Built Different [Cyborg Superhero ProgFant]

It turned out that war was pretty terrible for my mental health.

Sweat soaked through my suit. A dull ringing sat in the back of my muted ears. Even with my re-breather, the smell of dust and blood exhausted my senses. The constant rhythmic vibration of the assault rifle kickback was a percussive drum playing a tune from my unsavory past.

All things considered, it was a massacre.

The metal plate Roxy had thrown cut through soft targets, a few tents, and other minor debris before bursting against one of the tanks. Not only leaving a burning scar against the vehicle, but clearing the path allowed me to fire on it with my armor-piercing rounds.

Armed with the plundered weaponry, we had made short work of the first wave of disorganized gnolls. Whatever training they had received previously seemed to evaporate once a real threat presented itself. As we gunned them down, many of them dropped their weaponry to run at us. The smell of death in the air brought out their more feral nature.

Once we had shredded through the first wave, the Meteor rocketed out of the surrounding streets to dump another wall of thick smoke between us and the remaining forces. We moved up through what cover we could find. Roxy threw one of the burned-out vehicles across the area, causing a small chain reaction with whatever they had stockpiled there.

After a mortar shell landed within the ranks of the Gnaws, someone with some sense told them to abandon their use. That wasn't the only losses being cut, as few fringe groups of mutants not fully into the war began retreating from the area.

On our side, Belle had come across a small breakthrough in switching what she referred to as the 'polarity' of her dome. Instead of the defensive shield appearing around us, a circular area out in no-man's-land illuminated in green, causing bad luck to affect a whole squad of gnolls.

For our efforts, we hadn't come out unscathed. Mostly minor injuries, with mental exhaustion being the worst the mutants could inflict on us. My personal shielding and new helmet had become worth their weight in gold, as they had prevented at least a handful of bullets from wounding me. I had still taken a few scrapes and near-misses, but nothing that my stims couldn't heal over in short order.

The others had escaped most injury as well. Roxy wasn't shy about making herself the biggest target, and the gnolls couldn't resist taking the bait. Between her hardiness and the occasional shielding from Belle, the only negative thing was her worsening mood. That was part of the reason the rest of us were sweating buckets.

"Looks like they're gathering by the hanger for a last stand," she growled.

Whoever had created the large building had erected concrete barricades around it. Not especially effective cover given our range of powers, but as good as a rally point as they were likely to have out here.

[Maintain position. We can wear them down from here.]

This was starting to feel like a done deal. Fire and dark smoke engulfed the flanks of this wide area where the vehicles had been destroyed. Bloody corpses covered the heated ground. We had all but defanged whatever trouble the mutants had been preparing to use on Goldarch. Even if we left right now, we had set them back by years - as the World Gov wasn't likely to prop them back up to strength after this failure.

There was one thing still pushing us forward, however.

The hanger likely held evidence that the Government was behind this. Speculation was easy enough to throw around, but having something concrete meant… well, knowing which side of the line we stood when things got bad. With one of my brother coming to the city soon, I needed all the ammunition I could get.

A dry thought as I reloaded the assault rifle. Ren hit the ground with an arrow and several gnolls fell out of cover, blown awkwardly by a sudden gust of wind. The speedster emptied a magazine into them, having little issue hitting targets at this range. I could tell his prior experience was also souring his mood. His face was covered by the tactical mask, but the way in which he responded to my orders that his usual chipper confidence had all but left.

We needed to wrap this up shortly to maintain morale for tomorrow.

//Clara: Unknown energy signal has stabilized.
//Clara: Now moving toward you. Preliminary scans suggest a vehicle.

Another tank? Perhaps something more effective and dangerous than the ones we had already dealt with. I ducked down behind cover to catch my breath and looked up at the super.

"Whatever it is, we'll puncture it quickly. Numbers are thinning enough to where it should be safe to…"

She trailed off, her goggles glinting in the light as she looked over at the hanger. I was briefly focused on how amazing she looked, standing with one foot up on our cover as stray bullets whizzed past her. After committing that view to memory, I turned to look back over the barricade.

The large hangar doors were opening. Red lights flashed around as smoke billowed out of the opening.

"You know, we could just nuke the whole building before the reveal," Belle said, as she awkwardly adjusted the rifle so she could use both hands for casting.

Stolen novel; please report.

"As well as any evidence," Roxy countered.

Ren drew up an arrow to the ready. "Could be filled with something detrimental to explode as well."

[Be ready to act. I will call it as soon as we know what we're dealing with.]

Undoubtedly, it was the crown jewel of whatever forces the gnolls had been gathering. The fact that it had been hidden away meant it was either special or—more likely—something that they didn't want Goldarch to know about. Now we had forced their hand. Shadows scoured by the light of day.

As a dark shape loomed with the spreading smoke, we took aim. Even the remaining mutants seemed shell-shocked and distracted by the appearance of…

Something almost familiar.

Heavy footsteps ground at the concrete flooring of the hangar before the first part of our final opponent stepped into the light. We had found walking mechs or robotic suits a couple of times in the past, but this was something else.

The size of a small bungalow, the only word that popped into my brain was dreadnought. A thick box of metal with short legs, four arms, and several manned positions with mounted weaponry. Each of the hands on the arms was for different purposes. One was a giant rotary saw, another a spinning drill-like spike. The lower two were a hand of four fingers, and one with dual pincers.

