After setting the EMP charge in place, Alex decided to linger and light up a cigarette. There was no rush—an entire hour remained before the convoy's arrival. Enjoying his smoke, he watched the sun slowly sink below the horizon, his mind drifting to thoughts about the cargo—the experimental suit being transported from another city. He had his theories but wasn't in a hurry to share them. After finishing his cigarette, Alex headed back to the group.
Climbing up to the high ground where the others were waiting, he walked over to his car and sat on the hood, still watching the sunset. A few minutes later, Maine joined him, lighting up a cigarette as well. They chatted about different things until Maine suddenly asked:
«Are you sure you don't want to take over the team after I'm gone?» he asked, looking intently at Alex.
Alex looked at him as if he were joking. He'd already turned down leadership more than once, especially since they'd soon be leaving this universe.
«I've told you—I'm too lazy for that,» Alex replied. «What about you? You're the one retiring. What'll you do after that?» he asked with a slight smile.
«I think Dorio and I will buy a house and live like a regular family,» Maine replied with a wide grin.
«Solid plan. You'll just need some kids and a dog,» Alex chuckled. «Kids on the agenda?»
«Yeah, Dorio and I dream of having a child. But because of her injuries, that's not possible. Still, it doesn't mean I'll love her any less. We can always adopt,» Maine said, glancing over at Dorio, who was helping Falco.
For a moment, Alex looked thoughtfully at Dorio and Falco. He knew he could help with their problem, but he needed to take care of things on his end first. After the battle with the mech, he'd be able to open up to the team.
«I think it's a great goal—a house, kids, a peaceful life. So let's make sure you and Dorio can retire with a clear conscience,» Alex said, giving Maine a friendly pat on the shoulder.
«Thanks, choom. And what about you? What'll you do after this mission?» Maine asked with a smile.
«You'll find out after the mission. For now, it's a secret,» Alex replied with a mysterious grin.
Maine rolled his eyes—yet another of Alex's secrets, which always turned into some unexpected twist. They continued chatting about houses, raising kids, and how hard it would be to instill good habits in them. Alex admitted he dreamed of having a daughter, and Maine joked that it would be funny if their kids ended up dating. But under Alex's piercing gaze, he quickly added that no one would dare touch his daughter. Maine just smirked, realizing Alex would be an overprotective dad.
Time flew by until Dorio reminded them that the convoy would arrive in half an hour. Alex and Maine nodded and began preparing, while Alex noticed GIR and MIMI approaching him with serious expressions.
«What?» Alex asked, tilting his head.
GIR and MIMI didn't respond but simultaneously dropped to one knee. GIR placed one hand on his hammer, holding his helmet in the other. MIMI rested her mace on the ground and stood with her shield in front of her. This caught the attention of the entire group, raising questions from those unfamiliar with the display. Alex's expression darkened. He loved the Warhammer universe, but this was too much.
«I am not doing this,» Alex said, with a sour look.
GIR and MIMI looked up at him, making it clear they wouldn't get up until he completed the ceremony. Alex turned to Lucy, but she shook her head, indicating this was his responsibility. Kiwi looked away on purpose, pretending not to notice, while Rebecca was clearly enjoying the scene. Realizing no one would help, Alex stood directly in front of GIR and MIMI, putting on a stern expression.
«What is your Duty?» Alex asked loudly, staring at them.
«To serve the Emperor's Will!» GIR and MIMI answered in unison.
«What is the Emperor's Will?» Alex continued, pacing back and forth.
«That we fight and die!» they replied without lifting their heads.
«What is Death?» Alex asked, not breaking his gaze.
«It is our Duty!» GIR and MIMI responded firmly.
«When is your Duty done?» he finally asked, stopping and looking directly at them.
«Only in Death does Duty end!» they answered, looking up at him.
Finishing the speech, Alex looked at GIR and MIMI, barely holding back a laugh. He knew it was just to fulfill his helpers' dream, but he hadn't expected such a serious mission to turn into a spectacle. The girls from his group rolled their eyes, feeling the embarrassment grow with each passing second. It seemed that their partner, Alex—the one who had repeatedly said he wouldn't indulge GIR and MIMI's passion for worshiping the Emperor of Mankind—was now the one inspiring them with speeches.
The rest of the group watched in shock, unable to understand what they were seeing; it looked almost like a ritual or even a cult. They had questions but didn't dare ask, fearing they'd get even more confused.
«Now rise and smite the heretics in the name of the Emperor!» Alex proclaimed loudly, trying to stay serious.
«FOR THE EMPEROR!» GIR and MIMI shouted in unison, raising their weapons to the sky.
