Chapter 11 When Titans Clash

“Aria!” Ewan’s voice crackled through the static.

“Get out of the mech! Run for it! As far as you can! Just run and don’t look back! It’s only Edd and me left! We’ll buy you a few seconds! This is it for us! It was an honor knowing you, Command Sergeant Major Aria Lock! It really was! I wish we had more missions together but it seems this is it for us.”

Edd’s voice joined in, “Get as far as you can, Aria! And don’t even suggest that we run as well! We couldn’t escape if we wanted to! Our mech reactor got hit; it’s overheating fast!”

“So yeah! This is it for us. And well, since we’re about to bite the dust, I will say: I wanted to ask you out for a drink. Like on a date.”

The words hung in the air, bittersweet and real.

“I love you, Aria Lock. Thanks for listening. Now go! Get out of here!”

“No! Ewan! Edd! You can’t do this!”

“Don’t waste time, Aria!” Ewan shouted, “This isn’t a debate! We’re running out of time! Get clear! Go!”

The growl of the approaching Raptor 01 echoed ominously in the background, growing louder, more relentless.

“Run!” Edd urged, “You’ve got to survive this! Do it for all of us! Just run, Aria!”

Ewan and Edd charged toward Raptor 01, their tank mech stomping towards the mutant. They had made their choice but the beast showed no mercy.

With a quick thrust of its colossal tail, Raptor 01 swept low, striking Ewan’s mech with a devastating blow. The sound of metal crumpling echoed through the battlefield as the tail pierced the lower part of the tank, the impact sending shockwaves that rattled Ewan’s cockpit. Alarms blared, lights flashed, and the mech shuddered violently.

“Nooooooo!” Ewan screamed as he watched the cockpit crush inward. Edd’s voice was suddenly silenced, snuffed out in an instant. The cockpit imploded, leaving nothing but twisted metal and the haunting echo of his friend’s last moments. The cockpit’s crumpled remains hung in the air.

Raptor 01 lifted the mech off the ground, holding it aloft impaled on its tail as if it were a trophy of its merciless hunt. The mutant growled a deep, rumbling sound that resonated through the very bones of the earth, enjoying the carnage it had wrought. It shook the remnants of the tank, gleefully displaying its dominance as it locked its bloodied gaze on it.

Ewan gripped the controls, fury, and despair welling within him.

“You monster!” he roared, pounding with mech arms against the mutant's tail.

“I won’t let you get away with this! I will rip you apart! Piece by piece!”

But Raptor 01 simply tossed the wreckage aside like refuse, focusing on Aria, eyes glinting with anticipation for the next kill. Ewan's mech was done for, he could barely move the upper part of his mech, and he was badly hurt from the impact as his mech crashed to the ground.

His last words faded into the comm, "I'm sorry... Aria... we... couldn't even... hold him for a second... I'm sorr—"

Aria’s scream tore through the air, raw and unfiltered, filled with a fury that transcended pain.

 “You bastard!” she yelled, fists clenched so tight she could feel her knuckles crack. 

“For every friend you’ve ripped apart… for Elias, Ewan, for Edd… this ends now, you overgrown pile of mutant trash! I’m going to finish you if it’s the last thing I do!”

She grabbed a knife, wrapping it in Vallen particle high-explosive charges. Her hands shook from desperation and panic as she prepared for the one-shot attack. 

With no more options and Raptor 01 looming close, she took out the syringes of active nanites and plunged all three into her arm at once. A torrent of energy coursed through her veins as the nanites flooded her system, re-knitting nerves and blocking out the blinding pain. Her vision sharpened, her thoughts snapped into laser focus, and her body felt weightless. She dug into tank mech supplies, injecting every stimulant, every strength-enhancing drug she had. Her HUD blared red, her AI buzzing with warnings.

“Bastion! Last Resort,” she shouted at her AI.

 “Activate, now! All of it!”

Warning signs filled her HUD and AI’s voice rang out.

 “Warning! Anomalies were detected in the pilot’s body. Injection prohibited. Warning—”

Aria’s face twisted in anger.

 “You piece of junk! Fine, I’ll do it myself!” 

She ripped the vial of ‘Last Resort’ from her suit, plunging it directly into her neck. A wave of fire shot through her bloodstream, amplifying every cell, her mind a chaotic roar of rage and adrenaline.

Her entire body pulsed with raw power, her muscles strained against the suit as it tried to accommodate the sudden surge. Her vision flickered with bursts of red as her AI warned of imminent system failures, her veins on the edge of combustion. In that instant, she was more machine than human, an unstoppable force with one purpose: end Raptor 01.

 Aria slammed her fist against the mangled side of the tank mech, ripping her way out into the open. She launched into a sprint toward the hulking creature. Her metallic heels cracked against the concrete with each step, shards of rubble spraying beneath her feet. Raptor 01 turned, its colossal form towering over her. Enjoyment flickered in its glowing eyes, as though savoring this final, desperate attack from its last prey.

 Raptor’s claw lifted, lazily swinging down to toy with her, swatting her away like an insect. Aria dodged, narrowly avoiding the blow, her speed and reflexes supercharged by the drugs coursing through her.

Raising her wrist she fired her grappling hook. The hook lodged into the mutant’s chest, right near the exposed wound where its grotesque heart pulsed. She felt the pull of the cable as it began reeling her in, and with a burst of strength, she launched herself toward Raptor’s heart, her knife ready.

Raptor 01’s eyes widened as Aria hurtled towards its chest, the explosive-charged knife glinting in her hand. It tried to raise a claw to swat her away, but she was too fast, too close. With the grappling hook pulling her in, Aria slammed her feet against its scaled chest, her boots finding traction on the ridged skin.

 Raptor’s hot breath blasted her face as it growled, straining to dislodge her. But Aria held firm, her entire body fueled by the mix of drugs she’d injected, overriding pain, exhaustion, and fear. Every cell in her body screamed with a single purpose: finish the fight.

With a brutal shove, she drove the explosive-wrapped knife deep into the exposed heart. Raptor 01 howled in rage and agony, its whole body convulsing. The impact from the mutant trashing around echoed through her, and her HUD lit up, warning of skeletal fractures, torn ligaments, and her suit straining to keep her together.

She hung on for dear life, twisting the knife deeper, her voice a fierce yell, “This is for Elias, Ewan, for Edd, for everyone you took from me! Die already, you piece of shit!”

Aria's grip on the knife slipped and was flung away from Raptor 01, she barely managed to regain control midair, firing her grappling hook to pull herself back to the ground. But just as she touched down, a furious hiss echoed from the mutant. Raptor’s massive jaws opened, unleashing a torrent of sizzling acid in a wide arc. Aria’s eyes widened as the scalding green liquid sprayed across the ruins, covering entire blocks - and splashing over her.