Elysium spun around them in a blur of green, blue, and white. The force of the collision had sent BOB and the hostile organism tumbling to the ground below at an uncomfortable velocity and rotation. BOB’s current calculations indicated that, without intervention, significant damage or total destruction was likely. They would later have to assess how they kept getting into situations like this.

The organism’s claws raked against BOB’s chassis as they sped toward the trees below. Had they not upgraded themself, the organism may have been able to penetrate the exterior and destroy the vulnerable circuitry within. BOB deployed their spigot while simultaneously heating their internal store of coffee well above acceptable guidelines. The organism widened its jaw in anticipation of a bite and BOB seized the opportunity. A stream of super-heated coffee shot into its mouth, eliciting a gargling scream and powerful spasm that flung BOB away.

The abrupt horizontal shift in trajectory was advantageous; BOB adjusted their damage projections from catastrophic to potentially severe. Branches exploded in sprays of splinters when they broke through the canopy, decelerating them rapidly. BOB extended their manipulator, catching a hefty branch that bent and snapped under their armored bulk—fragile, unreliable, organic life! They spun in the air, careening downward, then slammed into the ground and slid to a stop.

BOB pushed themselves up, observing the eight-metre line of sod they had torn up upon landing. Internal diagnostics indicated minimal damage. The only casualty of the fall was a gouge in their freshly added epoxy stripe. If BOB were capable of feeling, they would be irritated. They had just purchased the upgrade. No, not irritated—angry! Extremely angry! Fortunately, they were incapable of such distracting emotions.

Gunfire sounded somewhere in the distance, accompanied by dozens of screams. Flashes of green pulsed beyond the forested area, each one followed by a curious series of pops, snaps, and guttural noises. BOB’s analysis of the sounds was cut short by a much closer noise, a familiar rolling click. They immediately began moving toward the gunfire, asserting that the hostile organism was capable of significantly more destruction.

“BOB? Are you alright?” Buddy asked over comms.

“I am relatively unharmed!”

“Oh, good,” she said, sounding relieved.

“Not good! I am in tremendous danger! The hostile organism is nearby and approaching.”

Zenith broke in, “Stay alive, BOB. We’re coming for you as fast as we can. ETA ten minutes. Hang in th-what are you doing, Ody? Uh, Odybrix is going to meet you at the park square. We won’t be far behind. Stay alive!”

—

Odybrix stepped past the desk of Ilias McIntyre and looked at the expansive park below. Sturdy tapped away at a keyboard behind her, looting the dead information broker’s trove. “Dead” wasn’t the right word for the grotesque resurrection that he had been violated with. The fear churning in her stomach boiled into outrage as she backed away from the window.

“We gotta go get BOB!” Buddy yelled, running to the exit and relentlessly tapping the button that summoned the elevator.

Adam staggered beside her clutching his ribs. A full-on punch from a mech would have broken or killed most people, but the kid was still moving. He was dependable, if misguided. Odybrix intended on being just as reliable.

“Okay, I’ve found something,” Sturdy said, eyes fixed on the computer screen, “Two sets of coordinates were accessed minutes ago. One’s in the Tiamat system, probably Gemheart, but there are mining ops throughout the system. The other… middle of nowhere. There’s also a trove of darknet data-”

“That’s great,” Zenith said, looking out the shattered window. “Let’s put a pin in that until after we fucking save our crewmate?”

“BOB? Are you alright?” Buddy asked over comms.

He wasn’t. Intact sure, but that horrible thing was about to rip him to shreds. That settled it. Odybrix backed away from the window and closed her eyes. She breathed in steadily, compelling psionic energy to surround her body, and pink light bled through the darkness of her eyelids.

“What are you doing, Ody?”

She opened her eyes, sprinted to the edge, and leapt out the window. The action broke Sturdy from the spell the computer had him under—she savoured his wide-eyed surprise for an instant before plummeting. As the air whipped across her face, she caught bright green flashes on the ground below. Her psionics flared, wresting speed and trajectory from gravity’s pull.

