Fire at Will [Mech Sci-Fi Military]

THREE VS ONE

Will stood rooted in the middle of the road as the three Condors charged. The obvious question flashing in his head was how to take on three enemies at once.

The answer was—you don't.

Will's hands zipped to his sides and unclipped a flash-bang grenade. The three Condors flinched as long-ingrained instincts kicked in, but it was too late.

The flash-bang detonated with a concussive blast of light and sound, and Will charged, his mech's engines roaring.

It was a straight dash toward Captain Jorg, who sensed his approach and swung a fist. The punch met air as Will ducked and drove his own fist into the Captain's gaping wound.

The mercenary leader let out a gasp of pain as he was flung away, his injury gushing blood.

That was one down.

A horrifying screech rang out as a blade tore into the protective plating on Will's mech. He stumbled backward as the two remaining mercenaries attacked with a barrage of fists and blades.

Captain Jorg's second brought out a pair of daggers, while the mysterious cloaked individual fought unarmed. Their combined assault had Will gritting his teeth as he was pushed back up the narrow road.

As the relentless attacks continued, Will noticed the blonde mercenary seemed a little desperate, tanking blows meant for the cloaked figure.

Will's eyes narrowed as he fired off a few eye-commands to scan the mysterious fighter, but the sensors came up blank. The three traded another burst of furious blows before Will slipped a punch past the Condor's hood, knocking his cowl loose.

It fluttered away, revealing a glint of silver beneath. A metallic frame caught the light—half man, half machine. The cyborg's face twisted into a grimace as his identity was exposed.

"Revenant," Will hissed. He recognized the man—it was the liaison between the Condors and the terrorist group.

Will reached for the rifle at his side, but a flashing dagger stopped him cold. The blonde mercenary closed in, and the mech's actuators whined in protest as Will twisted out of the way, the blade missing him by inches.

The Revenant cyborg joined the attack, and together they forced Will onto the defensive, keeping him from reaching his rifle. They were relentless, blocking him from his kit. But during a brief lull in the assault, he managed to draw his weapon. The triumph, however, was short-lived.

He barely squeezed off a burst of fire before a dagger lodged itself in the trigger mechanism. Cursing, Will turned the ruined rifle into a club, using it to fend off the two combatants.

With a flash of steel the end of the rifle was sheared off and Will fought furiously as the dagger wielding mercenary steadily chipped off the rifle one piece at a time.

Will racked his brain as he fought. He had to subdue both of them for questioning—preferably in one piece. But how?

The fighting got fiercer. The cyborg threw a punch that sent Will careening to the side, only for him to run into the blonde mercenary's daggers. A screech rang out as more of the mech's hard plating fell away.

They were relentless, driving him back step by step. Doubt crept in—survival was uncertain, let alone subduing them. He was barely holding on.

A strange static filled his ears, and his head started pounding. Shadows flickered at the edge of his vision, and a long, spindly limb darted out of sight.

He gasped as a familiar sensation surged through him—cold tendrils of psionic energy reaching out, pulling him halfway into a waking hallucination.

But he wasn't the only one affected. The tendrils leaking from him spilled into the cyborg, and the liaison's eyes suddenly went glassy. Then, blinking in shock, he stared at Will in astonishment.

A chill went through Will.

He knows!

The Revenant's face twisted with hate. Snarling, he opened his mouth to speak—only for Will to drive a vicious knife-hand strike into his throat. The blow landed hard, leaving the cyborg choking and spluttering.

The blonde mercenary lunged in retaliation, slashing at Will—only to freeze mid-swing as a grenade came flying toward his face. Without hesitation, he sliced off the top half.

The grenade fizzled, then erupted in a blinding flash. Even with the main charge severed, the blast struck with jarring force. As the blonde merc staggered, Will drove a kick into his gut, hurling him backward.

A flash of silver blurred in front of him, and Will stumbled back as the cyborg's metallic fists slammed into his. They grappled, straining for dominance. The mech's engines roared, and metal groaned as Will began to crush the cyborg's arms.

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But the Revenant refused to yield. Still wheezing from the throat strike, he growled through clenched teeth, muscles locked in a dead heat with Will's. Blood oozed from the seams in his joints, but he didn't stop.

Wild images flashed before Will's eyes as the visions worsened. They pulled him deeper, and he could see the tendrils of psionic energy connecting to the cyborg. Will could feel himself slowly losing control of his body as his muscles began to spasm. He would soon be trapped inside, unable to move.

Will snarled, "Screw that."

He gathered his field into a spike and speared the Revenant with it. Cyborgs usually had poor field control, and it was the perfect weapon against them. Blood dripped from the Revenant's mouth, but he still held on stubbornly. Off to the side, the blonde merc groaned as he tried to get back to his feet.

"Crap…" Will muttered, redoubling his efforts. Another field spike ran through the cyborg, and he felt the grip loosen. With a flick of his wrist, Will broke the cyborg's hold and grabbed another grenade.

But the Revenant gave him no chance to use it. He broke into Will's guard and slapped the grenade away. The two locked into a brutal close-quarters brawl, fists and elbows flying. Every time Will reached for another grenade, it was knocked aside. Soon, only one remained on his hip.

Gritting his teeth, Will backed off, visions still flickering at the edge of his mind. His control over his body was slipping. He stumbled up the road, the Revenant close behind.

