Fire at Will [Mech Sci-Fi Military]

D-Day

'Welcome, User-41LL12M. Establishing machine-human interface.'

Will stared grimly at the lines of code streaming in, green text pouring across the screen in a torrent as his mech booted up.

'CAD connection established. G-class prosthetic limb detected. Adjusting controls.'

A sharp clang echoed through the workshop as armored plates shifted into place around him. Hydraulic seals bit shut, and the engine's low growl settled into his chest as the suit reshaped itself to his frame.

With a final clang, the mech sealed. Will flexed his fingers, and the machine's metal fist clenched with a hiss of pressure. He felt the strength of the mech surging through him. Beside him, twin thumps echoed as Remy and Becca sealed into their own suits. The muted grey-black machines seemed to blend into the shadows until the three of them looked like they were part of the darkness itself.

The boot-up sequence ended, and the others' engines rumbled to life. Catching Will's gaze, Becca dipped her head once. Remy gave a thumbs-up, his grin hidden behind his visor.

Will gave the two a brisk nod and sent an alert up the chain of command. The order came back fast.

"Let's go!" Will's yell came muffled through his helmet.

The three mechs moved as one, their heavy footfalls hammering the concrete as they stomped out of the workshop.

Outside, the yard boiled with movement. Mercs rushed between stacks of crates and idle vehicles, their paths cut sharp by the bark of NCOs. Trapper, Yami, and Faris stood at the center, mech suits sealed and ready, directing traffic. The mercenary leaders split orders with clipped gestures, and the troops rushed to carry them out.

Trapper caught sight of Will's team and wasted no words. He waved them toward a cluster of soldiers moving with purpose, and Will fell in step, his mech's weight thudding against the ground in time with Becca and Remy.

The group made their way quickly through the throng of mercs, joined by other squads heading in the same direction. Everyone was converging on a borehole dug into the ground. A ladder gleamed down its throat, and one by one they descended the shaft.

Will hesitated when his turn came, the opening yawning beneath him, but he pushed himself forward. The metal rungs held his weight easily enough, and Will began his descent. Rung after rung flew by as he moved quickly, dropping the last few feet and landing with a loud thud.

The tunnel floor shook with his landing, and he stepped aside as Remy came down after him. Becca followed, and together they moved clear of the ladder, making room for the troops behind them.

Will followed the mercs up ahead, deeper into the pipe, boots grinding against the scuffed plastcrete. The tunnel swallowed their noise, every step echoing back with delay.

The old industrial pipeline held up to their abuse surprisingly well despite its age. These ancient channels once carried liters of fuel and process gases to the industrial plants, but with most of those facilities shuttered, the flow had long since been redirected, leaving the tunnels empty.

Now, the abandoned pipes served as covert pathways for the merc group as they slipped beneath the undercity district like specters.

Remy tapped the side of his helmet near his ear, and Will understood. He patched them into a group call without hesitation.

"Y'all see them?" Remy asked as soon as the line opened.

"Who?" Becca's voice cut in.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"The black exosuits." Remy jerked his helmet toward the squad moving down the tunnel. Their armor was sleek, matte plates flowing with unnerving precision.

"Belgrave," Will muttered, watching their silent passage. The guards moved like a single body, footsteps quick and measured.

"There are a lot of them," said Remy.

"Not all," Becca countered. "One squad's at the plant, the rest are tied up with the evac."

Will's hand drifted to his chest, unconsciously reaching for his locket, but his armored fingers only scraped against the chest plate. The grating sound made him grimace, and he pulled his hand away.

"Still worried about the evac?" Becca asked, noticing his distress.

Will exhaled through his teeth. "I just want to call home."

"You know you can't," Remy warned.

"Even Damian isn't answering," Will muttered.

"He's busy," Remy said flatly. "Wouldn't want to be interrupted mid-mission."

Will blinked through a few eye commands and pulled up his messages on the HUD. He shared the feed with the others, showing them the twenty unread messages stacked in his chat.