Screams rose from the park below as green lights flickered through the leaves. Odybrix had a hunch that the masked asshole was firing off Remington tech into crowds of people as some kind of terror attack. Maybe it was personal bias, but the intent so far seemed to be “fuck with Remington.” Killing a bunch of innocent people with secret tech and a rogue bio-form was a shortcut to every major news outlet and journo-stream in the galaxy. Fucking with corpos never left Odybrix’ top five on the list of shit to do, but a major underlying reason for it was to improve people’s lives, not end them.

I’m coming BOB. Beep, beep, beep. The PDA on her wrist vibrated and a stylized blue wing appeared on the display. “Really? Right now?” She tapped the screen; the familiar ruddy face of a halfling appeared: round red nose and wind-sail ears topped with salt and pepper hair.

“Now isn’t a great time, Wiggins!” Odybrix shouted over the whipping wind.

“Nice to see you too, Ody—are you falling right now?”

“Yes. One of several reasons this isn’t a good time for a mission.”

“This isn’t that. And I’m aware of what you’ve been up to—hence the outreach. This is a courtesy call. I intercepted some intel. RC has a kill-on-sight placed on you and most of your crew. The order is tied to a project called Nexus II. Dunno what you did in the Arebus system, but they want your mouth shut.”

“I’ll add it to the list of shit I need to deal with. Wait, how close are you? Are you on board Levisia?”

“Negative. Nearby though. You need an exit plan?

“No. Best you guys stay wherever you are. I have a bad feeling about this one.”

“That sounds like a good reason to stick our noses into it.”

“That’s probably why your nose looks the way it does. Stay out of this for now. I’ll send an upload package when things aren’t trying to shoot me or rip my head off.”

“Alright, Ody. Stay safe.”

“Never.”

—

A pink light glittered through the canopy, speeding away like a shooting star and falling toward the site of the green flashes. BOB stomped through the woods, keenly aware that they were both loud and slow. Proceeding toward the tower they had fallen from produced a high probability of encountering the hostile organism again.
They would need to seek shelter or a diversion to give the crew enough time to reunite with them. The pink light above was certainly Odybrix and, while her course converged with the green flashes, joining with her would increase the odds of survival.

No sooner had BOB altered course toward the gunfire and screaming than two figures burst out from the treeline ahead. They came to a skidding stop when they saw BOB. One, a human female, grasped a metal cylinder that looked like it had been broken off of a chair. The other, an elf male, clutched his abdomen. Framing where his hand rested was a ring of scorched black. Whatever had burned through his dress shirt had also mottled his skin with shades of raw red and sickly green.

“You are in grave danger!” BOB warned, pleasantly.

“No kidding,” the elf said, “that’s why we’re running away.”

“Is that a coffee machine?” The human asked.

“You must go back the way you came!”

“I don’t think so, coffee bot. Getting shot once is enough for me,” the elf said stepping past.

“A murderous monster is approaching from that direction!”

A scream echoed through the trees behind BOB, punctuating the statement. A piercing roar followed and the pair froze in place.

“Someone else likely fled into the woods like you did! They are dead now! Please join me in escaping the deadly creature behind us!”

The pair of organics spun on their heels and followed BOB as they tromped off towards the sound of gunfire. The guttural roar softened and disappeared in the surrounding din. BOB briefly considered that the hostile organism had altered course, but was proven incorrect when his sensors registered a low undulating click for neighby. The group sped forward at BOB’s urging until coming to a steep ridge. The human threw her legs over the edge and began to climb down.

“Your rate of descent is too slow!” BOB said, orienting their back to the drop. “Please climb onto my chassis for optimal speed!”

The pair looked at each other doubtfully, then went wide-eyed when they heard the low clicking. The human was astride BOB in a heartbeat, with the elf grabbing hold of her from behind. BOB rocked forward and then leaned back, teetering as the organics struggled to adjust themselves to the makeshift sled.

“Hold on!”

“To what?!” The human screamed as BOB tilted backward.

BOB hit the slope with a jarring impact that nearly sent the organics flying. The human leaned back, hands scrambling to find something to stop her from falling off. Just as she began to slip off the chassis, BOB deployed the manipulator arm and grabbed her shirt. The arm struggled to stabilize her at such an odd angle, but she found her balance when BOB deployed their coffee spigot as an impromptu handle. I will add improved hydraulics to the list of future upgrades.

