Outside the reinforced viewports of a transport, the wasteland blurred past in a smear of ash and rust as the heavy transport hurtled toward the sub-surface tunnels leading back to the Ark.
Technically, the transport had been dispatched by Syuen to retrieve her Nikkes. But Practically, the Commander had commandeered it.
Inside the troop bay, the silence was suffocating. Rapi sat rigidly, reloading her primary rifle with practiced, mechanical speed. Anis leaned back against the bulkhead, her face pale as she stared at the metal floorboards. Beside her, Neon clutched her shotgun so tightly her knuckles showed white beneath her tactical gloves.
Wardress Squad sat across from them. Yuni fidgeted nervously with her whip, her eyes wide, while Mihara kept a tense, quiet watch on the transport's rear sensors.
"Commander..." Anis broke the silence, her usual sarcastic tone entirely absent. "Those Nikkes back there... they felt wrong. Deeply wrong."
The Commander remained quiet, his eyes fixed on the strategic map glowing on his wrist-pad.
"The Ark's defensive lines won't hold," he said, his voice measured despite the weight behind it. "Central Government mass-produced models aren't equipped to handle her creations. We need to assume the perimeter has already been breached."
Before anyone could respond, the transport lurched wildly, tires shrieking as it slammed through the inner gates of the Ark's staging zone.
What awaited them on the other side was absolute chaos.
Smoke billowed from the upper housing tiers of the outer district. Alarms blared Dust and debris rained down as distant detonations shook the very foundation of the megacity. Sirens wailed continuously, and panic-stricken shouts echoed through the comms channels a chaotic patchwork of guard reports, medical emergencies, and frantic commands from the Central Government.
BZZZZT.
"Commander! You made it!"
Shifty's voice burst back over the comms, raw and exhausted, accompanied by the frantic, rapid-fire clatter of keyboard strokes in the background.
"Shifty, status report, now!" the Commander ordered, stepping out of the transport onto the shattered asphalt of the entry plaza.
"It's... it's catastrophic, Commander!" Shifty reported, her voice trembling slightly before she forced it back into professional clarity.
"The moment your comms went out, a portal appeared out of nowhere and it opened right above the arc. A entity calling itself 'Plague Doctor' is leading an attack force of Eradicators!"
A tactical feed minimized on his wrist-pad, displaying video footage of an Eradicator Mk-1 tearing through a structural block, crumbling multiple buildings into dust.
"They aren't just attacking military installations!" Shifty continued. "They're targeting the Ark's primary power grids and factories!"
"Where is the Central Government? What about the outer defensive line?" Anis demanded, ducking as a distant shell impacted a structural pylon above, sending a blinding shower of sparks down into the street.
"They're overwhelmed!" Shifty cried. "The mass-produced Nikke units sent to reinforce Sector 4 were completely wiped out in minutes! The enemy force is too strong. Commander, if they breach Sector 2, they'll have direct access to the lower Ark reactor!"
The Commander turned to face his squad, his mind rapidly mapping the surrounding urban choke points.
"Rapi, take point. Anis, Neon, cover our flanks. Yuni, Mihara, you're on rear guard and perimeter control. We advance toward the Sector 2 junction and establish a fallback line for evacuating civilians."
"Understood!" the squad answered in unison.
They moved quickly through the ruined streets. The familiar, sterile neon-lit corridors of the Ark were now scorched black, littered with shattered concrete and the smoking husks of automated defense turrets.
As they rounded a major intersection near the commercial plaza, the air temperature plummeted unnaturally. A thick, dark crimson mist rolled through the streets, clinging to the asphalt like a living fluid.
"Sensors registering extreme energy spikes!" Neon shouted, her visor flickering with crimson warnings. "Commander, this isn't normal Rapture energy... it matches the readout from the crater!"
From the dense red fog, a towering figure materialized.
It was massive and humanoid, draped in heavy, jet-black carapace armor. Long, tendril-like cables extended from its broad shoulders, dripping with a luminescent violet liquid. Above its mechanical faceplate, a single, glowing optic burned with harsh, cold light.
"Hello, Commander," a deep, synthesized voice rasped from the construct, echoing off the high-rise walls and making the air vibrate in the Commander's chest. "Doctor Xenon sends her regards."
Behind the towering construct, dozens of modified zombies and predators pulled themselves over the rubble and barricades.
"Plague Doctor you will die give him hell!" the Commander screamed, drawing his sidearm and leveling it directly at the massive construct.
"You end here!" Anis yelled, stepping forward and raising her grenade launcher.
The plague doctor tilted its head, a deep sound like grinding metal emanating from its chest plates.
"Fool. My purpose was never to destroy you, but to weaken you," Plague Doctor declared, raising a heavy launcher loaded with corrosive, metal-melting chemical rounds.
Your resistance is merely a delaying action, Commander."
"We'll see about that!" Anis roared.
"Counters, Wardress open fire!"
The alleyway erupted into a wall of flame and deafening gunfire. Neon let loose with heavy suppressive bursts, the heavy shells slamming into the advancing hoards of zombies, while Mihara and Yuni executed precise crossfire maneuvers to keep their flanks clear.
Rapi sprinted straight down the center, using crumbling vehicle wreckage for cover before drawing her high-frequency blade and charging Plague Doctor head-on.
--
Meanwhile, inside her command center, Doctor Xenon watched the live tactical display with a thin, sharp smile.
"Fools fighting for a lost cause," she whispered, leaning forward on her desk as the cold blue light of the screens reflected in her eyes. "Even when forced into a corner, they push forward. But resilience without power is just prolonging the suffering."
She reached out and tapped a key on her console, opening an encrypted line to her primary laboratory.
"Xscientists," Xenon commanded softly.
"Prepare to teleport the Plague Division. They have accomplished their objective."
"Understood, Doctor," a voice replied over the comms.
"Oh... and send our guests their reward," she added, her lips curving into a manic grin.
--
Back in the burning streets of Sector 2, Rapi's blade slammed against Plague Doctor's heavy arm plating, generating a blinding shower of sparks. The sheer force of the impact blew back the surrounding crimson fog, cracking the pavement beneath their feet.
With a final, desperate surge of force, Rapi drove the blade home, slamming the giant back into a concrete wall.
The construct sank to one knee, armor plating smoking and cracked.
"It's over!" Rapi yelled, pointing her weapon at its optic.
"My defeat changes nothing," the Plague Doctor rasped, his voice echoing with cold metallic resonance. "We have achieved our goal. End me if you must, but we have already won this battle."
Before Rapi could pull the trigger, a flash of light enveloped the construct and it vanished into thin air.
"What!?" Rapi gasped, staggering back in surprise.
The Commander's eyes scanned the battlefield frantically, searching for any sign of the displaced enemy.
Suddenly, the remaining modified zombies and Xenon's creations froze in place. A second later, sequential flashes of light consumed them all, teleporting the entire army away from the plaza.
"What is happening?" Neon asked, lowering her shotgun slightly as silence fell over the street.
Then, high above them, something heavy displaced the air.
THUD!
A massive metallic object crashed down into the center of the intersection, shattering the road and throwing up a thick screen of dust.
"Commander, get down!" Rapi screamed, tackling the Commander behind a line of reinforced barricades.
As the dust slowly settled, a massive, combat-ready machine unfolded itself from the crater, its weapons systems humming to life with a high-pitched whine.
A single red visor flared to life through the smoke.
"Target acquired."