“Aircraft inbound,” June reported. Her tone was crisp and calm, cool under imminent fire.
TARGET DATA ACQUIRED
Reggie looked down instead of up. On the mini-map, a squadron of atmospheric craft was headed their way, coming down from the north and keeping below the peaks.
“Open fire!” Reggie barked. If there was any chance The Mechromancer didn’t know they were coming, those odds had just dropped to zero.
Six blips on the mini-map. Twenty-four inbound missiles. On impulse, Reggie tapped one.
[LRM-BB - 4 Damage - Extra Effect on Fortifications]
But why would aircraft be firing Bunker Buster warheads at juggernauts? That would mean…
“Run!” Reggie shouted.
But it was too late. Chase carved fighter aircraft from the sky with his Beam Cannon-Ls, but it was the missiles they needed to worry about. The Mechromancer’s forces weren’t targeting Reggie or his platoon. They were aiming at the mountains.
Missiles slammed home, fracturing cliff faces and mountainsides. Rockslides thundered down both sides of the range, converging on Reggie’s platoon down in the middle.
Hundreds of thousands of tons of rock, cascaded down in a flash flood.
Vortex bobbed as Electro-Active Polymers in the Wolverine’s legs pumped like a sprinter’s muscles to get Reggie clear of the rockfall. With a clattering of boulders around his feet, he made it just as the edge of the debris field clattered to a halt.
Artemis and Yulong took to the air. Jump Boost made their evasion almost trivially easy.
Gremlin and Diablo were swept under.
The deafening roar cooled to brisk silence as the engines of the two surviving fighter bombers sped out of sight and out of range.
Three juggernauts remained.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
Reggie turned back immediately. “Frank? Chase? You alive in there?”
“Bleeping bleep bleep bleepity bleep,” Frank replied.
“Widespread armor damage,” Chase reported. “Nothing severe. I think I can hold out while you guys finish up. I’ve got a knee actuator down, but it’s repairing.”
“Can either of you move?”
“Bleep no,” Frank replied with a snarl and something that sounded like a fist pounding on a control console.
“Negatory, boss man,” Chase radioed. “I’m as entombed as a pharoah.”
“Lin, June, get back here,” Reggie ordered. “Help me dig them out.”
There was no response.
“Ladies?” Reggie prompted.
Then he noticed on the mini-map. They were 500m away, having fled the landslide rather than turning back once it settled.
Reggie waved them over, beckoning with Vortex’s arm.
Both Artemis and Yulong circled back.
400m
350m
300m
TARGET DATA AQUIRED
“…trying to tell you,” June said, her voice coming in mid-sentence. “We’ve got company.”
“Help me dig out Frank and Chase,” Reggie ordered.
But when he saw the tactical situation on the mini-map, he changed his tune. “Second thought, you two go engage those Rhinos. Maximum maneuverability. Don’t let them focus on you. I’ll stay and dig.”
The Rhinos had Artemis outgunned but not Yulong. Their Mass Drivers were less accurate. Their juggernauts were more cumbersome to steer. Frankly, Rhinos were ideally suited to long-range engagements in a narrow space. That’s why two high-speed juggernauts with real armaments were their worst nightmare.
“We’ll handle them,” June assured Reggie.
“Bleep yeah, we will,” Lin agreed.
The two women blasted off, using Jump Boost to evade the initial fire from the Rhinos at long range.
Reggie dug.
At first, he could hear the chatter as June and Lin coordinated their attacks. Then the radio went silent.
Reggie’s throat went dry. His vision blurred into a haze around the pile of rubble that was his sole focus. The rocks weighed nothing, but each carried the worry that June and Lin could be dying out there, ambushed by yet-unseen foes and unable to call for backup.
ASHARI popped up. “Sgt. King, trust your friends. To be blunt, they are both better pilots than you. Restoring your platoon to full strength is a tactical necessity.”
Reggie took a deep breath. Then another, when he was still jittery after the first. “Right. Digging.”
Boulders that must have weighed five or ten tons apiece flew like crumpled newspaper as Vortex tossed them aside. Frank was down below, evidenced by the shifting of the pile as he tried to help free himself.
