Titans Ch. 06

Another late upload! This time due to illness. Man am I bad at sticking to this schedule, but it's not going anywhere because as previously mentioned it helps stop me from procrastinating. I have now thoroughly burned through all the advance writing I had to help with busy months, but thankfully that's coinciding with me (hopefully) getting a bit less busy, so if I'm lucky then you won't notice the difference.

I've seen some wondering about the rate at which secrets are being revealed; all I can say in response to that is that I'm trying to make sure the final reveal of each secret coincides with the point at which it's relevant to the plot without rushing it. I'm reading all the comments as I write and taking criticisms on-board. I really appreciate all the high ratings and the amount of people following along, this originally started as a fun little writing exercise that got way more popular than I was expecting; I can only hope to make it worth it for you guys and girls. Now that I've stoked my ego a bit more...

Are you sitting comfortably?

*****

Alex found himself sitting slumped against a wall staring out into infinity. There were no aches in his muscles from what should have been a very uncomfortable position, but he shifted to a less contorted position from force of habit. There was also no Anna, as had happened a few nights previously.

Waiting patiently, eyes fixed on the location where Anna had disappeared before, Alex took a deep breath that didn't seem to refresh his mind at all and began to focus. He thought back to the conclusion of the day's battle, willing the implant in his skull to replay the last messages he had received through it. Rather than the clean, digital signal his analogue brain had been trained to communicate with since he was a child, only dull static met his probing thoughts.

Alex's brow furrowed. Nothing should be able to interfere with a neural-link implant except a neural spike - like the kind that connected him to his mech - yet it seemed to be either offline or too busy running other programs to load the inefficient direct interface. He tried another tactic, relaxing his efforts and waiting patiently for any sort of signal. As his thoughts cleared a single tone presented itself; white noise that he couldn't ever remember not hearing. Active then, but busy. Busy doing what?

Shaking his head, Alex brought his attention back to the world around him. There was still no sign of Anna and he got the sense that he had been waiting quite a while, as strange as time was in this place. A familiar, sickening scream sounded from far too close by. Masculine. Deep. His own voice turned sideways.

Startled, Alex didn't even have time to process the direction when it was replaced with a tumbling, slapping sound. Flesh hitting the ground again and again. From around the corner a city block away, a naked body - identical to his own, but covered in blood and bruises - rolled out perilously close to the edge of the world.

Alex pressed himself deeper into the corner between the building and the floor. There were no shadows in the omnipresent gray light but he hoped to minimize the shape he made against the angular horizon, but his efforts proved ultimately useless.

Number one climbed slowly to his feet on powerful legs, looking first back the way he had come, then scanning the area when his opponent failed to present herself. Maddened eyes picked Alex out easily against the monotone background, the anger lessening for a second as surprise won out, only to return with a vengeance.

"You," the original mech pilot hissed between his teeth, so quietly Alex barely heard it.

With the momentum of a meteor, he turned and began to charge across the intervening distance. Alex tucked one of his legs underneath himself and pushed off, springing up into a low crouch on all fours, bracing for impact.

As the mad pilot picked up speed he reached the gap between the buildings zeroing in on his target. An arm like a steel girder swung out of the alleyway, catching him in the neck and sending him flat on his back as his feet kept going.

Alex took the opportunity to leap upright, backing quickly away as the Empress stepped out into view, also naked and bloody. She spared a passing glance at number one, sprawling on the floor and gasping, then fixed Alex with a predatory glare.

"Number eleven! What a surprise to see you here!" she exclaimed, stalking towards him, bruised and bloody breasts swaying hypnotically.

"I'm as surprised as you are," he said slowly, continuing to keep his distance.

"Stop right where you are," she snapped suddenly, "Unless you want to play, like big-boy back there?"

"I'm good thanks," Alex stopped walking backwards, feeling his heart begin to race and his blood begin to pound as a potent cocktail of stimulating hormones was released from special glands all over his body.

"There's a good boy," the Empress smiled, causing her lip to crack and begin bleeding again.

Behind her, number one was taking heaving breaths and staggering to his feet. Alex did his best not to look and risk drawing attention.