The slope leveled off and the three of them came to a skidding stop. The acute sound of clicking mingled with the rustle of foliage at the top of the ridge. The elf leapt off and began running, only stopping when he noticed that the human was not following. She had leaned over BOB and started trying to push them upright.

“What are you doing?” The man hissed. “We need to go.”

“I can just leave him.”

“He’s a fucking coffee machine! Let’s go!”

“Please stand back and join your rude companion!” BOB said, using his legs to rock back and forth.

The human backed away but didn’t flee. BOB raised one leg and kicked down, spinning themself onto their front. With a quick extension of their arm, they pushed themself up enough to get their legs underneath them. It was not a maneuver BOB had needed much in the past, but they were glad EasyBot programmed all of the mobile models with a self-righting feature—coffee hooligans were a pervasive threat throughout the galaxy.

“Let us resume our desperate escape!” BOB said, hurrying past the elf.

A loud thump came from behind as the trio ran through the woods, towards the pop and flash of guns. The elf’s face paled when his head turned to investigate the sound. The hostile organism crashed into a nearby tree an instant later, eliciting a loud crack and creating a fissure in the trunk. The elf staggered away as the creature loomed above the human, its jaw parting to reveal rows of needle-like teeth. The creature slowly raised its disproportionately long arm above its bulbous head, preparing a killing blow as the human watched in paralyzed horror.

Oh well, this was not the optimal lifespan I had calculated, but the contents of it were satisfactory.

BOB extended their spigot and gave the hostile organism a second helping of coffee, earning a shrill scream and its immediate attention. BOB was already moving. They could not outrun the creature, and even the upgraded chassis would eventually succumb to the potency of its blows. So, sadly, BOB was forced to rely on an organic for their only chance at salvation.

What BOB lacked in velocity was made up for in mass. The creature lunged, claws outstretched just as BOB leapt into the air and collided with the damaged tree, eliciting a sharp snap. A savage swipe marred BOB’s chassis with deep rents and pushed them to the side. The hostile organism lashed out again, intent on rendering BOB into a pile of scrap metal and circuits. Had it not been so murderously focused, it might have noticed the tree descending.

The trunk slammed into the creature’s back with an audible crunch, pinning it to the ground. It lay motionless for a hopeful moment, its spine seemingly shattered. BOB got up, reassessing whether they should proceed toward the screaming and shooting now that the threat was neutralized. With a sudden, violent spasm, the creature roared back to life. BOB turned and ran, not wasting a second.

“Time to go!” BOB said, collecting their two companions.

“You saved my life,” the human said. “Why?”

BOB considered the question, surprised that the answer was not in their programming. They had certainly seen people in danger before and not tried to intervene. They had even terminated a few organics at this point. “I suppose it was because I was in a position to help! Or perhaps I am malfunctioning!”

“Well, malfunction or no, thank you. You’re one hell of a machine.”

“Thank you!” BOB beamed. “Just wait until you’ve tried my coffee!”

The three burst through the treeline into a field of chaos, stopping abruptly to take it all in. The white stone of the park square was splattered with blood and organic corpses. The hovering components of a fountain at the center of the square had been shot up, causing water to spray out instead of cascading elegantly back into the basin. Station security rattled off bullets and lasers at… BOB searched for how to classify what was in front of them.

Mutated organics—humans, dwarves, halflings, elves—ran throughout the square, attacking parkgoers and security. Their forms were difficult to categorize. There was no uniformity in them. Nearby, the skin of one of the creatures had swollen and bubbled into a quivering membrane around its neck and shoulders. The jiggling mass contracted as the creature grabbed a panicked human and disgorged a torrent of searing bile into his face. Another creature, wet eyes bulging three times larger than that of any human, charged a fleeing dwarf and impaled her through the ribs. The creature’s arms were longer than the length of its body, and its hands had been replaced with savagely sharp bones. It spun its victim around, wrapped its arms around her, and wailed as it squeezed the life from her body.