The rubble exploded in a shower of rock dust as a stray shot from the battle behind Reggie spilled over into the rescue effort. He considered it a good sign, despite it being evidence that at least one Rhino was still up and moving. If it was still firing, one or both of his platoon mates were up and still fighting—plus, the shot had missed.
“Get back,” Frank snapped.
Reggie took two more boulders with him and lobbed them aside as he extracted himself from the pile.
Rock erupted as Gremlin rose like a zombie from its grave, bursting out hand first from the debris field and climbing the rest of the way under his own power.
One up. One to go.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
With Gremlin freed, digging out Diablo was quick as an army shower. The Tiger-class heavy was twice as strong as Vortex, plus, the swords were good for both digging and breaking up boulders.
Soon, the three of them were rushing to catch up to the fray.
“‘Bout time you boys joined the fun,” June teased when they came into radio range. “We’re just on overwatch, keeping the dig site clear.”
Lin added a barb. “That’s our way of saying we did the real work, so we weren’t doing the grunt labor, too.”
“If I had a coat, I’d drape it across a puddle for you fine ladies,” Frank replied with genteel sarcasm.
“Think he’s got two tricks like that up his sleeve?” Chase asked. He brought Diablo up to a ridgeline alongside Artemis and Yulong. Neither juggernaut had seemed to have been much worse off for their fight with the Rhinos.
“Never underestimate the enemy,” Reggie warned. “Assume everything. Prepare for the worst. Take a string of boring victories if you can, and just pat yourself on the back when everyone comes home at the end.”
Diablo turned until the head was facing Vortex. “Beep, you really are grizzled.”
“We clear?” Reggie asked.
June fielded the question regarding platoon intel. “Near as I can tell in this digital sandstorm. Skies might be clear, but the E-M spectrum is spaghetti.”
“Anyone up for Italian when we get done here?” Chase asked. “I’ll spring for a pasta maker for the base.”
“Lead on,” Reggie ordered June, ignoring Chase’s attempts to make social plans.
They resumed the same five-pip formation. Despite the ambush, it had worked out well enough the first time. Reggie found the scenery distractingly breathtaking but kept one eye on the mini-map, watching for relayed sensor data that would come faster than June could call over the radio.
TARGET DATA ACQUIRED
“Hangars in the mountainsides!” June shouted. She activated her Jump Boost and leaped back out of the line of fire, using Gremlin for cover.
Derelict juggernauts erupted from the mountains like puss from a blister, oozing out and dripping down.
“Nothing fancy,” Reggie barked. “Fire at will.”
It was as if The Mechromancer had emptied out his junk drawer, throwing anything and everything he had left in their path. There was no mission objective to keep the tally for them, but June’s shared tactical data reported 55 enemy units.
Rather than rushing in headlong, Frank kept back, shielding Artemis from attack and returning fire with Beam Cannon-Ls.
Likewise, Chase took full advantage of the cold to turn Diablo into a on
e-juggernaut laser light show.
Lin used Yulong’s Anti-Matter Projector to snipe. Most of her shots took out a target in one hit, thanks to the pitiful state of most of the armor they encountered.
Reggie kept on the move, ranging from one side of the valley to the other, always trying to keep the whole platoon in range for communications and his Command Radius bonus—though the latter was hardly an issue if he kept within the limited range of the jamming.
“Behind us!” June called out.
An underground elevator lifted from the valley floor, raising a whole section of earth with it like a hat. Two Elephant-class heavy juggernauts lumbered out, their four legs causing miniature earthquakes with each step.
“Push forward,” Reggie ordered. “Leave those Elephants in the dust. I’d rather back ourselves against the mountains once we clear out the rest than get caught in a crossfire that includes those things.”
The Mechromancer’s Elephants weren’t tricked out like Specker’s had been. The old House Virgo commander was a level 20 player. These things were giant cannon fodder—but the giant part was still dangerous. In place of tusks, they had Heavy Plasma Launchers. Instead of a trunk, it had a Mass Driver.
Suddenly, Reggie’s mini-map lit, showing real-time updates on juggernauts beyond anyone’s 300m sensor range.