"Now," the Empress purred, "Would you care to explain what you're doing here, child?

"I wish I knew. I just keep waking up here when I go to sleep," He kept his posture neutral and his voice calm, even as he prepared himself for a fight.

"Interesting," the Empress paused, just outside of arm's reach, "I wonder..."

She never got a chance to finish her thought as number one came running up from behind and clocked a terrifyingly powerful punch right on the side of her head. She crumpled like a wet paper bag as the mad pilot kept running.

Alex was faster, stronger, and more skilled than any normal combatant but against a pilot twice his age with the strength only unbridled rage can grant, he barely lasted seconds. He swept the first punch aside as he slipped easily into a combat stance but couldn't bring his other arm across in time to stop the hand that torpedoed towards his throat.

"No!" the pilot shouted, "She is MINE!"

Alex's feet left the ground and he was slammed painfully into the wall, breath leaving his lungs.

"She is MINE and this place is MINE!" number one screamed, "Do you even know WHO I AM?"

"Number... one," Alex gasped out,

"Wrong," he growled, slamming him against the wall again.

"You're... Adam," Alex wheezed.

"WRONG!" the unnatural roar echoed around his head.

Suddenly, Alex was no longer being gripped by the throat against a wall. He was suspended far above the city, being crushed between the finger and thumb of a metal hand the size of his mech. Holding him, towering over even the skyscrapers, was the biggest mech he had ever seen. Stocky and broad, with the head of a renaissance statue - marble white, and crowned in leaves. It looked almost demonic in the red lighting from below, and stared at him with eyes like black holes.

"MY NAME," the voice boomed, nearly deafening him, "IS ATLAS!"

Alex felt the grip tighten, squeezing the life out of him slowly but inevitably. As his vision began to fade, there was a flash of light from off to one side of him. A ball of fiery orange energy burst across the hull of the mech, knocking it heavily aside.

Alex was flung from side to side as the arm that held him flailed to maintain balance, he caught brief glimpses of a similarly scaled mech a little distance away. Slightly smaller, and much lither, a glowing aperture on the single raised arm revealing where the projectile had come from.

The weapon fired again, impacting with a massive explosion. The other arm raised and a beam of light lanced out of another opening and scored a line across the armor. Atlas turned to face the new foe.

"PROMETHEUS!" it roared, and began to charge.

On the first upward swing of the arm Alex slipped through the giant fingers, forgotten, careening through the sky. He desperately sucked in lungfuls of air as he tumbled through it. He reached the top of the arc and began to fall just as a thunderous crash signaled the two mechs meeting.

The ground drew closer and closer, faster and faster. Alex racked his brains for any possible solution and drew blanks. As he passed the tops of the skyscrapers he closed his eyes and winced.

He snapped free of the obstruction keeping him in the cargo hold and fell through space, accelerated by the ship's artificial gravity field. His mech just barely passed through the hole in slipspace and with no warning at all he was suddenly entering the atmosphere of a planet. Gyroscopes strained to orient the rockets in the right direction. Plummeting feet first, he fired the retro boosters. This was going to be a hard landing.

Heavy metal boots slammed into the ground with a burst of spent rocket-fuel. Alex looked down in a daze, seeing the body of his mech. He blinked, and was looking at his own body again. The boom of metal fists against metal bodies sounded from behind him, so he put his head down and ran until the world around him faded into black.

Alex awoke with a gasp, alone and drenched in sweat. His bedroll was the only one left in the empty tent, and from outside he could hear the sounds of the camp making ready to march. He dragged himself out from under the sheets and rolled them up into a bundle, carrying it out through the tent flap and into the grey dawn light.

Talia was perched in the cockpit of the mech, her hands pressed to one of the forearms and her brow furrowed in concentration. Alex observed her as he took deep, slow breaths of the mild and humid morning air, enjoying the difference from the stale averageness of the dream city. After a short while, a satisfied grin spread across the elf's face and she opened her eyes. Spotting him immediately, she leapt nimbly down to the ground and bounced over to him, enthusiasm leaking out in waves.