Alex raised his fist with them, barely containing his laughter. The girls noticed and chuckled quietly as GIR and MIMI moved to their positions. Sighing in relief, Alex looked at the group, meeting the surprised and bewildered gazes of his teammates. He addressed them in a calm voice, as if nothing unusual had happened.
«Choom, what was that all about?» Maine asked, trying to find words for the scene he'd just witnessed.
«Let's just say it's a pre-battle ritual. Just pretend you didn't see anything, or GIR and MIMI will drag you into it too,» Alex warned, advising Maine against asking any further questions.
Maine nodded, but he resolved to figure out what had just happened later. Alex sighed, realizing he'd dodged a lengthy explanation, and refocused on the mission ahead. As the others took up their positions to ambush the convoy, Alex stayed by the car, deciding to have a quick smoke before the fight. The girls approached him, hiding their smiles.
«Who was it that said they wouldn't encourage GIR and MIMI's interests? And now here you are, giving a speech before the operation,» Rebecca remarked, laughing.
«Oh, come on! I just didn't want to hear them complain later. Ever since they got their new armor, they've only gotten more into it,» Alex replied, trying to justify himself.
The girls didn't believe him and continued laughing, recalling how Alex often indulged GIR in his «Ultramarine» games. Alex rolled his eyes, tossed his cigarette butt aside, and headed to the road to block the convoy's path. Rebecca and Pilar took positions for fire support, while Lucy and Kiwi prepared to intercept signals. Alex, Maine, Dorio, GIR, and MIMI would be the main strike force in the upcoming attack.
Alex stopped in the middle of the road, lighting another cigarette and gazing into the distance. By his calculations, the convoy should appear in about fifteen minutes.
«Hey, choom, what are you doing on the road? Planning to stop the convoy with your body?» Maine laughed through the communicator.
Alex just smiled, looking up at Maine, who was standing on a rise, and replied with a smirk, «Got a better idea? Or should we lay you out on the road as a speed bump?»
The whole group burst into laughter, and Maine grimaced as if he'd bitten into a lemon.
«Stretch yourself out, don't go offering that to me!» he replied, trying to keep a serious tone.
The playful banter continued until the convoy appeared in the distance.
«Alright, girls, cut it out. Time to work,» Dorio interrupted their exchange.
Focusing, Alex tossed his cigarette and positioned himself on the road, ready to confront the first vehicle. When the driver spotted him and received orders to run him down without slowing, Alex simply shook his head, understanding their intent. Effortlessly, he unsheathed Yamato and, with a lightning-fast slash, sliced the vehicle in half. The two halves screeched past him.
«Blow it!» he shouted, snapping Maine out of his stupor and initiating the operation.
Maine quickly recovered after seeing Alex slice the vehicle in two and pressed the activation button for the EMP charges. Two loud blasts sounded, and visible EMP waves enveloped the entire convoy. When the vehicles ground to a halt, disabled by the charges, the guards started jumping out, ready to defend the cargo. The first of them took a bullet to the head, which exploded like a ripe watermelon. Wasting no time, Alex gripped Yamato's hilt tightly and charged toward the convoy.
The guards snapped out of their shock and began shooting in his direction, taking cover behind the vehicles, but Pilar and Rebecca left them no chance, taking down anyone who dared peek from cover. On cue, Maine, Dorio, GIR, and MIMI began their assault.
Getting close enough, Maine fired a shotgun blast, hitting a guard who'd emerged from cover. Dorio ran up to a vehicle where enemies were hiding and flipped it over with a powerful strike, crushing the guards beneath its weight. GIR and MIMI were wreaking havoc at the back of the convoy, leaving no one alive.
Each swing of GIR's thunderous hammer scattered enemies, reducing them to a bloody mess. MIMI, shield raised, approached the guards, striking their legs with her mace to knock them off balance and then finishing them off with a blow to the face, turning their heads into splattered melons. Despite their bulky armor, they maneuvered swiftly, eliminating foes one by one.
The onslaught by Alex and his team concluded quickly. Alex handled the guards at the front of the convoy, while Maine and Dorio took the middle, with cover fire from Rebecca and Pilar. At one point, Pilar set aside his sniper rifle and unleashed a grenade launcher, while GIR and MIMI caused a massacre at the end of the convoy, annihilating every last enemy. When the final guard was down, Alex looked around and requested a status report from the others. Maine and Dorio confirmed that all were dead, while GIR and MIMI proudly reported that they had purged every heretic.
«Meet at the main transport—the primary target,» Alex commanded, contacting the team.
Everyone affirmed, and soon the roar of engines sounded nearby. Falco pulled up in his van, followed by Lucy and Kiwi in Alex's car. They all gathered around the main transport, inspecting the cargo to ensure it hadn't been damaged by Pilar's wild grenade launcher antics.
