, reducing visibility to nothing but ghostly outlines.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Do you see them yet?" Remy panted, every step a metallic quake.

"Not yet!" Will shouted back. "Half my sensors are still offline!"

"Same here," Becca called out.

Will cursed, initiating a partial reboot. The mechs had survived more than they should have, but even they had limits. Damage reports cascaded across his HUD like red rain.

"My frame's running rough," Remy said.

"Let the diagnostics run in the background," Will replied. "We don't have time for a full refit."

"Hope these hold together," Becca muttered.

A new voice cut cleanly through the static. Calm, even, almost amused.

"Is hope the strategy now?"

Will froze. Instinctively, his mech's targeting system flared online. "Who—?"

Static crackled again, and a new shape emerged beside them, a featureless, non-descript mech gliding effortlessly through the smoke. It blended into the chaos so perfectly that Will almost missed it.

Then recognition hit him.

"Trapper!"

"Instructor Cline!"

"As you were," the merc leader said evenly, his mech sliding beside theirs as though the chaos around them didn't exist.

"Where were you all this time?" Becca demanded, keeping pace. "Lawson, Faris and the rest could've used your help!"

Trapper gave a quiet chuckle. "Tell me, Miss Wagner, what's my call sign?"

"Trapper," she said, frowning.

"Correct. And what do I do?"

"You… trap?"

"Exactly." His tone carried a smile. "There's no point in playing a trump card during the opening round, is there?"

"Right," Becca muttered, still unconvinced. "Just wish things had gone differently."

"The whole plan's gone sideways," Will growled.

"Everyone has a plan…" Trapper began.

Will scowled, raising an arm instinctively to gaurd his face as Trapper's mech drifted closer. The older man chuckled softly.

"There are times a gambit works, and times it doesn't," Trapper continued, his tone suddenly firm. "Either way, you move on. Don't put too much faith in plans when the ground keeps shifting beneath you."

He paused, then added, "And it has shifted. Revenant isn't retreating; they're finishing what they started. Those haulers are going to ram straight through the Undercity and into the Tower's central pillars."

A cold silence fell.

"I don't need to tell you what happens if they reach them."

Will's jaw tightened. Remy and Becca stiffened in their harnesses.

"You know what's at stake," Trapper said quietly, voice turning grave.

For a heartbeat, Will saw his family, faces flickering behind his eyes, before resolve settled in like steel.

"We'll break the Revenant before they touch those pillars," Will snapped, his voice burning with conviction.

Remy gripped his rifle tighter. "They won't know what hit them."

Becca gave a sharp nod. "Let's end this."

"Good," said Trapper. "Then follow my lead, to the letter. By sundown, those warheads will be in our hands."

The trio responded in unison, voices firm. Trapper surged forward, his mech's frame glowing with an eerie cobalt sheen.

"Now," he growled, "let's go exterminate the Hive! Diamond formation!"

Will and Remy fell into position beside him, Becca taking the rear.

Trapper's field ignited. A shimmering distortion of power enveloped them. It looked deceptively light, but Will could feel its weight pressing down, gripping their mechs like a vice.

"Oh, crap," Remy muttered, realizing what was coming.

"Rollers out!" Trapper commanded.

Will's mech shuddered as its feet split open, deploying the inline skates. The others followed suit, their machines shifting seamlessly into high-speed mode.

"Hold steady and keep your balance," Trapper warned. His thrusters roared, building to a deep, thunderous rumble.

"Oh, cra—!" Remy started, but the rest turned into a strangled yelp as Trapper launched forward, dragging them along in his slipstream.

A choked gasp tore from Will as the acceleration slammed through him. The mech's servos screamed, his body straining against its own armor as they tore up the highway, smoke and fire billowing in their wake.

Will steadied himself as the speed climbed.

The squad moved as one, four streaks racing toward Armageddon.

Somewhere in that smoke, the haulers were moving, heavy with death, dragging the fate of his city behind them.

Will gritted his teeth. "Just you wait."

They were coming for them.

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