Catch and Release

"There they come, soldiers. Look alive."

As always, Inertia sounded unfazed at the thought of facing down impossible odds. Unmoved, one might say. Fangs allowed himself a smirk at that thought. Then he tapped the comm button on his right joystick, but he wasn`t fast enough. The first reply belonged to Rift, as it so often did. 

"Copy, Nova Blitz. Permission to see how many we can pick off at range?"

A short pause followed, so short it was unnoticeable for the uninitiated ear. Then came the order. "Permission granted, Black Juggler. Keep it simple, no need to overclock the core just yet. Electrum, supporting fire."

"Aye, Blitz. Let me warm up the rail gun. Let's show these roaches what we got!" 

The enthusiasm in Tecla`s voice was sickening. Fangs hit the comms again. "Careful what you wish for, kid. Roaches are tough. We should try to preserve as much of the coastline as possible." Tecla snapped right back. "This will be over before you know it, gramps. I know you guys are legends and all, but don't underestimate my people. We'll smoke 'em right off the cliffs."

With as much annoyance as patience, Inertia butted in. "This is an open channel, Electrum. Focus." Despite the kid's fire, she knew better than to defy direct orders. "Yes, sir. Firing away."

While Electrum's rail gun finished charging, Fangs allowed himself a quick look around. To check the perimeter, he told himself, but in reality he simply wanted to take in the sights. 

Echidna had been air dropped only minutes ago, and it had taken his better half a while to boot up from deep standby. At least now he could see something, as opposed to the complete sensory deprivation that was the pilot's seat while Echidna was inactive, a state Fangs had spent too much of his time in during travel. 

When he had received the relocation order around noon, that hadn't been anything special. High Command always kept him on his feet, something he was thankful for. Since the old troop, now commonly dubbed the Golden Four, had been dissolved, High Command had assigned him troops of upstart vanguard pilots to travel with, to both teach the new generation and spread his appearances wide for public morale. 

So the relocation order had actually been ordinary as ever. It was only when he saw his destination that he'd started frowning. Europe was his turf these days. He knew his hunting grounds well. So relocating him to North America was unusual, even at high priority. Then he had read the mission intel and his heart had dropped.

A bunch of audacious cavalcades had apparently scored big. Against all odds, they had succeeded in sneaking up to the Arctic Kaiju Well. Out of all the wells, it had been the only one crashing almost straight down during the Scattering, a lucky coincidence for metakind. While the central Australian well had transformed the entire continent into a wasteland, the Arctic well, due to its proximity to most settlements, had been the sole one to be classified as "harmless". Which, of course, was a joke akin to calling the planet Mars a watermelon, but its spawns had mostly left metakind in peace. So, maybe out of a sense of false security, these Cavalcades had decided to go harvest some cores from it, escorted only by two rogue pilots and their rag tag MAKs, driven by ambition and a dream to be remembered by the history books.

If Fangs had read the report right, they had indeed plundered quite a few cores. But whether their escort screwed up or their containment tanks had leaked, they were ambushed by a horde of Kaiju shortly after. The MAKs hadn't made it out of the engagement alive, but their skill and the Cavalcades` usual handiness at least allowed them to turn tail and escape. At breakneck speed, they had made for Ottawa, the northernmost city on the globe, drawing more and more Kaiju in their wake, lured in by the promise of slaughter like vultures.

Ottawa itself was a miracle. Despite being pinched between two Wells, it had made a name for itself as the single truly safe North American sanctuary, largely thanks to a single pilot. This pilot was the only ten star pilot alive, one whose name alone was the stuff of legends. Inertia Galilei and their MAK Nova Blitz stood as the pride of Ottawa's Homeguard. With 136 Kills and countless Assists, Inertia officially was the deadliest Homeguard pilot in history. 

They had many nicknames, but the only one people dared to speak in front of them was Modern Atlas. Fangs had once asked them about that particular name in a private call over a gin after hours, but Inertia had only flashed a tired smile and changed the topic. 

But Fangs had understood, and if he was honest to himself, the question had rung hollow before it was even spoken out loud. Inertia might be the first among many, but all pilots bore the burden of metakind's survival on their shoulders like the titan of myth. 

If they faltered for even a moment, their species would go extinct. Both of them knew this. It was an axiom to their existence, as much a certainty as the morning sunrise. 