Definitely not something the gnolls could have made - or even bought. To fit their theme, they had daubed it in decorations to make it their own, however. Spikes, crude war-paint, and cosmetic metal sheets over the well-crafted shell.

"Odds on that not being piloted by a mutant?" Roxy asked.

[We'll find out once it is neutralized. Fire at will.]

An arrow, several salvos of rifle ammunition, and a hardened molten rock all careened through the air toward the tall mech.

A bubble-shaped shield flickered over the dreadnaught, deflecting all projectiles.

"Fuckin' rude," the elf murmured.

"Permission to engage?" Roxy asked, for perhaps the fifth time in the last ten minutes.

My lenses scanned over the monstrous tech and filled the side of my vision with a list of all the weapons it housed. Clumping together to fight the gnolls with their haphazard excuse for aiming had been to our advantage, but against this walking weapons platform, we would be sitting ducks.

A flamethrower, two heavy machine guns, a miniature rocket launcher, and around four viewing ports for gnolls to poke their rifles through. That wasn't counting the melee-focused arms, but I was sure that the super could handle those.

[Ren and Belle, get on top of the Meteor. Assist Roxy while she keeps its attention away from you and tries to disable it. Roy, you're coming with me - to the hangar.]

It wasn't the best plan; I was aware. The safest thing would be to pelt the mech from range, moving back and spreading out to avoid being blown up or roasted. I wasn't a gambling man, but I had the hunch that if there were any Gov workers around, they'd be destroying as much evidence as they could within the hangar while we dealt with the walker.

Roxy was an unavoidable threat that they'd have to focus on if they didn't want to get torn in half. With Clara piloting the Meteor, the other two women could support while avoiding the worst of the mech's armaments. Roy was the best person for stopping things as quickly as possible, and would be able to assist me getting to the hangar.

The Natural Disasters gave me their acknowledgements, and we moved. As the dreadnought spun up the heavy machine guns and started to spray in our direction, Roxy was already in the air. From back in a side street, the Meteor slid across the ground and started hurtling our way.

I slung the rifle to my back and looked over at the speedster. He dropped his gun to the ground and withdrew a knife from his belt.

"Ready when you are," he said, his voice still distant.

[We move.]

The pair of us stood and ran to the left of the cover, circling toward the west side of the military slaughterhouse. Roxy landed beside the mech, more to the east, just as the other two hopped onto the Meteor.

There were still stragglers amongst the gnoll army. My shield flickered as it deflected a bullet before Roy was beside the mutant, knife through their throat. Several more were hiding behind fallen crates or broken shells of tanks. As my cybernetic legs powered me across the slick ground, the speedster continued to zip around, stabbing any gnoll along the route.

Just as we were almost parallel with the dreadnought, I turned to look at it briefly. A giant gout of flame enveloped Roxy as the drill arm stabbed downward into her. It was nearly facing entirely west now. So far, so good. The Meteor complained a small distance behind us, grinding through the piles of corpses.

"Not sure… I'm into this… mercenary stuff… if it's going to be… like this," Roy complained, his sentence fragmented as he moved away from and to me at speed.

[Duly noted.]

Out of all of us, I perhaps had the best reason to be a little grouchy about this massacre we had been coerced into. Not only was I recovering from important surgery on my arm, but I had the Heroism Arena tomorrow. Something that could make or break my career - as well as affect those closest to me. Not to mention possible interference alongside whatever heroic bullshit I had to perform.

But I would save all my complaining for when we were back home. There was a bubble bath with my name on it, and that was enough to keep me going.

The sound of grinding came from the fight as the circular saw sparked against the ground. Small arms fire dinged off of the Meteor as another arrow caused a shield flare up on the mech. There was a good chance it would be destroyed by the time we were done with the hangar.

//Clara: I'm diverting some resources to your scanning capabilities.
//Clara: I am no longer tracking targets, but recording everything you see.
//Clara: At the highest definition possible.

It should only take a glance, and any paperwork would be copied to the data storage back home in an instant. Not knowing who or what might be in the hangar was playing it a little loose, but I had jumped into more dangerous waters with fewer precautions before.

I hadn't even broken my arm in ages.

With my sidekick's orders still imprinted in my mind, I fired a few Slug rounds into stragglers, but let Roy do most of the work. The appearance of the dreadnaught had even caused some of the remaining army to flee rather than give them hope. I was willing to bet few had even seen it being constructed, let alone in action.

I ignored the sound of an explosion and further gunfire as we were reaching the entrance. With an empowered jump, I leaped over the concrete barrier and landed amongst a handful of gnolls waiting for a good opportunity to run or steal some last-minute glory.

A kick broke the ribs of one, as I turned and pushed a second into the speedster, who appeared and twisted their head to the side. Slug blew the face open of another, while Roy dispatched the last two with quick slashes.

Wasting no time, we jogged across the short space of concrete and stepped into the shadowed doorway of the hangar.

My eyes adjusted slowly, and I paused in place. The sound of the empty cartridge across the ground was the only noise—save for the distant fight—until I spoke.

[Well, that's unexpected.]