«We need to hurry. That noise might attract unwanted attention,» Dorio remarked, assessing the situation.
«First, let's check the cargo, then we'll get out of here. Once we confirm we've got the right container, Maine will contact Faraday to find out where to send it,» Alex said, explaining the plan.
Everyone agreed, and Alex instructed GIR to connect to the truck to unlock the doors. Once the locks were disengaged, curiosity sparkled in the group's eyes—they couldn't wait to find out what kind of experimental weapon Arasaka was transporting. Inside, they discovered rows of black boxes, each the size of a person. Alex began inspecting them, lost in thought.
«What do you think these suits are, the ones worth so much money?» Pilar asked, studying one of the boxes.
«Let's take a look,» Alex shrugged.
He selected one of the boxes and placed it on the ground to open it. Walking around it and finding no visible locks, Alex decided to call on GIR for help, realizing there was no need to force open the box when there was a high-tech hacker nearby. Alex asked GIR to unlock the container. Connecting to the system, GIR gained access to the boxes and unlocked the 31st. When the lid opened, inside they found a metallic suit resembling a human body.
«This doesn't look like a suit,» Pilar muttered, tapping the body.
The sound convinced Alex that it wasn't just armor. He approached and began carefully inspecting the suit, tapping on various areas. It seemed like a full body, as if only the skin had been removed. The others watched with interest, noticing Alex's thoughtful expression.
«Did you figure something out?» Kiwi asked, sensing his contemplation.
Alex examined the mechanical «suit» and, seeing around fifty similar boxes, began to think. Connecting the details of the mission and all the information he had, Alex came to a conclusion that explained the deaths of the test subjects who had worn the so-called suit. He smiled confidently, and Lucy, noticing this, came up and patted him on the shoulder.
«Did you figure it out?» Kiwi repeated the question.
Alex turned, nodding:
«Not just figured it out, I've solved the essence of the experiment,» he said, and knowing smiles appeared on the faces of the girls close to him. Over the last two months, they had all wondered what the «Mechanical Man» was aiming for.
Maine raised an eyebrow, also intrigued:
«So, what did you figure out?»
«The information says it's a 'suit.' But it's not hollow; it's more like a human body. The question is, why did the test subjects die after they 'used' it?» Alex looked around the group, waiting for someone to come to the answer.
After a few minutes of silence, Rebecca, impatiently slapping his rear, interrupted his thoughts:
«Enough with the riddles! Just tell us already!»
Alex sighed, smirking, and explained:
«This isn't a suit at all. The test subjects didn't wear it; they connected to it through a neural link, uploading their consciousness into this mechanical body. In the end, their physical bodies died, but their consciousness continued to exist, now trapped in these metal shells.»
Maine had trouble hiding his astonishment:
«This... this is just fucked up.»
«Exactly,» Alex replied, placing the box back. «Contact Faraday, have him tell us where to send the cargo.»
Meanwhile, the others were busy clearing the bodies off the road. Once the bodies were gathered in one spot, GIR used a flamethrower to destroy them, laughing merrily, while MIMI, standing nearby, clapped her hands, cheering him on. Alex shook his head, watching the spectacle, then turned to Maine, who was in contact with Faraday to confirm the delivery location.
The girls approached Alex, and Lucy, leaning on him, took cigarettes from his pocket for herself and Kiwi.
«What do you think about the situation?» Lucy asked, lighting up.
«I feel like this evening is going to drag on and end in a big showdown,» Alex replied, exhaling smoke.
«Why do you think that?» Rebecca asked, resting against his chest.
«Just intuition,» he nodded. «Everything looks pretty messy. If things go south, stay close to the truck. I've installed a defense module on it—defending ourselves will be easier.»
The girls were about to ask more, but Maine returned to them.
«I have the address. We need to deliver the cargo to an abandoned stadium within the city. It's been empty for a long time—only the homeless and other riffraff hang around there.»
The entire group, realizing the significance of the moment, nodded.
Alex nodded, flicking his cigarette away, announcing that he would drive the truck to the meeting spot. Maine gave an approving nod, and Alex, turning to Kiwi, asked her to drive his car while he drove the truck. Kiwi nodded, gave Alex a quick kiss, and Lucy and Rebecca followed suit before heading to their vehicles. Alex waved at them, then climbed into the truck with GIR and MIMI, deciding to take them along for support. Once he confirmed the address had been received, he started the engine and signaled for the whole group to follow him.
Falco's truck and Kiwi's car followed closely behind Alex's truck, as he drove, thinking through the details of the plan and deciding to discuss them with GIR and MIMI in case things turned into a battle. GIR and MIMI listened intently, understanding the seriousness of what lay ahead. Alex asked GIR, if it came to a fight, to remove the remaining consciousness from the Mechanical Man's body while he distracted it.