Fangs missed the Golden Four's era. When Inertia made the calls and Rift handled the interviews. When Jeanne always had his back. But he knew that they had individually become a resource too valuable to waste them on a single mission at a time, and when the troop had been ordered to split, they had all gone without complaint. Except for Jeanne who ran her mouth like clockwork; but stoic Inertia had sat her down behind closed doors and that had been the end of it. 

That night, before they split up, Fangs got blackout drunk for the first time in his life. They all woke up in a queen sized bed, a puzzling tangle of limbs, and claimed they didn`t remember last nights events. Fangs had often thought about what might have happened, what secrets the five empty bottles of vodka on the night stand hid, but the vodka had stayed silent and so had his troop. And sure, he was as curious as the next guy, but at the end of the day it didn't matter. They shared a bond beyond anything they could ever put in words since none of them had been given a gift for poetry, and that was all they needed. 

And sure, the civilians talked, Rift's wife was suspicious for months, but that night belonged to them alone. Their bond persisted, though they hadn't seen each other since.

Until five minutes ago, that was. While most of Ottawa's Homeguard had been tasked with cutting stragglers off the main horde and stop the increase to its numbers, High Command had mobilized its finest to take care of the main threat. With the exception of Jeanne who currently served with the Australian Recon Division, none other than the Golden Four had been reconvened to save the city. 

Ryan "Rift" Walker, 8 Star Vanguard Pilot. Him and his MAK Black Juggler had been the terror of South American Kaiju for years, slinging stilettos the size of freight trains at Kaiju from a distance, capable of obliterating all but the toughest ones with a minimum of hits. 

The modern Atlas themself, Inertia Galilei, greatest Homeguard pilot in history, and their MAK Nova Blitz. With their metability extended to their MAK, what held them back most in combat was fine-tuning their power so as to not cause earthquakes powerful enough to level Ottawa completely unrelated to Kaiju activity. 

And him, Fangs Jovic. Having earned another two stars after the Golden Four's separation, he now stood as the highest ranked Vanguard pilot alive with a total of nine stars, exterminating Kaiju all over continental Europe. For whatever that was worth. Him and Echidna would fight wherever fate and High Command took them. 

They were joined by Tecla Hildasdóttir of Electrum, Ottawa's shooting star, a Homeguard fiver who had supported Inertia on multiple engagements already. High Command had decided that she was best suited as Jeanne's replacement on this mission. She was a sorry excuse for one of the Golden Four and everyone knew it, but the kid made up for it with enthusiasm. Fangs could tell she hadn't seen the thick of it, didn't know death yet like the others did. For them, the grim reaper always lurked around the corner, was a constant companion. Tecla had only brushed shoulders with it a few times, and the horror or loss had yet to settle in. Fangs wasn't exactly jealous of her; the faint remains of memories he had of the time before were happy, but for nothing in the world would he want to live through the first defeats of his pilot career again. And even in the shadow of Inertia, losses were unavoidable on this path. Tecla would learn that eventually. 

Marveling at the beautiful coastline, though, Fangs hoped that day wouldn't be today. Tecla's homeland was a gorgeous one, full of primal beauty. The cliffs and stone shores of Thunder Bay were too pretty to annihilate in a battle against Kaiju, but he also made a mental note to possible use them to impale Kaiju later. The bay's water was churning today, though not enough to hinder Echidna, should she need to step into it. He remembered reading something about surprising depths in the water and made another mental note. Maybe taking this fight to the water wouldn't be a bad idea if the Kaiju allowed it.

The low Thump of Electrum's rail gun immediately followed by a sharp hissing sound snapped Fangs back into reality. The slug bolted past him, too fast to follow even with his fusion augmented senses. In the distance, a Kaiju collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Unfortunately, it had only been one of the smaller ones. By now, Fangs felt the earth shake even in his sarcophagus within Echidna, caused by the multitude of beasts rampaging towards the troop.

Terrible as it was, it really was a sight to behold. Initial scans had confirmed the reports: The horde consisted of three category eight Kaiju, formidable beasts near the upper end of the meta-invented categorization system for the alien monstrosities. They alone would already have been a threat, but not one to warrant a surprise reunion of the Golden Four. What made the difference was the multitude of smaller Kaiju following them. It was a total of twenty-one of them, ranging from categories two to six. 

The one Electrum had just felled was a category two, and another one fell right after with another Thump of the rail gun. "Two down, nineteen to go" Tecla reported via comms. As if we hadn't noticed. This kid knows how to aim. "Keep it up, Electrum. Concentrate fire on the small ones, the big ones are ours. Ready, Juggler?" 