"Good news?" Alex's mood broke with an infectious smile as he knelt down to tie his bedroll onto the bundle that was to be loaded onto the cart.

"I think so," Talia passed the fire and picked up a bowl of porridge and a mug of tea, handing them to the captain, "It's not completely done, but I think I got your cannon working."

"The blast cannon?" Alex grinned, "Nice. I've been missing the heavy firepower."

"You've been missing firepower," Elizabeth's deadpan voice drifted over his shoulder as he shoveled in a mouthful of breakfast, "You. Missing firepower."

"Hey Elizabeth," Talia waved as Alex hurriedly swallowed, "What's up?"

"We'll be camping on the Ravenholm estate by the end of the day," she clapped a hand onto Alex's arm, "I was hoping to cash in that promise that I wouldn't have to face the Ravenholm family alone."

"Sure," Alex mumbled around another mouthful of porridge, "What do you want us to do?"

Elizabeth strode across to the fire and back, leather riding boots squelching in the mud.

"I'm technically your commanding officer," she pondered, "So there shouldn't be anything wrong with me taking you with me to go... scouting," she made air-quotes with her fingers.

"All of us, or just me and Talia?" asked Alex

Elizabeth thought for a moment.

"All of you. It's more official and less like I'm just bringing my lovers along," she blushed as the admission slipped out.

Alex gave a throaty chuckle and reached out to ruffle her hair.

"I get it; you don't want to show off too much," he winked.

She punched him half-heartedly in the solar plexus.

"I don't think not showing off is an option with you around," she said, looking up at the towering mech.

Alex hadn't even notice Thrak and the dwarves taking down the tent until the orc walked up beside him. They'd made remarkably quick work of it; probably from many days of practice.

"If we're going scouting we don't need to wait for the rest of the army to be ready, correct?" Thrak asked Elizabeth.

"Right," Elizabeth nodded, looking to Alex.

"Ready when you are," he smiled.

With an extra pair of requisitioned horses, there was no need for the mech to carry anyone other than Alex. Gelb rode behind Thrak - pairing the heaviest with the lightest - while Daine and Borren rode behind Elizabeth and Talia. Unencumbered, Alex easily kept pace with them with a swift walking pace; running diagnostics as he went.

It seemed like Talia had in fact fixed the blast cannon - as far as the mech's systems were aware at least - and it was idling at minimum power. Alex made a mental note not to push the weapon too hard given the imprecise nature of the elven artificer's repairs.

They quickly left the army behind, passing the head of the column before it even set off. As they journeyed, the terrain grew yet more mountainous - as it had been for the past few days - but it wasn't too long before they found a well-trodden road, which Elizabeth led them along as they journeyed ever further north.

Around midday an evergreen forest suddenly sprung up around the travelling party. Progress slowed as they picked their way through the trees, and when they came across a small stream babbling lazily down the hillside Borren suggested they stop to rest the horses and eat some lunch. Thrak produced a small sack filled with bread, cheese and dried meat, and they all sat down to eat.

Alex leaned back against the foot of his mech, chewing on a tough piece of crust while the horses drank noisily from the stream behind him. He watched Elizabeth crack up at something Talia had said while he hadn't been paying attention, and a small smile crept across his face.

"What are you expecting when we get there?" he directed at the major during a lull in the conversation.

"I don't know what to expect," she admitted as everyone looked to her, "They'll probably be grateful for some military presence; Ravenholm is the furthest north township in the empire so they'll have been dealing with the Wildlings for a while now."

"Are ye not worried we'll find a smolderin' ruin when we ge' there?" asked Daine.

Borren smacked him on the side of the head.

"Don' say things o' that kin. Idjit," the other dwarf grumbled.

"No, I'm not worried," Elizabeth shook her head with a smile, "Ravenholm is a fortress; they'd be fine even if they had been under siege for months."

They lapsed into silence as they finished eating. Just as Alex was popping the last chunk of jerky into his mouth, Elizabeth perked up, turning to face north and cocking her head.

"Something wrong?" Alex asked.

Elizabeth held up a finger to shush him, almost visibly straining her ears as she screwed her eyes shut.

"Movement, somewhere that way," she whispered and pointed.

