Gigante's nightlife truly was something incomparable to any other. Yet one place remained at peace despite the hour, its very center. In the middle of the walled fortress was another wall of iron with sentries at every angle. In the middle of that ring was a tower that went beyond the wall, one that had skyscrapers bowing as it saw a view of green near its feet. This tower was a sacred location, for all disputes of massive scales occurred within the lower floor. After a certain level, nobody was allowed access unless permitted by him. At the very peak of this tower was a castle. Small in stature, it consisted of a singular chamber where one could see the far reaches of the nation. The red room also held a red throne in the center the likes of which none have seen. Held in place by giant coils sending power to thousands of working parts and the one who sat upon it perfectly. Thermal energy was submissive to the red titan. Rote-Gigante.
"Hmm…" the corner of his emerald lense detected something. A blinding white to the east, "Parshad, what is that?" air radiated with the hum, shaking with his voice. The giant with the shape of a man need not tilt his head. Duty fell on his servant. Parshad was a man with long hair the shade of bark, and a suit to match. A lean figure; obviously he needed to meet high demands to serve such a diety.
"It appears to be an attack, should I address this to the knights?" he quizzed, walking closer to the window. Irradiated air made his skin sweat even from such a distance, "May want to send some radiation cleaners in the district as well,"
"No need," Rote spoke up, "Prepare the Knights for the worse," the floor trembled with three-toed feet standing from the highest throne in the country. "If a fool's will challenged my own, then I will judge this." Green eyes blinded the room once he stood.
A force to be reckoned with without a doubt. It was the same as those in the point-blank explosion, names being Tome and Dynamo. Strider had the joy to see a pillar erupt skyward; strangely enough, the neighboring locations weren't affected heavily. A pillar of ornate destruction, "Well shit...they were keeping something scary down here," he blurted out in a panic. He had not the slightest clue of where to aim. "Is that?"
Far above with a singed body was that dragon man. Green scales now textured like charcoal with wings beating, attempting to support his gigantic body with tiny holes torn in both. Yet he was far, Strider could hear the loud cries of anger as he struggled to stay afloat. "Huh...loud bastard ain't he?"
It was fine if Tome was the only one, but beside him was something of note. A segment? Once viewed through his scope, Strider cringed. It was a leg. Dynamo's leg. "He went and segmented himself…" his body split into various components. Forearms, shoulders, torso, and legs became multiple as it rained over the sky. At the same moment, Strider received a ping from his neuragear. It was from Dynamo.
The thing inside is still alive.
His upper torso, left arm and head were still intact enough to give Strider a wink before hurdling over the rooftops. Strider looked back to see the pillar dying down. In a wave of orange and red were white dots. An eye shone back at Strider, though the focus of that wolf head wasn't on him, but the sky above. Tome was targeted again by the strangely crafted machine. Its legs bent. A leap mimicking an insect with arms clawing at the wind, pulling him up closer to the dragon, "Oh, saving me the time and coming to me!" Tome met death in physical form with his own bravado. Those claws couldn't do much before he was kissing the dragon's heel. But that heel was the thing to be punctured. The wolf smiled. Why?
Tome's eyes feel on the elbows of the machine's slim arms and the secondary device. Artificial muscles covered a metal rod in a lattice. In the center of that rod was a bright orange ball with the metal fused around it. Attached to it was the tether of a D.D.D. system. It was a jackhammer, when the spring pulled the rod back to its proper place the night exploded in the most lethal firework. To the gaze of the mass, they saw a meteor leaving the atmosphere. And what fell to earth were two bodies. A dragon with skin turned black and the whites of their pupils gone, crushed under the odd leg of the wolf. "An agent brutish as you? A master of none is what you are."
The wolf flinched. Something pinged against his ear. Gently his claw rubbed the area and pinched the outlying item. A bullet. Just the tilt of their head and their optics revealed the source, "You. You aren't in my records," the wolf's rod geared back with fingers pointed towards the end of a sniper rifle. Fires raced through the air for the third time. Singed was the sign that Strider hid behind.
"Ah!" he leaped back. The floor under him was the target of the weaponized air. Before he could retreat any further he was buried by the rubble beneath him.
"Interesting...be a good boy and stay there," the wolf lectured, "Now where is that man," he saw a target split into multiple segments earlier; someone in their databanks. "Will you run off as well, Dynamo Legbuster?" Teeth shined and feet grounded. Cat and mouse, but who was who? Shuffling in the rubble stole the machine's attention.
