The storm above Mini Milta roared like an angry engine. Bolts of lightning carved across the clouds as SkyBeak soared into the night, its metal wings leaving streaks of blue flame behind. Below, four unstable jetpacks sputtered to life, propelling Team Boltan into the air like a flock of very confused superheroes.
"Why does mine sound like a blender?" Chiku yelled over the wind.
"Because it's you!" Roxy shouted back, adjusting her trajectory. Her jetpack burned smooth and steady—unlike Boltan's, which coughed smoke like an overworked barbecue.
"Team formation!" Boltan commanded, spinning upside down by accident. "We'll attack in—uh—triangle formation!"
"You mean crash formation?" LagMan glitched, flickering between positions like a broken hologram. "Because that's what this looks like."
SkyBeak shrieked and fired a barrage of plasma feathers. The squad scattered—barely. One feather grazed Chiku's jetpack, sending him spiraling downward.
"Mayday! I'm doing barrel rolls, but not on purpose!"
Roxy dove after him, stabilizing his fall with her grappling cable. "I swear, next update I'm uninstalling you."
Meanwhile, Boltan rocketed straight toward SkyBeak. "Come here, you overgrown turkey!" he roared, emptying his pistol into the creature's armored chest. The bullets sparked harmlessly.
SkyBeak retaliated with a sonic screech that shattered nearby drones mid-flight. Boltan was hurled backward, spinning through the rain.
LagMan blinked beside him midair. "I've got an idea—let's use its own targeting system against it!"
"Explain!" Boltan shouted.
LagMan pointed toward the data ports visible beneath SkyBeak's wing plating. "If I can upload a feedback loop into its neural core, it'll confuse its sensors!"
"You can hack midair?" Roxy yelled, dodging another feather missile.
"I can try!" LagMan replied, then glitched directly onto SkyBeak's back.
Sparks erupted as LagMan jammed his data spike into the control port. "Uploading loop—forty percent—seventy—OH NO."
"What do you mean oh no?!" Boltan shouted.
SkyBeak's eyes flickered, then turned redder. "THREAT IDENTIFIED: INTERNAL INFECTION DETECTED. COUNTER-HACK INITIATED."
LagMan screamed. "It's hacking me back!"
Roxy accelerated upward, plasma rifle glowing bright. "Get off it before you become bird data!"
With a desperate yank, she fired at the clamp locking LagMan in place. The bolt hit perfectly, freeing him—just as SkyBeak unleashed an EMP burst that knocked out all four jetpacks at once.
The squad plummeted through the rain.
"Not it!" Chiku yelled. "I'm not the one who dies first!"
Boltan fumbled for the emergency chute, but instead hit the explosive boost button. His pack reignited, sending him and the others spinning wildly until—miraculously—they crash-landed onto SkyBeak's back again.
Roxy groaned. "This is officially the dumbest victory plan ever."
"Dumb but effective!" Boltan grinned, pulling out a grenade. "Team, let's clip its wings!"
LagMan, barely conscious, rerouted the power loop he had started earlier. "If you detonate when I say now, the overload will collapse its flight matrix!"
SkyBeak screeched, banking hard toward the burning rooftops of Mini Milta.
"NOW!" LagMan screamed.
Boltan hurled the grenade into the exposed reactor slot. A flash of white engulfed the sky. SkyBeak convulsed, its wings tearing apart in a shower of sparks and feathers.
The explosion lit up the entire zone as the squad was flung outward, parachutes deploying automatically. They drifted through the smoke, landing amid the ruins of Mini Milta's control tower.
For a long moment, no one spoke. Then Chiku coughed. "Anyone else smell fried circuitry?"
Boltan laughed, lying flat on the cracked floor. "Victory, team. The skies are ours."
Roxy stared upward at the fading fireball. "Until it respawns."
LagMan checked his cracked visor, which now displayed a single blinking message from the hacked console:
'PROJECT SKYBEAK – PHASE ONE COMPLETE. PREPARING PHASE TWO.'
The laughter faded. Boltan's grin stiffened. "Phase two?"
Roxy sighed, reloading her weapon. "Guess we're not done yet."
And somewhere above, beyond the clouds, something massive stirred—a shadow with wings far larger than SkyBeak's.
Mini Milta had survived the first storm. But the real disaster was just getting started.