Rifts voice was strained as he replied. "Almost, Nova. Just a little closer... now." Five projectiles sliced through the air, their trajectories a shallow arc. They weren't anywhere as fast as the railgun bullet that preceded them, but their size and weight more than made up for it. Black Juggler's signature blade barrage downed two category threes at once, both hit in the core by the surgical strike. Fangs heard Tecla gasp over comms. "That's what legends look like, Electrum. Take notes."

Fangs hated it when Rift was like that. Left no chance to gloat unused whenever public eyes were on him. And he didn't doubt that they were. The satellites overhead would record the fight, and it wouldn't be a day before some chronically online kids would whip up montages of the open channel comms and video footage from the safety of Cape Town or Thornwall. None of them knew how it really was out here. Then again, he fought to keep it exactly that way. 

What bugged him was only that Fangs knew Rift wasn't like that at all. Not when he thought nobody was looking, in the absence of microphones and cameras. But in the limelight he always performed, and so did Fangs. And judging from the dwindling distance between the Horde and the Cavalcade's fleeing hovertrans, he would have to do so sooner rather than later. "Permission to engage, Nova?" 

"Granted. We'll slingshot in." Fangs grinned at that, and it was a beastly grin. They hadn't done that in a while. 

"Alright then, let's hold hands, Nova." 

"Open channel."

"Yes, boss."

Both Echidna and Nova Blitz, who had held position in front of Black Juggler and Electrum, took two steps to the side, closing the distance between them and interlinked the fingers of the hands turned to the other. "Count us down, Juggler." Fangs allowed himself one last moment to reminisce. Back in the day, they had experimented quite a lot with their metabilities and their application in combat. Since all four of them had been blessed with the ability to amplify through fusion, they had cooked up a few interesting moves. The "slingshot" was the most exciting of them, a term originally coined by Jeanne for a maneuver Rift had come up with. "If you really think about it", he'd slurred, five whiskey sours deep, "what makes your MAKs so different from my blades?" 

"Three." Rift said, the onset of stress already noticeable in his voice. Back then he'd managed this maneuver without batting an eye, but age hadn't been kind on him.

"Two." Although there was no way for him to physically feel it, Fangs sensed Inertia tense up next to him, ready to pounce. Fangs decided to give the Cavalcade's a heads up. They were stressed enough as it was. "Weasel One, prepare for a little bounce. On my mark." The Cavalcades' driver's response came as quickly as it came stressed. "Copy, Echidna. We'll hope our hoverdrives can take it." 

"One." Rift barked in a tone so strained he sounded as if he were locked in a pressure chamber. Despite his worries, Fangs' respect for his comrade grew even more. This clearly forced him to his limits.

"Let it rip!"

What happened next required impeccable timing. If one of the participants were off by only a split second it would fail, disastrously so. But they were the Golden Four for a reason, and in addition to their immense talent they had practiced this move hundreds of times. Even after years, they still had it in them. 

Both Echidna and Nova Blitz went down low, preparing their servos to pounce. Then, both Inertia and Rift activated their metabilities at the same time. The two MAKs, still linked by their hands, pushed off the ground at impossible velocity. They shot up to the atmosphere, several hundreds of meters high, into the clouds. At the apex point of their ascent, Fangs made his own contribution. Where a moment ago they had still been in the clouds, now they looked upon them from above. It wasn't nearly as much altitude as the slingshotting itself had gained them, but a respectable amount nonetheless.

For the briefest of moments, there was nothing but peace, both in Fangs' head and in the sky around Echidna. Then gravity kicked in and so did the adrenaline. 

Empowered by Inertia, the two MAKs plummeted down, spewed out by the clouds as two embodiments of divine fury, coming down from the skies as nothing short of metakind's wrath become titanium.

The category eight that had spearheaded the horde had no time to react as two killing machines stomped it straight into the ground, smashing both its spine and fusion core at once and cushioning their fall on top of that.

"Hahahaaa! We smite thee!" Tecla dramatically proclaimed, totally amazed by the maneuver she'd just seen. Most pilots nowadays knew it, but seeing it in action was a different thing entirely. Fangs and Inertia didn't have time to waste, nor did they feel the need to do that. Their maneuver had dropped them right into the horde, so they went straight to work. 