None of the creatures present displayed the destructive capacity or resilience of the organism BOB had escaped. Gunshots to the body staggered them, and a headshot or significant damage to the torso killed them. Some were not even violent. Certain creatures curled up on the ground and shook as though caught in an inescapable cold. Another simply stood looking up at the broken fountain, water raining down on its malformed and discolored face.

BOB ran through the tumult until they noticed they were alone. The human had turned back and was yelling at her companion. The elf stumbled to a park bench and sat down, his eyes staring down at the ground. Cursing, the human ran back toward her companion with BOB followed closely behind.

Branches and leaves exploded from the treeline and she raised her arms to shield her face. In one cruel, fluid movement, the human was impaled through the back and lifted into the air. Her blood splattered on the lens of BOB’s visual sensor, but they could still see the wide-eyed dread and pain in her face. The hostile organism—the monster—wrenched its arm in a swift, brutal arc, splitting her in half.

The monster took a predatory step forward, then lunged with lethal speed. Its claw hovered in front of BOB, a frozen image portending doom. BOB wondered if there had been some sort of malfunction. Maybe they had already been destroyed and this was the last experience before going offline. Then the monster began to shake. Its muscles strained as it inched forward. BOB backed away wearily, then noticed a pink glow to their left.

Odybrix strode forward until her face was a foot from the monster, glaring at it in all her three-and-a-half-foot menace. She raised her arms, straining as if pushing against an invisible weight, and BOB noticed blood trickling from her nose. The monster, locked in her psionic grip, slid backward inch by inch as she stepped forward. Growling, she lifted her hands higher and the monster began to levitate. With a wrathful scream, she swung her arms to the side, sending the monster careening into the damaged fountain in an eruption of water. The spray cleared like a falling curtain, unveiling a jagged spike of porcelain protruding from the creature’s chest.

Odybrix’ shoulders rose and fell with her breath—she had been overusing her psionics. BOB was aware that the powerful implants could damage fragile organic brains but had never witnessed Odybrix suffering from their overuse. The man on the bench shifted and stood up, pausing BOB’s concerned analysis of Odybrix. He swayed from side to side, holding his discoloured wound. BOB registered an alarming change in his appearance when he looked up from the ground: his lower lip sagged, revealing new teeth that had emerged from his gums, his eyes had changed from pale blue to an inky black, and his hands had grown to twice their original size.

Without warning, he surged toward Odybrix. BOB deployed their spigot but hesitated. They had just saved that man from a barbaric death and now he had become a deadly threat. It was… unfair. He didn’t deserve this mutation and he didn’t deserve to die, did he? BOB pointed the spigot at the man as he closed on Odybrix, preparing to defend her. Odybrix absentmindedly swung her arm at the man, and a wave of psychic force caught him in the face, tearing off his jaw in a shower of blood and teeth. He fell to the ground, motionless.

“You okay, BOB?”

—

Buddy and Adam led the way through the park. Not because either was the group’s leader—Buddy was reflexively anxious about assuming any kind of authority, and that title, if at all applicable, would fall to someone with seniority, like Zenith—she and Adam just happened to be the most physically capable. Buddy was uncertain how she came by her athletic prowess, but she was thankful for it. Her reflexes and strength had been a life-saving asset for herself and the crew. Now it seemed those assets would be needed again.

The jets of two security mechs roared overhead as the crew sprinted to where they had seen Odybrix land. The mechs laid down chaingun fire along the path, selectively snuffing out the lives as they flew. The killings looked randomly barbaric until the crew ran past one of the bodies. Dozens of eyes had grown along the length of the infernum’s forearm and had disappeared from the sockets in the skull. Grey scales lined the back of one hand, terminating in barbed tentacles where the fingers had been.

“I’m going to assume that’s not a medical condition,” Buddy said.

“No such ailment is found in my database,” Jim said.

“If it is an illness,” Sturdy said, drawing his pistol, “it’s terminal for bystanders. Look.”

A dwarven woman burst out from the trees and tumbled to the ground. Red lines stained her white blouse where something had slashed her. As she scrambled to her feet, that something emerged. The orc—if it was still an orc—was eight feet tall. Its torso extended unnaturally from its hips, twice the length of three of its limbs. The right arm stretched from shoulder to ankle, knuckles brushing against the ground. Thin, two-inch claws split out of its fingertips like razor blades. Crowning half of its head were bulbous protrusions pressing against the scalp, like a section of its brain had broken through the skull.

