Chapter 09 Steel and Fury

Aria looked at the mech’s busted armor.

 “Let me give it a try, Ewan. My tactical suit’s back to full charge. Strength enhancement’s online again.”

“You sure about that? You weren’t looking so hot a few hours ago, and we can’t risk you getting hurt.”

“I’ll manage, this suit has a little extra muscle boost. I think it’s worth a shot.”

Aria tapped her wrist console and a calm, digital voice echoed into her earpiece. 

"Body enhancement activating. Engaging artificial muscle support."

Her suit rippled, tightening around her body as the artificial muscle fibers wove themselves more closely against her, hugging every inch of her form. Her Vallen particle reactor softly glowed on her back indicating the activation. She felt a rush of power surge through her suit, strength pooling in her arms and legs.

 Flexing her fingers, she moved toward the mech and braced herself against its side, gripping the jammed handle embedded in the damaged plating.

Taking a deep breath, she gritted her teeth and turned. Her enhanced suit tightened, and she felt the artificial muscles tighten, amplifying her grip and force. With a strained grunt, she twisted, feeling the resistance as the metal fought against her pull.

“C’mon,” she muttered, bracing her feet and shifting her stance to push harder.

With one final wrench, the handle gave way, and the panel cover tore off the hinges with a screech of metal. She stumbled back, still holding the twisted metal plate in her hands. Tossing it aside, she caught her breath and smiled at the stunned group around her.

Ewan let out a low whistle. 

“Wow! Guess that suit does pack a punch. I wish I had one. Nice work, Aria.”

“Hell yeah! That’s one way to handle a jammed lock,” Kael shouted pumping his fist up.

 “Thanks to you, we’re back in action. We’ll get the replacement part in, and then we’re out of here. Just... take it easy. I suspect those enhancements don’t do well with pushing to the limit for too long.” 

“I think I can handle it.”

Reiss and Mira moved quickly to swap out the damaged gyro. They knew any delay could expose them, but Aria’s help restored the group’s focus.

Aria was helping with Kael’s gyro repair when the vibration caught her attention - a subtle shiver traveling up through her boots. She ignored it at first, too focused on the repairs, but the ground continued to shake, each pulse stronger than the last. A pebble nearby started to quiver, then bounce as the shaking intensified. She froze, her instincts flaring to life.

"Ewan!" she shouted, "Something’s wrong! The ground’s shaking, and it’s getting stronger! Mutants are coming! This has to be them!”

Ewan spun around, eyes narrowing.

 “What? Mutants? But where the hell are they? The monitors—” 

He snapped at his team on the feeds. 

“Are you seeing this? What the hell are you staring at? Are there any mutant readings within range?!”

One of the screen operators stammered, scanning over his equipment. 

“No readings within one kilometer, sir! All systems are online, drones are working fine, and… still, nothing! I repeat, no mutants showing up!”

Ewan’s fist slammed onto the metal hull beside him. 

“Then what’s causing this? I feel it getting stronger every second!”

The ground quaked violently, throwing tools to the ground. Ewan whipped around toward the mechs.

 “Forget the damn repairs! Everyone! Back in the mechs now, we’re moving out! Aria, you’re with me and Edd. There’s room for you. Go, Go, Go, people, now!”

The team scrambled, some of them leaping into their tank mechs as the tremors became violent enough to rock the entire street. Ewan had barely reached his mech when, with a deafening crash, a nearby, five-story building shuddered and collapsed, a cloud of dust and debris filling the street as the structure crumbled to the ground. From within the swirling dust and rubble, a bone-chilling roar erupted, tearing through the air and shaking everyone to their core. The roar blew the dust cloud back in an instant, revealing the twisted, towering figure of Raptor 01.

The mutant was badly wounded, its right arm still missing from its earlier encounter with Aria’s squad, and the front of its chest was caved in, exposing a grotesque, pulsing heart still hindered from regenerating by traces of Vallen particles embedded in its skin. But the beast was as vicious as ever, a fury emanating from its many bloodshot eyes.

Raptor 01 gave no time for shock. It lunged, its enormous tail swinging with brutal force across the street. The swipe alone sent a shockwave down the block, buildings crumbling in its path as the ground buckled from the impact. The tank mechs closest to it, including Kael’s, toppled like toys, some of them sent skidding into nearby buildings, which caved in, partially burying the machines beneath the rubble. Inside the cockpits, pilots barely had time to register the blast before being thrown into shambles.

A fresh wave of dust and debris clouded the street as Raptor 01 zeroed in on the newer pilots. With a swift, merciless movement, it grabbed the torso of a tank mech with its massive remaining arm and planted a colossal foot on the lower half, wrenching it apart with a sickening crunch. The mech’s body tore in two, and its pilot’s screams were silenced instantly.

With a guttural snarl, Raptor 01 whipped around, seizing the broken pieces of the dismembered mech and flinging them with terrifying speed at Nira and Rachel, who had just managed to emerge from the rubble. The twisted hunk of metal shot through the air like a cannonball, crashing into Nira’s mech with a lethal blow. The impact smashed into her cockpit, nearly splitting her tank mech in half, and an explosion of sparks and fire flared from the breached machinery.

“Michel! Kael! Watch out!” Ewan shouted.

Michel barely had time to react as Raptor 01 closed in on him next. The creature tore forward, swiping down with a clawed hand as Michel tried to maneuver out of the way. But with the compromised mech's gyro, its movements were sluggish. Michel’s mech took a brutal hit across its shoulder, the plating crushed like paper under Raptor’s grip, systems flickering with damage.

“Aria, are you alright?” Ewan’s voice crackled in her earpiece, bringing her back to focus. She could see him ahead, his mech’s arms reloading as he prepared for battle.

“I’m here, I got blown away by the shockwave before I could board the tank mech. I'm still on foot! Though I see a mech, cockpits open... Reiss and Mira... I'm sorry, Ewan. They got crushed by raining down debris,” she replied, gritting her teeth as she looked at their bodies.

Ewan’s tone turned grim. 

“God damn it! Stay low and out of sight. We try to fight it! We can't outrun this creature!”

Aria shouted in her comm, "No! There is no place to run or hide! I will mount the guns on Reiss's mech, I will not be able to move but I will be able to give you at least supportive fire!"

Ewan shouted, "Do what you think is best! But don't put a lot of fate in us. This thing took out Combelt IV and your squad. Even if it's hurt, I don't think we will win this. We might die here." 

Raptor 01 wasn’t finished. Its remaining arm lashed out with murderous speed, aiming for one of the mech engines still half-buried in rubble. Its claws dug in, ripping the engine apart with a single twist and showering the street with metal fragments.

“We need artillery, something heavier to keep this thing off us,” Edd shouted interrupting Ewan and Aria.