It had been an hour since they lost control over the Mammoth. They had already prepared themselves for any eventualities as they armed themselves.
Nathan and Leah remained in the control room, their attention on the screens that showed the current state of the Mammoth. They had to keep an eye on Pixie to ensure she did not rewrite the program.
Any more changes and they might just find themselves in an irredeemable situation. Leah could not shake off the feeling that Pixie was more than she was made out to be.
That she was more dangerous than the others thought her out to be. But she was unable to voice her thoughts, it would be taken as her insecurities acting up.
She remained silent and believed that whatever the case may be, she would be able to solve it with Nathan by her side. She had come to trust in his capabilities thus her belief was not misplaced.
As they watched in silence, the sudden blaring of sirens alerted them to the situation outside [Alert… Alert…. Incoming Kaiju spotted. Currently approaching.]
Nathan rose from his seat and checked on the external cams. The image of the area just ahead of the Mammoth was shown and on it, a dark cloud approached.
"What is that?" Nathan frowned. Just then, Elena asked via intercom. "Nathan, what's the situation?"
He was left unable to answer as he could not tell. Due to his inability to work on the system, he was unable to zoom in or run any checks to figure out what was coming at them. "It's a Kaiju."
"I know that. I'm asking what kind of Kaiju?" "… I cannot say. All I know is they are in a group and they seem capable of flight."
"Let me guess, you can't work with the external cams?" "They are a part of the system, so…Yeah."
Elena sighed on the other side. "It's fine. Just keep watch for now." "Will do." Nathan did not like their passive state one bit. He wanted to be active, staying in a position where he could do nothing but wait… It was detrimental to him.
Unfortunately, he could only do as he was told. He couldn't exactly go out to fight after all.
***
The whole squad was gathered in the meeting room. Elena dropped her hand as she cut off the connection with Nathan. "Pixie is getting on my nerves."
Indra spoke up. "If we can't get information on our enemies before we engage them… That places us at a big disadvantage." She did not have to be reminded.
"I realized that. We will make do for now. Reyes, Seraphina. Both of you have marksman-related skills, could you make use of it to get a better look at what we are up against?"
They exchanged looks with each other. "Sure thing. Do we have to engage?" Elena thought for a bit before she nodded. "Mn, if we can test their strength before we clash with them, that would be best."
"Noted." They quickly stepped out and headed for the hatch that connected to the roof. "Everyone else, prepare to engage the enemy."
***
Once they managed to get outside, Reyes and Seraphina got into position. Reyes set his gun down and took a seated position while Seraphina stood tall.
[Hawkeye] [Sage's eyes] They activated their skills at the same time.
Both were indeed quite similar as they focused on shooting at enemies from afar with excellent precision but were similarities laid, there were also differences.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Seraphina asked in a slightly broken voice. She sounded even more manly than Reyes, it shocked the latter somewhat.
"…what are you seeing?" "Creatures that look a lot like, what are they called again… Yes, bats. But much bigger… Big enough to pick up an average human male with ease."
Reyes did not answer immediately. "…That's the same thing I can see with my scope."
"I'll report it in. You attack first." Sera stepped aside as she put a call across while Reyes prepared to fire. Picking out a Caliber.96, he loaded his sniper and prepared to shoot.
He cocked the gun and adjusted it before he aimed and then… ***Pew***
It moved at the speed of sound as it tore through the air, heading towards the target with enough power behind it.
"Yeah?" "We have eyes on the approaching Kaiju, they share similarities with bats regarding looks but their bodies are big enough to pick up a human."
"…have you tested their durability?" "Just about to…" She trailed off at that moment.
***Kieee***
There was an ear-splitting cry as the bullet pierced the body of its target. After what looked like a struggle for its life, it hurtled towards the ground, devoid of life.
"They are within an acceptable range. We can take them." Sera quickly noted. "Alright then. Take down as many as you can before they reach the Mammoth."
"Fine by me." The lines went dead and Sera picked up her bow. She took a deep breath and channeled the tachyon from her core, into the bow.
It looked like a traditional bow without a string with some aesthetic designs giving its outward appearance a rather scintillating aura.
As the energy flowed through the bow, it came alive as black lines through it turned a blue color and in the area where a string was meant to be, a blue line went through connecting both areas.
She took the standard archery position and drew the blue line back, a blue arrow created using tachyon, appeared on the string, and pointed towards the distance.
She aimed and then, she let the arrow fly. It whizzed through the air, the surrounding wind gathering as it rotated weirdly. Reyes merely had to take a glance over to find that this was Sera's doing.
She was scary with a bow.
The arrow planted itself into yet another Kaiju, eliciting another pained screech from it before it also plummeted to the ground, dead.
"That was flashy," Reyes commented. Sera did not respond, merely flashing a smile before she stepped forward. "Hah," He sighed heavily as he aimed again.
At that moment, a strange thought came to his mind. It almost felt like something was wrong. The bat Kaiju did not seem to have wanted to attack but due to their unprovoked assault, they had surely placed them in their sight now.
They let out screeches and it echoed throughout the entire canyon. This was like a call to arms as they made a beeline for the Mammoth. "Here they come." Sera booked another arrow and shot it.
Seeing this, Reyes shook his head to get rid of the thoughts. He needed to focus on the battle at hand.
***
"They don't seem to have been aggressive before we attacked." Leah calmly observed as she watched the screen with Nathan. She had walked over to check the situation out of curiosity.
Nathan nodded in agreement. "But the Mammoth wouldn't randomly tag them as a threat if they weren't." "But right now the Mammoth is under Pixie's influence."
"What are you getting at?" "What if Pixie registered them as a threat just because she felt like it and not that they were a threat."
Nathan paused momentarily before he burst into a chuckle. "That's interesting but I see no reason why the devs would design an AI like that. We shouldn't read much meaning into it."
Leah slowly nodded as she returned to her position. At that moment, on the other screen depicting the code flow of the Mammoth, there was a slight change after which everything returned to normal.
***
Outside the Mammoth, Reyes and Sera had already engaged the Kaiju, on closer look, they could see their names imprinted above their heads.
[Screechers] A befitting name for them due to their excessive sounds that seemed to be more than just a war cry at this point.
As they dropped them, more of their kind appeared and within a minute, the Mammoth was surrounded from above by a ring of darkness made entirely out of Screechers.
It was not a pleasant sight. Just as Reyes and Sera were contemplating how to act, help arrived.
Lightning seemed to strike as electric currents charged around them. Reyes turned around to find Jeremiah out of the hatch, standing like a knight as his spear charged up.
"You guys angered quite a few of them. Impressive." There was a tone of underlying mockery but that was beside the point. Apart from his annoying character, Reyes had to confess that in times when he had to display his strength, Jeremiah was indeed a top cadet.
He planted his feet into the roof, forming a dent on the metal. He bent a little after which he quickly stood upright and with the added velocity, hurled the spear at a portion of the dark circle.
***Kwadudu***
It was a sight to behold.