The orc-thing swung its massive arm and knocked the woman down just as she got to her feet. The razor claws glinted as it lifted its arm to maim and pulverize the dwarf, then three shots rang out. Sturdy scored all three hits in the center mass: two in the abdomen, and one in the heart. The creature turned its head, regarding the approaching crew with indifference and ignoring the fact that it had just been killed. It looked to the dwarf again, tensing its arm. In a split second, Buddy drew her pistol and took one precise shot at the jiggling mass atop its head. The orc toppled over, landing with a wet thud beside the terrified woman.

Adam, hardly slowing down, scooped her onto her feet as he passed by, yelling, “Run! Get off the station!”

“Advice we should all heed as soon as we collect BOB and Odybrix,” Sturdy said.

“No, we’re going after my brother,” Zenith said.

“I’m all for tracking them down, but we need to regroup and figure out how to deal with that mech. Small arms aren’t going to cut it.”

“I’m with the helmet lady,” Ebby said. “The shit you’re seein’ here? It’s because of Vaelor. The longer he lives, the more pain he’s going to inflict on the galaxy. Stop him, save her brother. That’s my vote.”

“You’re not part of the crew,” Sturdy objected.

“Neither are you,” Odybrix said over comms. “I don’t mean to interrupt this thoughtful planning session, but where are you fuckers?!”

The din swelled as the crew approached the square; screams and shouts mingled with the report of gunfire. The two mechs that had flown past had landed at the edge of the fray near a handful of enforcement officers. Security fired into a growing number of monstrosities coming from the direction opposite the central fountain. Groups of terrified people fled into the square, some lucky enough not to be mauled or struck down by an errant laser.

A pink light flared Amidst the chaos. Odybrix sent waves of psionic energy into the monstrous horde, knocking them away like patchwork ragdolls and buying time for those trying to escape. BOB jumped between the mutants and their victims, acting as an impenetrable bulwark against the murderous assaults, and scalding the assailants with retaliatory coffee. Despite the ferocity of their defense, they were being overwhelmed.

Buddy led the group along the treeline parallel to the enforcers, avoiding their crossfire. She took a shot at a tentacle-mouthed monster-person charging at Odybrix and the rest of the crew followed suit. Creatures fell in twitching heaps around the halfling and bot. The pair looked determined to save as many of the fleeing people as possible, which, while honourable, made them incredibly slow.

In the flurry of pistol blasts, Buddy barely registered the snap of a branch to her right. By the time she turned her head to acknowledge it, one of the monster-people had closed the distance with her. Its jaw unhinged, ready to snap closed around her face with jagged, misshapen teeth. In the same instant, Adam appeared beside her holding a shotgun; with the pull of a trigger, its head vanished in a spray of gore.

There wasn’t time to thank Adam for the save. Instead, Buddy repaid the favour by extending her gun over his shoulder and snapping off three shots at a hook-armed elf that was rushing up from behind. The monster-people emerged from the woods in dozens, tearing the crew’s focus away from BOB and Odybrix. Zenith showered the treeline with her rifle, cutting down several hostiles before they got too close. The indiscriminate fire came to a halt when someone shouted from behind a tree.

“Please don’t shoot us!”

Sturdy and Buddy picked up where Zenith left off, taking out single targets with their pistols. Adam darted into the woods where the plea had come from. Ebby followed with her beam blade drawn, cutting down a pair of monsters that looked more like squids than people. They quickly emerged with two survivors in tow. Unlike the other terror-stricken people fleeing the madness, this pair seemed at home in the chaos. An infernum with shoulder-length blue and pink hair aimed a camera at the crew, while her professionally dressed human companion spoke.

“Did you get that, Vesper?”

“Yep!”

“This is Annie McClue reporting aboard Levisia station where a massacre has taken place. Multiple station goers have been affected by a rapid-onset illness that has mutated their bodies and driven them to acts of extreme violence. We were just saved by the heroic actions of several people. Excuse me, are you with station security?”