“Did you just—?” he began to ask.
“Yeah, jamming’s off,” June confirmed instantly.
The whole platoon was still mowing down enemy juggernauts as the remote-controlled drones fired back to limited effect. Still, the sheer volume of enemy fire, inaccurate though it might have been, was taking its toll.
Reggie took quick stock of Vortex’s status.
Head: 28/30
Torso: 65/80
Left Arm: 12/20
Right Arm: 20/20
Left Leg: 32/40
Right Leg: 40/40
There was no reason for him to turn back. None of the other juggernauts in the platoon seemed to be in much worse shape than Vortex. Diablo was worst off, and even Chase still had plenty of head and torso armor intact.
“Head for the mountain entrance,” Reggie ordered. “Fire on the move.”
“So eager to die?”
The Mechromancer’s voice was like ice water down Reggie’s spine. The visage of the black custom juggernaut appeared just to the right of where ASHARI’s face would pop up.
“Who the bleep is this clown?” Chase asked as he charged along the valley in Diablo, slicing juggernauts to pieces with lasers and spitting gobs of plasma along the way.
“That’s him,” Reggie confirmed. “The guy we’re after.”
“Oh, dude, we gotta get you a better class of villain,” Chase replied. “This is improv night at the community theater.”
“I’ve got him on scanners,” June reported.
TARGET DATA AQUIRED
There he was, a fresh blue blip on the mini-map as June flagged him. The Mechromancer was standing at the doors to his fortress, an open tunnel into the mountain itself.
“I’ve got him!” Frank growled. Gremlin was already barreling forward at its laughable top speed, but Frank put his juggernaut’s head down as if that tiny bit less wind resistance might make a difference.
“So good of you to save me the trouble of tracking you down, yet again,” The Mechromancer taunted. He seemed unconcerned about the forces closing in on his location. “I had so many more lessons to teach you. But it looks like you’re taking an interest in your own studies now. Bravo.”
“I can see why you want this guy dead,” Lin commented. “He’s more delusional than Chase.”
“Is not!” Chase objected. There was muted bleeping seconds later, presumably as Chase realized what he’d said.
Before any of them could reach weapons range, The Mechromancer withdrew inside his fortress. Massive steel doors slowly began to close, threatening to seal the mountainside.
“Hurry,” Lin shouted. “I think we can all make it through.”
“But we’ll be trapped inside,” Chase replied. Diablo was in the clear as far as reaching the door in time. Chase never slowed, firing off lasers continuously as he went.
“Frank won’t,” June replied. “Gremlin’s too slow.”
“We’ll make a stand out here,” Reggie decided. “Back up to the door to prevent flanking. We’ll blast our way in once we clean up out—”
“No, ya don’t!” Frank shouted. “I’m not gonna be dead weight. We cut the head off this Mechro-bleeper, his toys all fall apart, right?”
“Theoretically,” Chase replied.
Gremlin let go of the two swords weighing it down. The Tiger-class juggernaut accelerated.
“ASHARI,” Reggie whispered. “Will he make it?”
The AI blinked on. “Yes, Warrior King. With 2.4 seconds to spare.”
“Everyone in!” Reggie barked. “Lay down cover fire. Make sure nothing slows Gremlin down.”
Reggie reached the door and paused outside.
[Kintaro[2] - 83% To Hit - Right Leg: 40/40]
Reggie fired. So did Chase, Lin, and June.
Frank kept a beeline straight for the door as beams, missiles, and shells whizzed past him. Some from behind pelted his rear and leg armor.
But one of the nice features of a heavy juggernaut was armor to spare.
200m…
23 seconds until the door opening grew too small for Gremlin.
150m…
18 seconds…
100m…
13 seconds…
50m…
Reggie and the others ducked inside.
A high-explosive shell from a DF-Ballistic Cannon-150 exploded, knocking Gremlin off stride.
“No!” June shouted.
Without time to think, Reggie just acted. Vortex grabbed the door and pulled against its advance.
“Lin, help him!” Chase shouted.
Yulong, the largest juggernaut in the platoon after Gremlin, reached over Vortex’s head and grabbed hold as well.