Psionic tendrils clashed invisibly in the air. Will felt the cyborg reaching—stretching his mind across a vast distance, trying to connect to something far away.

Will cursed under his breath. The Revenant was trying to link with the Hive. That couldn't happen—his involvement had to stay hidden. Teeth clenched, Will flared his field and brought it crashing down on the cyborg. He wrestled with the mental tendrils in the psychic space, even as the cyborg kept pressing the attack in the real world.

Their fierce clash had driven them further up the street, and Will saw he was steadily being pushed toward Captain Jorg's burnt-out mech. The hulking machine still belched smoke, its acrid stench seeping into the filters of his own suit.

His engines let out a low, mournful whine as he pushed to keep pace with the Revenant. Another chunk of armor dropped away, and his vision wavered, clouded with flickering hallucinations. The psionic tendrils continued stretching into the void, and Will fought desperately to sever the growing connections.

This was bad—he didn't have much time left. Only a few more seconds of fight remained in him.

Gasping for breath, Will reached for his last grenade, but the cyborg was relentless—never letting up, never giving him an opening.

His mind raced. There had to be a way out. As he staggered back, lungs burning, he caught sight of Jorg's mech—and a jolt of inspiration struck him like lightning. His expression hardened. There was a way.

Will began backing toward the smoldering mech, and the Revenant eagerly followed. From the corner of his eye, he spotted the blonde mercenary rushing toward them, clutching his chest.

Will's heart skipped a beat, but he pushed the fear aside. It didn't matter—this would all be over soon. Parrying the Revenant's rapid strikes, he continued backing up until he reached the wrecked mech and began circling it.

With a quick sleight of hand, he reached for his side—but the cyborg reacted instantly, intercepting his grab for the grenade. Will's hands moved in a blur, and before the Revenant could process it, Will lunged forward and grabbed him in a full-body hold, locking him in place.

A soft clatter reached their ears as multiple grenade pins hit the ground.

The Revenant stared, wide-eyed, at the pins scattered across the street, then glanced back at the grenade still hanging from Will's belt.

"That's right, asshole," Will muttered. "I'm not the only one with a grenade."

The liaison's head snapped toward the burnt-out mech—where a grenade now swung freely from its bandolier, the pin already gone.

"No!" he shouted.

He barely got the word out before the grenades detonated in a thunderous blast. The explosion hurled both Will and the Revenant through the air. Light and sound erupted around them as metal shrapnel tore through the wreckage. But Will, mostly shielded by the cyborg's body, came away largely unharmed.

The rumble went on for a long while, while metal and chips of asphalt rained down around them. When it finally quieted, Will moved.

Groaning, he shoved a slab of armor plating off his arm. Red lights flashed across his HUD, demanding his attention.

"Warning! Warning!"

Will blinked the notification away and looked around. The Revenant—still lying on top of him—groaned weakly. Miraculously, the cyborg was still alive.

Will desperately tried to move, but his armor was unresponsive.

Dark shadows flickered across his vision, and he saw tendrils of psionic energy snaking away from the Revenant, reaching far into the distance.

"Oh no, you don't," Will gasped, trying to sever the connection—but his control was slow and sluggish. Somewhere in the distance, he felt something vast and terrible stir, its attention drawn toward them.

Gritting his teeth, Will forced his depowered armor to move through sheer brute strength. He grabbed a sharp piece of shrapnel and pressed it to the Revenant's throat. The cyborg let out a weak protest, most of his focus still on maintaining the link.

Snarling, Will dragged the blade across his neck.

The connection snapped instantly, and a wave of crimson splashed across Will's visor. The Revenant, choking on his own blood, thrashed about in a final desperate struggle before going completely still.

Will's arm flopped limply to the side, his chest rising and falling rapidly inside the mech. The acrid scent of blood seeped through the filters, and Will felt ill. He doubled over, coughing violently as a wave of nausea surged up his throat. Shoving the body aside, he crawled away, the dead weight of his armor resisting every movement.

It took him a full minute to steady himself. Once his breathing slowed, he stood up and looked around.

The scene around him was devastation.

A gaping crater had been carved into the asphalt, and everything nearby was scorched black. Not far from the Revenant, the blonde mercenary lay sprawled in a pool of blood—a massive chunk of metal had pierced clean through his head.

"Shit," Will muttered. With both enemies dead, there was no one left to interrogate.

Panic surged through him—until he remembered. There was still one more.

Captain Jorg.

Will dragged the dead mech along with him as he stumbled through the rubble, heading toward the spot where he'd last seen the mercenary captain. But when he got there, the area was empty.

Heart pounding, he scanned the surroundings—then spotted a pair of bloody footprints trailing away. They vanished after only a dozen steps down the road, leaving no clue as to where the merc leader had gone.

The comms crackled to life, and Damian's voice came through.

"Recon 1, do you hear me? Come in, Recon 1…"

Will keyed his mic. "This is Recon 1. I'm injured... and the two bogeys are dead."

"What about the Captain?"

"He's gone," Will rasped. "I lost him."

There was a long pause before Damian finally responded. "Copy that. Sit tight, Recon 1. Over and out."

Will slammed his fist against a crumbling wall. Their only lead was gone.

He glanced at the fading bloody footprints, jaw clenched.

They had to find the Captain... and fast.