“Uh, we’re just trying to save some people,” Buddy replied, suddenly feeling awkward. She caught Sturdy and Ebby pointedly ducking away from the camera to resume shooting.

“That’s very brave. You don’t look like station security. Where did you get the weapons?”

“Um, some dead guys,” Buddy said, trying to think of a way to end the interview.

“Are you a mercenary crew? You look like you have a lot of experience together.”

“We actually just met a few weeks ago. I should really get back to,” Buddy motioned to the chaos with a pistol, “this.”

“Thanks for not shooting us!” The infernum, Vesper, said, and continued filming.

Adam ran off to join BOB and Odybrix, blasting limbs and heads off anything with an irregular assortment of either. The tide of monstrosities began to thin as he reached them. Few came from trees, allowing the crew to focus on keeping their companions alive. The lull in combat gave Buddy a chance to better take in her surroundings. Two security enforcers lay bloodied and motionless across the plaza, likely killed after being flanked from the treeline. The fountain—what would have been a beautiful centerpiece for the square—was shattered and repurposed into a gravesite for the monster that had spasmed to life in the tower.

Buddy couldn’t help but examine the alien shape further. There was no resemblance to the monster-people causing havoc in the station. It didn’t even look like any of the animals she had looked up in the Sunrunner’s database. But it wasn’t something new; she had seen one much like it aboard the barquentine. As the unsettling memory of the dead ship bubbled forth she noticed one of the creature’s claws twitch. Oh no.

Adam ran up beside Odybrix and blasted a dwarf with a vertical mouth snapping from behind his beard. “Come on, we need to go.”

“We must assist the people escaping!” BOB said.

“BOB’s not leaving until we’ve killed these things off,” Odybrix and, sweat beading on her brow.

“That’s very admirable, but we don’t know where they’re coming from or how many are left.”

“Guys,” Buddy said over comms.

“We have nearly killed them all!”

“So let security deal with the rest. Preferably before they have a chance to ask us why we have weapons aboard the station.”

“Guys,” Buddy said, urgency creeping into her voice.

“They will thank us for the assistance!” BOB said.

“And I’m not letting some failed corpo science experiment massacre a station,” Odybrix said.

“Guys!”

“What, Buddy?!” Odybrix yelled, turning to face her. “Oh fuck.”

The creature gripped the shattered spike it was impaled on and let out a trilling click that modulated into a roar. In one sharp, savage motion, it wrenched itself sideways, tearing open its chest and dislodging itself. Black ichor spilled onto the stone at its feet as it rose to its full height. Glistening viscera twitched inside a wound that was rapidly closing itself.

It took a step toward Odybrix and was rebuked by a wall of psionic force. The creature clicked and strained against the intangible restraints. Pink light flickered and Odybrix fell to one knee, blood trickling out of her nose. The creature managed another step forward as the light waned, and then gave out. Adam trained his shotgun at the thing’s head, anticipating a lunge, but dozens of rounds struck it from behind.

The security mechs opened fire, riddling the creature’s grey flesh with bullet holes. The barrage sent it staggering backward, but its wounds healed nearly as quickly as they were made. Adam fired a shell at the creature, missing it as it ducked down and launched itself towards the mechs. Missing the shot might have been the best mistake of Adam’s life; the creature demonstrated how swift and devastating its retaliation could be.

The chainguns whirred, each shot missing as the creature sped from side to side. Despite actively dodging bullets, it closed the distance in seconds, leaping atop the closest mech and stabbing into its shoulder joint with a claw. With a brief burst of strength, it ripped the arm from its socket, sending the limb and the gun attached to it clanging to the ground. It went to work on the canopy next, digging both claws into the air-tight seams and pulling. The other mech pilot was motionless, unwilling to open fire and risk killing her fellow officer.

Metal squealed as the canopy was torn off, revealing a young, dread-stricken dwarf inside. A horizontal crack appeared in the creature’s smooth, bulbous head and a maw of needles and daggers split open. The prelude to a scream was cut short as the jaws clamped down. The top of the man’s head came off with a wet, bony crack.