Remy clicked his tongue. "You're gonna piss him off."

"If he's already pissed, a few more won't matter." Will hammered out another line and sent it.

A few seconds passed, but the thread stayed silent.

Remy shook his head.

"Hold up, you two," Becca cut in. "We're at the breach point."

The crowd ahead began to slow, and Will's squad jogged forward in their heavy mechs until the column ground to a halt.

Up ahead, in the middle of the tunnel, a steel ramp jutted upward toward the ceiling. It climbed steeply until it met a jagged hole cut into the plascrete above. Beyond that opening, only darkness waited, concealing their way out to the streets above.

"There's our exit," Remy huffed.

Will stared at it, heart hammering, heat coursing through his chest with every beat. Charges were already buried in the street above. Once triggered, they'd tear into the Revenant convoy and open the way for their ambush in the Undercity.

"What's the time window?" Remy asked. "How long until they're on that stretch?"

"Their usual run is around 7:00 a.m.," Becca replied. "Which gives us… about thirty minutes."

Will's chest burned as his heart rate spiked. "I'm messaging Damian again."

"Whoa, whoa! Hold on, Will." Remy reached for him, but it was already too late.

Three messages fired off in quick succession. Will was halfway through a fourth when the slate chimed with a new notification.

His cousin was online.

Will's pulse spiked as the reply came through almost instantly:

Stop blowing up my slate. Focus on the mission.

Will frowned, ready to fire back, when a second line appeared.

I know you won't listen. So chew on this instead.

A secure link dropped into the chat. Will keyed in his passcode without hesitation. His HUD blinked, then sharpened into the jittery view of a drone camera skimming the streets above.

"What happened?" Remy asked.

Will pushed the stream to the squad's comms. Their displays flickered, then steadied as the feed came alive for all of them.

"Whoa!" Remy exclaimed as he scanned through the feed. "Is this from the scouting team?"

"Yeah." Will's eyes didn't leave the stream. The drone skimmed a five-lane highway about five hundred meters from the fabrication plant. A few trucks plodded along in the early morning; the area was otherwise clear. Tall grid-service buildings rose on either side, walling the highway in and making it the perfect cover for an ambush.

Will switched between multiple drone feeds, viewing the highway from different angles and slowly stitching together a mental map of the area. Remy was doing the same.

"So here's our exit," said Remy, marking the middle of the highway. "And I think this is where we buried the explosive charges." He flagged another location a few meters down the lane.

Will nodded. They'd rigged enough explosives to blow the street to hell and back.

"So we blow up the Revenant convoy and throw them into disarray," Remy continued. "While they're scrambled, we make contact."

"Then we extract the nukes and grab the Bishop," Becca finished.

"Simple enough," Remy said, though his tone carried no comfort.

"Nothing simple when it's the Revenant." Will felt the weight of that fact settle into the metal of his chest. Their visors hid faces, but the tension showed in stiff shoulders and clenched fists.

"Half an hour to go," Will exhaled, trying to breathe out the tension.

"I guess we wait, then." Becca's voice measured the pause. The three of them sank into uneasy silence, each watching the same grainy street from different angles, waiting for the clock to cross.

Will stood with his arms folded, eyes fixed on the breach exit above. Minutes ticked by, each tick of the clock dragging heavier than the last. Shadows wavered like smoke at the edges of his vision as his mind narrowed to a blade's edge.

Time crawled as the clock neared seven. Will's breath came slow and measured, yet each exhale seemed to thicken the darkness pressing in. The sensation built steadily, a weight crawling closer.

Something was coming.

"Will!"

The voice broke the spell just as an alert chimed from command. He barely registered it, his gaze locked on the drone feed flickering across his HUD. The highway was clear, but beyond the horizon, something flickered. Dark shapes loomed as they drew closer.

The blur resolved into ranks of armored vehicles.

Will straightened, bracing himself.

"Here they come."