Upon reaching the abandoned stadium, Alex drove onto the field and turned off the engine, carefully surveying the area for signs of an ambush. He warned everyone over the comms:
«If anything goes wrong, stick close to the truck.»
«Understood,» came the response from each group member.
Alex got out of the truck, with GIR and MIMI a step behind, ready for anything. At that moment, the floodlights around the stadium suddenly blazed to life, and Alex spotted a lone figure at the center of the field. A vague, sudden fury surged within him—something about this person triggered an instinctive revulsion. The others also took note of the stranger and exchanged stunned glances.
«Damn it, that's Adam Smasher! What the hell is that Arasaka dog doing here?» Maine frowned, speaking up.
Alex squinted even harder, trying to understand why he felt such hatred just from looking at this man. Catching the familiar emptiness in his gaze, Alex smirked, his face twisting into a cruel, bloodthirsty grin. The girls noticed this change and understood that Alex had seen something—something that made him lose all interest in everything around him.
«Hey, bastard!» Alex shouted, not hiding his fury. «Why do I want to reap and tear you apart the moment I lay eyes on you?»
Adam Smasher's eyes flared bright red. His voice was cold and metallic:
«Does it matter to another corpse in my hands?»
At this remark, Alex barely held back his rage. Struggling to keep his composure, he began to walk toward Smasher. The girls, sensing the tension, didn't dare stop him but stood ready by the truck. Falco activated the defense module, and a dome rose around the truck. GIR and MIMI stood next to the group as Alex, cutting himself off from everything else, approached Adam.
Alex locked eyes with Smasher, feeling a cold hatred for someone he didn't even know—someone who had lost his soul and replaced it with mechanical parts. Alex couldn't understand why he felt this way, looking at a person who was barely human anymore. After all, 96% of Adam Smasher's body was cybernetic.
«Are you ready to die? A mutt with no soul left in its body,» Alex said, coldly staring into his eyes.
Smasher didn't respond, but his eyes flared even brighter. Moving with lightning speed, he swung his fist toward Alex's face, aiming to kill him with a single blow. Alex parried, and their fists collided with such force that the ground beneath them cracked. Alex was slightly surprised that his strike hadn't shattered Smasher's arm.
«Interesting... You withstood my blow,» Alex said, hiding the slightest surprise in his voice.
Adam didn't reply to Alex's words and silently launched a kick, aiming for his chest. Alex, noticing the attack just in time, deftly deflected Smasher's leg to the side. Seizing the opportunity, he shifted his position and struck Adam with an elbow to the chest, knocking him back several meters. The force of Alex's strike dented Smasher's chest plate inward, but it didn't cause any serious damage—the injuries weren't enough to disable him.
«You're the toughest opponent I've encountered in this universe. What are you? And why does your body have no soul?» Alex asked, narrowing his eyes.
The group members overheard Alex's words and turned their gazes to the girls, seeking explanations, but they simply shook their heads in unison, signaling that it wasn't the time for questions—the fight was still ongoing.
Adam continued to act like a programmed machine, showing neither emotion nor hesitation, coldly pursuing his goal. Alex noticed a shift in his behavior: Smasher moved and attacked with such determination, as if he had lost the remnants of his humanity. Realizing that he wouldn't get any answers, Alex decided not to drag the fight out.
In an instant, he vanished from his position and appeared before Adam, delivering a crushing blow to his chest that sent him flying into the air. Vanishing once more, Alex appeared above Adam, who had reached his peak and was now starting to fall.
«If you had answered my questions, you might have lived a little longer,» Alex smirked, hanging above Adam. «Now, experience the full power of Seismic Step.»
With a wide grin on his face, Alex prepared to use the powerful combination of techniques he'd already employed in his battle with the dragon. He brought his leg down onto Adam's chest, activating Seismic Step, and they began to fall at an incredible speed. By increasing the pressure with his foot, Alex accelerated their descent, which resembled that of a meteor. Due to the friction with the air, Adam's back began to heat up.
The group members watched as Alex and Adam fell toward the ground, as if in slow motion. Then, when they reached the earth, a tremendous explosion erupted, causing a massive earthquake, and the entire stadium was covered with a network of cracks. A giant cloud of dust rose, filling the arena.
Alex waved his hand to disperse the dust and stood over Adam's body, which was now reduced to only part of his torso and head—the rest had been destroyed upon impact with the ground.
As he prepared to finish what he had started, Alex raised his foot to crush Adam's head. But just as his foot was a centimeter from the target, applause rang out from behind him. Alex lowered his foot and turned around, seeing someone clapping their hands in apparent delight, as if it had been a magnificent show.
To be continued…