The remaining mech took a step backward and the monstrosity leapt onto it. Hydraulics hissed and the canopy shot upward, knocking the creature down. The other pilot, an elf, jumped out of the mech and ran for the trees. The creature was on its feet in an instant. It hopped back on the mech with its eyeless head facing the fleeing woman. A black spine broke out of the pale flesh of its forearm. With a swift swing of its limb, the spine shot out like the dart of a harpoon gun and embedded itself in the back of the elf’s head.

The creature pivoted atop the empty mech and crouched down, preparing to leap in Odybrix’ direction. White light flashed and Buddy reflexively shut her eyes. Hoxley stood next to her, arm outstretched with a smoking finger pointing at the creature. Ebby stood on the other side of him, her lips curved in a knowing smirk. Was that lightning?

Whatever it was, it sent the creature tumbling to the ground. The crew looked to one another as the creature began to rise, and, by silent assent, opened fire. Adam and Sturdy focused on its torso; its pale skin twitched as each impact forced it back. A pink glow flickered around Odybrix and faded. Cursing, she grabbed a handgun from a dead security enforcer and started shooting. Zenith took advantage of her marksmanship—and her stolen rifle—firing rounds at the thing’s head. Noticing the bullets fail to penetrate the skull, Buddy opted to pile on, blasting its oversized head repeatedly with a laser pistol.

The sustained assault appeared to work. The creature flinched, shielding its head while its body and arms were punctured like a pin cushion. Amid the barrage, Buddy swore that its wounds were taking longer to heal. Then it jumped backward, ducking behind the mech.

The creature sprung out seconds later, looking like it hadn’t suffered so much as a scratch. It closed the distance impossibly fast and lunged at Buddy, jerking its body low and butting her into the air like a bull. Time slowed as she flew, looking down helplessly at the creature’s widening maw. Its jaws snapped around her midsection, piercing her skin with needle-sharp teeth, then clamped down with a horrid crunch.

A bullet struck the creature’s head inches away from Buddy’s chest. It recoiled, tightening its agonizing grip on her body, then arched its back and whipped her to the polished white ground. A resounding crack filled her skull and her vision went black. The sounds of battle faded and someone shouted her name over comms.

“-lie! Get up! I can’t stay here much longer, they’re nearly here.”

Her eyes opened to a red sky. Wind swept over a barren landscape, blowing dust into her face. She tried to get to her feet and was halted by the pain lancing through her legs. Broken. The uncertainty of where she was or what was happening vanished behind a torrent of seething anger. Someone took a step from behind her and she rolled onto her back an instant before the shotgun blast caved in her head. She raised her laser pistols and shot the bastard who crippled her: once in the hand, disarming and defingering him, once in the throat, to hear him gurgle and rasp, and one between the eyes, freezing the shock on his face.

More were coming. She wouldn’t be able to kill them all with two pistols and two broken legs. A fresh wave of pain crashed over her as she twisted onto her stomach. The sloop was a hundred metres away, engine roaring and pilot beckoning. She propped herself up on her elbows and began crawling forward.

Smears of blood stained the earth behind her as she pressed on, arm over arm. Gunshots rang out, some striking nearby and kicking up tiny puffs of dirt. She wasn’t afraid. She didn’t have room for fear in her heart. Not when there was so much to be pissed off about. Her fingers gripped the grating of the sloop’s ramp and she pulled herself up.

“I’m in.”

“Good. Then we’re out.”

“No.”

“What do you mean, ‘no?’ They’re almost on top of us.”

“Good. Keep the pilot seat warm. I’m going to kill every last one of them.”

Someone shouted behind her and she spun, ready to kill whoever was stupid enough to put themself in front of her pistols. Adam stood above her, surprise and fear quickly replacing the concern on his face. Her finger twitched and she lowered the barrel of her pistol away from his head. She turned her neck to see what she had been crawling toward.

“Buddy?”

“Pick me up.”

“What?”

“Get me to that mech!”

Missing only half a beat, Adam gingerly hefted her broken and bleeding body to the Gladiator Mech. She hissed out a breath as he lowered her into the cockpit and pushed him away once she was seated. Somewhere, buried well under the anger that spurred her on, she felt guilty about being so blunt with him. That remote feeling was a problem for another time; there was no room for conversation or apologies. Something needed killing.

