Mythos Effect

Chapter 4: Fury and Horror

With a last burst of antigravity, Jacob's Gladius finally touched down. The impact was lessened by the A-pods, but the seventy-ton mech still landed with enough force to jar him nicely. "Hostiles detected," Jacob's LAI said. "Initiating targeting protocols." Red auras appeared in his screen, highlighting enemy combatants. Jacob immediately fired a bolt of plasma at the nearest one, erasing it from existence.

Unfortunately, that suddenly made him a major threat to the aliens. The LAI flashed warnings that he was being targeted by multiple hostiles. Jacob gunned his A-pods, rocketing straight into the air, and in the nick of time; several enemy missiles screamed past the Gladius, one nearly hitting his cockpit. Before they could fire again, he let off several more plasma blasts, each one striking home.

"That was too close," Jacob muttered to himself. His comm system crackled.

"This is Quickdraw. I've come under heavy fire and am pinned down. Request immediate assistance." It was hard to believe that this was the same Jimmy Ferguson who only a few hours ago was fretting about being the most vulnerable to enemy attacks. The guy sounded as if he was simply asking for help making coffee.

"Quickdraw, Chrome reads you," Jacob replied, all the while punching in commands for the LAI to locate Jimmy. "I am coming to assist. Standby."

The LAI quickly found Jimmy and Jacob wasted no time in rushing over to his position. Jacob found him ducking behind the wreckage of an enemy tank, and had another one bearing down on him. He noticed that the tank bore a number of deep scorch marks on its body; Jimmy had obviously managed to get some good shots off, but the armor was too durable for such a small laser cannon. Add the fact that its gun looked like it could punch through his own mech's armor, Jacob decided that the vehicle had to be destroyed, and quickly.

Jacob pressed a button, and the two hyperedge blades retracted within the Gladius's arms sprang out. A surge of antigravity launched him into the air and right behind the tank. Manipulating the mech's arms, Jacob plunged both blades into its chassis. The material it was made of was strong, but hyperedge blades were designed to cut through just about anything. Jacob jerked the mech's arms forward, slicing the top half of the tank clean off. By some strange twist of fortune, its crew somehow managed to not get eviscerated in the process.

This was the first time he'd seen the aliens up close. They had a distinctly avian appearance, though he was at a loss as to what the mandibles were for. Jacob allowed himself an amused smile at what could only be expressions of sheer shock on their faces and then opened up with his flamethrower on them. His broadband audio was switched off, but even so he could still swear he heard their screams. For some reason, it disturbed him.

He quickly put it out of his mind; plenty of time to reflect on that later. Jimmy's voice came in over his comms.

"Thanks for the assist, Chrome. Just my luck, I land and the first thing in front of me is a goddamn tank."

"That's what the big mecha are for," Jacob replied. The ground trembled as Alison's Claymore landed next to them.

"Quickdraw, is everything all right?" Though to an untrained ear, Alison's voice might seem wholly professional, Jacob detected an undercurrent of concern. No one wanted to lose one of their team, especially when they were in charge.

"I'm good, Excalibur. Chrome took care of things before they got out of hand."

"Have you taken any damage?"

"Just a slight graze, Excalibur. Damage control systems are already repairing it."

Another thunderous tremor announced the arrival of Jon and his Broadsword. "Mastodon here. Are the bad guys already gone?"