Iron Empire

Twenty-Two: Apollo Inbound

My Crusader staggered, nearly toppling, as a flameless explosion buffeted me backwards.

"What the hell?" I gasped. "They were nowhere near me! What hit me?"

"I don't know," Kitt replied. The fear in his voice was tangible. "It looked like the air itself struck your shield!"

None of the Apollo had moved an inch closer, yet I'd been hit by something like a small explosion. How?

"You assumed the Apollo was a short-range mech, didn't you?" Harlow gloated. "But you forgot that self-destruction is not its intended purpose! The Apollo is a giant air compressor, intaking massive quantities of air and jettisoning it in one blast. Venting the air through the reactor creates a fireball of oil vapour, but if it's used as intended the attack is invisible!"

"He's shooting us with compressed air?" Kedrick gasped.

The Apollo stared me down, unwavering. Now that Harlow had so helpfully gloated about it, I could see two small circular vents on each Apollo's front. Those had to be the source of the air.

I switched my comm channel back to private. I wasn't forgetting that again.

"Did you folks get all that?" I asked.

"Yeah," Taewi grunted. "A compressed air cannon would be genius if it wasn't so annoying."

Harlow was still talking, gloating about the various facets of his mechs. I turned him out, even as the Apollo squad began to march towards me once more.

"Have we heard everything we need?" Alyx asked.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Do you want me to—"

"Be my guest."

The sound of tearing metal was a blessing to my ears. The Apollo closest to me listed sideways like it had been punched, body crashing into a skyscraper and leaving a trail of shattered glass in its wake.

The mech stumbled, teetered and fell backwards like a log, dropping into the emergency channel behind it with a muffled crash. An explosion punctuated its untimely end.

I smiled and turned to see Alyx's Lynx standing on the far riverbank, howitzer cannon smoking.

The remaining two Apollo surged forward, vents dilating like the aperture of a camera.

"Move, Kitt!" I shouted. "They're about to fire again!"

The high-pitched blast of a plasma launcher cut the second Apollo down as a chuckling, concussed Taewi leapt across the bridge above the emergency channel. His Veles shattered the asphalt as it landed, raining plasma on the next closest foe.

"Miss me, boys?" Taewi roared. "I'm back!"

Kitt wasted no time opening fire on our enemies as Taewi assaulted them from above. The final Apollo, overwhelmed by a three-mech assault, crumpled into the dust.

I slumped back in my seat. That only left one enemy for now, the Legion that had been taking pot-shots at Alyx from across the river. Now it fell silent, the mech in the distance holding fire.

"Well," Harlow sighed. "I'm pleasantly surprised! Here I thought three would do you in, but look at you all! Barely a dent on any of you."

"God, I hate this guy," Alyx sighed.

"You're telling me!" Taewi shot back. "I don't know if this migraine is from my concussion or his prattling!"

"Guys," I interrupted. "Focus. This is far from over."