Iron Empire

Eleven: Unwanted Interference

Report: Park
The irradiated remains of Moscow.
Russia.
A radioactive "exclusion zone".
Neutral territory, until now.

"Taewi, move!"

I watched, slack-jawed, as Jackson's Valkyrie charged me, seconds before a tendril of white lightning reached out through the fog and connected with his mech.

Jackson's distorted scream echoed over the comms as his mech was overwhelmed with the searing energy. A thunderclap nearly deafened me as the stricken Valkyrie spasmed about before beginning a slow fall backwards.

In the seconds following this, two thoughts raced through my mind.

If the blast had short-circuited Jackson's command capsule, he was dead. Radiation would kill him if the fall didn't.

Though I could've possibly survived the shock, my Predator was heavily damaged. Jackson Quinn had likely just saved my life.

"My God," Martin began, "what the hell was that?"

Much to my relief, Jackson's command capsule burst from his fried mech, trailing smoke but otherwise unharmed. His Valkyrie collapsed backwards, beating itself into the asphalt.

Another flash of lightning seared my retinas, but the bolt missed, impacting a building beside me. Thunder rumbled and my HUD flickered.

Jackson had reacted before the lightning had hit. He'd seen something. For that reason, I highly doubted the lightning was natural—meaning whatever had taken down Jackson was now aiming for me.

Through the rapidly clearing fog, I could see two Legions stomping toward us. Each massive mech was easily twice the size of my Predator, with thick brown armour plating every surface. Legions were usually armed to the teeth, but these were different—each mech had a strange semicircular device perched atop it. Each bowl-like device glowed faintly, wisps of electricity leaping to and fro within its circumference. A tiny light shone from the top of the device—a laser sight, marking where it was aiming.

"Two Legions up ahead!" I called. "They each seem to be wielding some kind of electrical device!"

"I have a shot!" Alyx shouted.

"Take it!" Martin replied. "Do not let them get a second hit on us!"

I could feel the air ripple as a shell whipped past my Predator and drilled against the armour of the closest Legion. The massive mech stumbled, armour buckling, but regained its footing.

"Move in!" I shouted. "Aim for the weapons!"

I pushed forward, quickly closing the gap between the Legions and I. To my surprise, both mechs began shuffling backwards in an attempt to buy time. They still hadn't finished reloading!

Unfortunately for them, I was too close too soon. My shotguns bit into the first Legion's armour at close range, tearing chunks out of the brown metal.

With one final blast the lightning cannon shattered like porcelain, charged energy dispelling in a shock that nipped at the tips of my fingers and toes. I could only imagine how the Legion's pilot felt.

No command capsule leapt from the Legion as the massive mech fell backward into the dust.

The other Legion continued to back away. My HUD flickered. I could feel the static cannon reach full charge and I turned my heavy shotguns to the remaining enemy. Was I too late?

A sniper shell smashed the cannon apart, peppering my hull with electrified metal fragments.

"Nice shot!" I shouted.