Gremlin regained its balance and plowed onward.
20m…
10m…
Gremlin crossed the finish line like a sprinter. The door slipped free of Yulong and Vortex’s fingers, slamming shut with finality.
“Well,” Chase said. “At least this place is big enough for juggernauts.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
Frank led the way inside The Mechromancer’s fortress. The gruff old-timer wouldn’t have it any other way, and with the most intact armor in the platoon, he wasn’t getting many objections. Frank went in knowing that Gremlin would take the brunt of whatever they came across for resistance. He’d been built to take punishment.
“Stick together,” Reggie ordered. “No stragglers. The Mechromancer has countermeasures, so load LRMF missiles if any.”
The corridors mirrored a human-sized facility on a grand scale. There were hallways and side passages, but they followed the main route into the heart of the mountain. Either The Mechromancer was a super villain or he wasn’t. But if, as Reggie suspected, he really was a drama queen at heart, his inner sanctum would be in the deepest core of the mountain lair.
“Incoming,” Frank barked. “Rather than fall back to wait for support, he barged ahead.”
“Cover him!” Reggie ordered.
TARGET DATA ACQUIRED
Even before he had a visual on them, Reggie saw the opposition on his mini-map. Two Demon-class juggernauts barred the way forward, having emerged from the sides of four-way intersection up ahead. Unlike every other enemy they’d encountered under The Mechromancer’s control, these appeared pristine, right down to the gleaming coats of black paint that reflected lamp light from Reggie’s platoon.
“Frank, get the bleep out of the way,” Chase yelled, angling Diablo to try and find an opening where he could fire past Gremlin.
Frank continued his charge. “Not on your life!”
The Demons were armed with Particle Blasters—two apiece. Reggie watched
Frank’s torso armor take a pounding in the platoon status view.
Gremlin Torso: 137/160
Gremlin Torso: 129/160
Gremlin Left Arm: 45/60
Gremlin Torso: 121/160
Frank didn’t so much as flinch from the impacts. Energized protons could be murder on armor, producing high-temperature ionic reactions, but they had little stopping power. Gremlin didn’t stop.
Tiger and Demon crashed together. Frank pinned Demon[1] to the wall, leaving Demon[2] exposed for the rest of the platoon to fire.
Diablo and Artemis dropped to one knee, allowing Vortex and Yulong to fire over their heads.
[Demon[2] - 90% To Hit - Torso: 100/100]
The four of them opened fire.
Demon[2] Torso: 93/100
Demon[2] Torso: 90/100
Demon[2] Torso: 87/100
Demon[2] Torso: 67/100
Demon[2] Torso: 60/100
Demon[2] Torso: 53/100
In one volley, they’d nearly chewed through the armor of a heavy juggernaut’s torso.
Along the wall, Gremlin had the other demon in a grappling match, and he was winning. He smashed it with a right hook straight from a boxing training manual.
Demon[1] Head: 45/60
Reeling from the assault against it, Demon[2] returned fire.
Diablo Torso: 18/50
Diablo Torso: 10/50
“Uh, guys?” Chase radioed. “Maybe I can be in the back?”
Yulong shoved Diablo behind her. “Fine,” Lin snapped. “But don’t complain about firing angles.”
Another volley and a few spare missiles from Reggie, and Demon[2] went down. With some assistance from Yulong and her sword, Demon[1] was dispatched with similar alacrity.
“Keep moving,” Reggie ordered.
Diablo lingered at the back. “Some nice jugs. Mostly intact…”
“Loot later,” Reggie barked. “Once The Mechromancer is dead.”
The hallway terminated in an industrial workshop two dozen stories high. The entire mountain practically had to be hollow to support it. Furnaces and smelters lit the chamber with a fiery glow similar to the volcanic world they’d mistakenly raided.
Cranes overhead were reminiscent of a juggernaut hangar and for good reason. Juggernaut parts dangled from chains, were stored on enormous racks, or were piled in heaps, awaiting sorting.
Dead Mech Walking: a mech LitRPG novel (Armored Souls Book 1) Page 31