Parts scattered across the sky and fell to earth like an asteroid. Dynamo did as much as he could, but they were too far removed to reconnect now. Hand holding the back of his head, he braced for impact.
Thud was the sound when the object crashed next to Lena. A shape she was all too familiar with; burnt into the back of her mind. Dynamo's tree trunk of a leg left a crater inches away from her, bellowing in smoke with dim orange glows, "Hey!" she caught her breath, "That scrapyard son of a-" she bit her teeth while flinching. Before she could joke, more pieces rained from above. She took cover under the signs. Most others didn't react the same, they fled from the giant pillars of light. Red swarm members had already directed the masses with escape routes plotted out. "I-...shit."
She didn't know what to do. Loyalty to her friend? Or just run? Was he still alive at this point or not after that eruption? The choice was decided for her, "Hey!" a muffled tone screamed out, "Stop twiddling your toes and help me out already," Dynamo's leg spoke to her. It struggled to balance itself, spinning heel and knee in every direction before finally standing.
"There's a- how are you speaking to me right now?" Lena was taken aback for a moment.
"Got a speaker in my legs, duh," the foot spoke again, "Now, look up," a segment of their roof tried its hardest to aim upwards. Above her head on one of the now-empty brothels was Dynamo. Well, his torso and left arm hanging on for dear life. "Hey….mind catching me?"
"Yeah just a bit," she gulped. Mechanics were a difficult beast to eye when it came to their weight; metals as dense as kosmik could mean he was a few hundred pounds even if broken apart, "Let me just prepare my-" her sentence incomplete before the broken unit hoisted himself off the side and to her arms. Not even a second after holding him and Lena's arms gave away, dropping the unit the instant he touched her arms.
"Ouch!" he screamed out, his hand grasping for the back of his head, "Come on...really?"
"Don't blame me," Lena huffed, "You're like five hundred pounds or something!" she highlighted the bigger issue, "Stop being such a drama queen, you can't feel pain anyways," something strange was his reaction. The reaction any human would have...but why the back of his head was his main concern? His processor most likely. "Oh...you probably don't have a copy of yourself backed up, do you?"
"Well one, I'm three hundred and most of that are my legs and the stuff I need to move as fast as I do," he corrected with a finger raised. His leg hopped over to be adjusted into place once more, "Secondly, I do have a backup, but it's sorta unconventional and in Doubhain right now," with the wall as a brace he rose to the occasion. "And lastly. Follow them and get out of this place quick. This whole district can go up like a firecracker."
"Yeah I would be running now," Lena admitted, "I know you can't tell, but I do have some stranger's blood on me right now-" the look she got from Dynamo said more than words ever could, "Alright I might be oversharing, but you get my point."
"Huh...alright, my other parts are signaling me right now. Swarm's moving in on the location so let's get those before and move back in," a risky but obvious plan. Dumb, but it was something he needed to do. "My wrist is right in that alley, my thigh is somewhere stuck high and my-"
"Yeah yeah….let's get it done…" Lena rubbed her temples with another dumb idea spouted by the unit, "Can't we just, collect your other pieces and wait for the knights to handle this?" rational shone through. Dynamo continued to shake his head once they were on the move.
"Sorry, but there's just something I need to confirm with that droid," his eyes narrowed. Each time Dynamo got closer to one of his components they rocketed towards him. Fused back to him in a few seconds, his elbow called for his forearm. "Remember Zaltras? The one that showed up in my face the other week?" he quizzed.
Lena nodded, "Guessing this guy is sort of the same then?" Dynamo's finger pointed to the parts hanging over their heads which were quickly shot down by Lena. Piece by piece his body became whole, except for his left leg.
"No," Dynamo shook his head, "This one is a different beast," this new creature was on a different level altogether. Not that beings like this didn't exist in this world of ancient beasts older than the former pantheon. Where there were mechanical men amplified by beast blood, roaming the earth, a fire shooting robot was normality. "Be careful though, I have no data on this one. My buddy can handle him for a few minutes alone."
An alleyway paved through east of where the was seen. Neither hesitated to rush directly into the fray even as more flames bellowed and danced in the dark. Razor teeth covered the earth in the far distance in paving of silver. Even around a hundred meters away, the shimmer of those monsters was something he'd never forget, "Hold up!" Dynamo stretched his arm out, "Those are C.C. 5s, the second they pick you up in their censors you're dead," he was brash with the truth. History spoke of these things in vivid detail. Mountains and walls meant nothing to them, armor and skin were treated the same. "If they crawl on you, the only fix is to cut off your legs. Got that?"