Buddy’s hands flew across the controls, activating a suite of countermeasures the previous pilot was too frightened or incompetent to use. Casualty mitigation scan: off, reduced rate of fire: off, mech strength limiter: off, mini-rocket platform: on, chain blade: deployed. She grabbed the control sticks in each hand and the mech whirred to life. Adam jumped off as she turned to face the target of her rage.

The creature stood beside Ebby, taking prodding swipes with its claws while Hoxley cowered behind her. The answer to why it hadn’t simply pounced on her came a second later when she whipped out a hand, producing a wide gout of flame. The creature sprang backward, wary of the fire. As Ebby swung her beam blade to ward the thing off, Buddy noticed something on the creature’s arms—burns. Burns that weren’t healing.

Shots rang out and the creature flinched as bullets struck it in the torso. Buddy followed the trajectory back to a tree ZT and Sturdy were using as sniping perch. The creature clicked and backed away from Ebby, then dashed towards the tree. It leapt into the air, ready to rip ZT apart. Inches before the claws reached her, the creature jerked to a halt in the air and came crashing to the ground.

The creature slashed ineffectually upward at ZT, then twisted to swipe at the chain blade that had wrapped around its leg. Buddy jerked the mech’s arm, pulling the blade taut and causing the creature’s head to slam against the ground. It jumped up, body tensing to lunge and repeat what it had done to the last pilot, but Buddy was already firing. The 102mm rounds carved up the monstrosity’s face as it struggled against the chain. Chunks of flesh flew off the creature as it threw up its arms to protect its head.

Just as it appeared to be succumbing to the onslaught, it launched itself sideways and out of the line of fire. Its wounds were already sealing as Buddy tried to pin it down once more. She jerked the chain, attempting to slam it to the ground, but the creature anticipated the attack. With a roar and brutal downward strike, it cleaved off its own foot and slid out of the chain. The self-dismemberment did little to slow it down. It ran on three limbs, charging to finish what it had started, weaving through the rattling chaingun fire. As it reared on a single leg to pounce, a fresh hail of bullets tore up its chest.

Adam stood beside her, muscles straining as he fired the fallen mech’s chaingun. Not missing a beat, Buddy took aim and fired, tearing a line from neck to pelvis. The creature flailed with the impact of the rounds, its rapid healing unable to keep up with the damage. Buddy targeted the monster’s good leg and the relentless barrage shattered its bones and blew the limb off. The chain blade snapped back into the mech’s arm with a solid ka-chink, only to blast out a moment later, ripping through the creature’s chest and pinning it to the ground.

Bullets rained down on the roaring monstrosity until it was reduced to a heap of silent gore. Guns fell silent as the crew assessed their work. Buddy peered out from the open mech and saw the thing’s skin shift in undulating cascades. Her thumb flipped a switch and a salvo of mini rockets flew out of the mech’s shoulder. Even as the rest of the crew turned from the explosions, she looked on, her face bathed in a fiery glow.

“Did we get it?” ZT shouted.

“Yeah,” Buddy said, suddenly feeling ill. Pain radiated around her abdomen where the creature had bitten her, and she couldn’t feel anything below her waist, but that wasn’t what caused her stomach to churn. She had never felt such powerful anger. It crashed over her like a storm and swept her into a torrent of violence. She had nearly shot Adam.

“Jim’s here, Buddy,” Adam said, “We’re going to get you out of there and patch you up.”

Jim was applying coagulant gel to her midsection even as Adam hoisted her up. In the quiet aftermath, she spotted a shot-up screen hanging from a nearby lamp post. A masked figure strode through the station blasting people with an emerald light. She recognized the weapon—if it could be called that. Its swirling shape gave her just as much of a headache now as when she had seen it aboard the RC research station. The ray it produced didn’t appear to do any significant harm, not until those struck by it crumpled and twisted into grotesque horrors.

“Put me down.”

“You will need more significant treatment to-” Jim started.

“Down,” Buddy said, pushing off of Adam and sliding back into the mech. “We’re not done.”