Slowly and quietly, everyone climbed to their feet, putting their hands onto their weapons. Alex grabbed hold of a dangling strap and hauled himself into the cockpit, slipping the spike into his socket. He sent out a quick scanning pulse, ignoring the lifesigns immediately next to him. Not too far away was a small group of humanoid creatures; three a little smaller than human, two about his size. They were getting closer, though they didn't seem to have spotted the Irregulars yet; if they stayed where they were then the creatures would pass by well off to one side.

"Beastmen and goblins," he announced, warming up his systems and closing the cockpit, "Cover your ears, hold the horses and back off as far as you can; it's time for a weapons test."

As quietly as a giant robot could, Alex moved across to intercept their path, raising his arm and charging the blast cannon. He watched them approach the range of the weapon, and when the last one had crossed that invisible line he fired.

The energy shields of the mech snapped on; not because he was under attack but to absorb some of the sound that would have deafened him otherwise. A noise like a bomb going off crashed against the trees, a visible wave of concussive force that reduced wood to splinters at the speed of sound carving a jagged-edged tunnel to the target.

The goblins and beastmen didn't even have time to react as the blast passed over them, pulverizing bones and bursting organs. Their limp corpses were flung backwards like ragdolls and scattered against the remaining tree trunks.

Alex lowered his arm, stepping backwards to avoid the limbs of the nearby trees that tumbled down around him, their support suddenly stripped away. Warning lights flashed in his head, and he swore to himself. The blast had shaken the cannon too much, and it was now back to non-functional.

Wide-eyed, Elizabeth and the Irregulars stared at Alex as he walked away from the devastation. The horses strained against their reins, slowly calming down once it was clear that the noise wasn't returning. Alex gave a deep bow and opened the cockpit.

"That," Alex winked at Elizabeth, "Is firepower."

The group continued onwards, Talia sat on the mech's shoulder as she attempted to fix the blast cannon again. Before long they had followed the track completely out of the woods, and the Ravenholm estate was revealed in all its glory.

At the top of the hill an imposing, dark stone castle loomed over the surrounding countryside. Around it a town had congregated; larger and more opulent looking houses than those Alex had seen in the villages he had passed on his journey, made from deep chestnut colored wood and pale bricks. True to its name, a flock of ravens flew in sweeping circles around the spires and towers of the castle; their cawing drifting down from on high.

Despite the intact appearance of the place, something seemed off about it. There was an uncomfortable feeling of dread emanating from the township, and the longer they looked the more disquieting it got. Finally, Alex's nerve broke and he sent out a scanning pulse, perusing the feedback with a cautious eye.

"I'm not getting any lifesigns," he almost whispered, barely loud enough for the others to hear him, "A lot of bodies though."

"Dammit," Elizabeth hissed, spurring her horse onwards without another word.

Alex and the others picked up their pace to catch up, reaching the edge of the town at about the same time as the major. As they slowed again, slipping through silent streets, Alex gestured wordlessly to the first house with signs of a struggle. Elizabeth dismounted first, and with a shaking hand pushed the splintered door out of the way.

Just inside the doorway, a pile of bodies lay stiffly on the wooden floor. Strangely, there was a mix of humans and goblins; what looked like a family and a small raiding party.

"They've been eviscerated," Elizabeth said with cold, professional detachment not quite concealing abject horror, "All of them. This wasn't Wildlings."

The small gnome, who had been silent for nearly the entire journey, looked up to Alex with a deep sadness in his watery eyes.

"There's really no survivors?"

Alex shook his head, the mech following along sympathetically.

"None out here. I can't get a read on the inside of the castle though, so maybe?"

"We should bury 'em," Daine said simply.

"We can't bury them all," Elizabeth stepped outside again, looking paler than usual, "Our priority for now is finding survivors."

"To the castle?" Thrak suggested.

"To the castle," Elizabeth nodded.

The rest of the distance passed quickly, nobody saying a word and no noise save for the metallic clinking of horseshoes and the mech's feet. As they neared the peak the incline levelled off, and in the empty ring around the castle itself, they found yet more - larger - corpses.