Lena gulped with a nod, out of the blue became expected for this night. Silver glitters seemed to be in control, however, only standing in the street lurching across the other side of the road. Two buildings opposing each other were torn and scorched asunder. On the left was rubble where the machines originated. To the right was the source of the flames, focused on the ground and the nanomachines that refused to break. That wolf hopped into the sky again. How it struck fear in a leap and endless power, "That him?" Lena questioned. "He's sorta a mishmash?"
"That's what I thought, next thing I knew my body got mishmashed," Dynamo sensors made him worry. He pointed towards the pile of rubble. A robotic limb stood buried in the rubble with its fingers moving. The owner's head also stuck out slightly. Strider's flow of control continued with the tidal wave of bugs.
"Holy shit! What happened to him!" Lena freaked out seeing her neighbor, the owner of those archaic pieces.
"I'm not pointing to him, he's fine...probably," next to Strider was Dynamo's leg. The last piece, "Shit, that kid's down," he grit his teeth at the sight of Tome. Laid off to the side with every inch of him smoldering. "Thanks for all the help, but right now I'm begging you to hide somewhere where you won't get hurt, Lena."
She stood there stunned for a moment. Dynamo stood up straight, she wasn't his crutch anymore, "You brought me all the way out here just to tell me to leave again! What the hell!?" she pointed out flaws in his actions, "I thought you were throwing me into the action-"
"And what of it?" Dynamo scolded. His eyes narrowed, "Think what you want of me, but I am no fool," his voice trembled with rage. "Tell me? What if all the other routes already had other creatures like him waiting to wreak more havoc? They planted droids disguised as workers, how am I supposed to know the swarm or anyone else there wasn't pre-planned? Let's say it turned out like that and you went- you'd be dead and I don't need someone else on my conscious."
"I brought you here because it's simultaneously the most dangerous and safest spot there is- dangerous if you keep poking your head out and safe because of them!" Dynamo's aim focused on the machines entering the scene. Red swarms and their leaders. Cerise the bloom, Carmine the thunderer, and Baroque of the soil. Three of the barons without their Dyson counterparts appeared on the field with restrictions lost; his will carried on with them. "I don't care if I get blown up I have that coming to me, but I can't repair you if your just a stain!"
She was left stunned by the exchange. Dynamo didn't care to continue, time was thin in the first place. Before Lena could react, she was pushed back into the alleyway, "Stay there, get in a basement or anything," Dynamo whistled with his speakers to the max, "Hey numbnuts! Want a round two!?" his leg hummed from afar with their master's voice. It attracted the eyes of the three barons who led their armies, the wolf-headed demon as well as Strider. His leg charted in a hook, between all of the rubble and flames, across the face of the wolf and into the stuck out thigh that waited. He roared with the breath of oil coursing through his veins and uranium pulses. Steam left his mouth and eyes darted to all who met his. Another idiotic machine came to play.
"Hmmm...Is that?" Baroque whispered to his brother of the same build.
"Yep….he's here," Cerise sighed, "Ignore him, what's your decision, Carmine?" their attention changed to the sister in charge. She hummed with her mind's calculations. Over a hundred swarm members were on scene, not to mention Tome Dragnok and the stranger with the hungry bugs.
"Send half the swarm for recovery of any injured in the location, switch the other half into using coolants against the target. Keep swapping artillery until they find something that works….only target the unidentified unit and stay out the way of that...Legbuster," she bit her lip. "When the target's neutralized, go collect his body for me too."
Her siblings laughed at her anger, another servant of Dyson before them. One she had not seen in over a decade. As the final command left her mouth that rogue unit bounced to action. The wolf rose his hand. The rod pounded back into position, releasing a ray of flame at Dynamo. His heel scrapped the ground, brought to a halt. He went on all fours, diving under the pillar of the flame as he eyed Strider now, "Hey, you still alive!" he asked before skating off to him. Strider nodded. Both heads faced the wolf. Another wave of heat met their gaze. Dynamo used the debris as a shield, kicking the stone slabs up and towards their target. It was easy to crumble, more needed to be shot again and again before chunks hit the wolf.
"Help me out here already," Strider hacked out his breath in a plea. Above them, the whizz of the swarm went into action. Bright red flashes hived the wolf with firepower raining in a parade of red and blue, "Hey, you two," Cerise called out from above, "Get Tome and go. The swarm is doing recon on survivors and if they're not….well his majesty is handling this with his own two hands," Rote was ready.
The atmosphere turned bright red.