Echidna bared her claws and propelled herself at the nearest medium sized Kaiju. The category five was quick to parry, lifting a horn plate the size of its torso to deflect the diamond claws. Fangs had no doubt that he would be able to drill through eventually, but that would take time he didn't have. 

Echidna's claws dug into the beast's neck from behind, completely stunning it. Ripping out undefined parts of its throat to both sides filled Fangs with grim satisfaction. While Kaiju for sure didn't study physics in school, even on a primal level they understood the laws of nature. If a punch was about to be thrown at their face, they knew it would hit them from the front. Which was why there was no way they could predict a teleporting MAK suddenly hitting them from the back. 

Unfortunately, there was no time for a killing blow. Echidna blinked again, backwards this time, narrowly avoiding the river of acid one of the other category eight Kaiju threw up. In his peripheral vision Fangs noticed that the hovertrans was still moving. Good. What wasn't ideal was that their flashy entrance hadn't drawn the attention of every Kaiju. 

Dashing in under the cover of Electrum's rail gun, Black Juggler closed the distance to form another barrier between the priceless fusion cores and their pursuers. 

But a bunch of low category Kaiju wasn't anything Rift was going to struggle with. Blocking a spike covered tail swung for her face, Echidna whirled around and drove her other claw into her attacker's belly with such force it exited out of the Kaiju's back. Fuck. Fangs had expected more resistance and put his back into the punch more than necessary, and now Echidna's arm was stuck. He had to get it out, and fast. With a Kaiju hooked up to him, he couldn't teleport.

The category eight had recharged its acid glands and prepared for another eruption. Fangs wanted to rip the other's corpse off Echidna's captured arm, but a small category two jumped in and bit into her free one. Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit-

Out of options, Fangs smashed both of Echidna's arms together in front of her head, using both the dead and the living Kaiju currently involuntarily attached to his arms as a makeshift shield in the hopes of making them catch the brunt of it. But the Kaiju aimed too low. FUCK-

Thump. The slug hit the category eight in the side of the head, right where a meta's ear would be. Sadly, the Kaiju had thick bone plating in an ear's stead which meant it didn't go down, but the kinetic force of the impact still turned the acid's flow a few crucial degrees to the left. Even so, hadn't Echidna had her improvised shield, the attack would have left her crippled. 

WARNING: CRITICAL DAMAGE TO LEFT ARM. EJECT?

"Not yet." Fangs snarled. Echidna was damaged, but the Kaiju bile had also all but evaporated her involuntary encumbrance. No time to idle. Fangs focused, and a multitude of Kaiju claws cut through the air where Echidna had been a moment ago. He blinked again and again, falling back towards Weasel One and Black Juggler, covering a few hundred feet with every teleport. 

The Juggler was occupied with two particularly aggressive category fives that pummeled its front. A lesser MAK might have been destroyed by the onslaught, but Black Juggler calmly walked backwards, not even using his arms to block the majority of the blows. Instead, Fangs watched in awe as he saw entire parts of the coastline dislodged and flung upwards. House sized parts of cliffs and boulders crashed into Kaiju fists that were just split seconds away from making contact with Juggler, yet never did. Hidden among the rocks were more of Juggler's shivs that stabbed into exposed joints and eyes when his opponents overexposed themselves. Rift made it look effortless, but Fangs knew this maneuver took a toll on him, especially after the slingshotting earlier. Time to reinforce him.

"Incoming, Rift."

The last blink carried Echidna off the ground. Only a few dozen meters, but high enough to strengthen her next punch. Her left arm bore through the Kaiju's back, impaling the category five up to the elbow. "Eject now!" Small detonations separated the damaged arm from Echidna's torso. With newfound momentum she spun and hit the staggered Kaiju with a right hook. Her claws sliced its head right off. 

Tecla chimed in over comms. "Eye patch man, hold it for me!" In his seat, Fangs felt himself smile. No way Rift would let that slide. But instead of a snarky retort, Black Juggler simply leapt at the other category five, the last one still standing here. 

There was no finesse involved. His only melee weapon was currently inactive, but the sudden tempo shift caught the beast off guard as the killing machine caught it in a two kiloton grapple. 

Thu-Thump. The double impact both shattered the Kaiju's exoskeleton side and smashed its core in a single masterpiece of a shot. It went slack in Juggler's arms, sagging to the ground. "Solid shot, Electrum." 

"Just another day in Ottawa." That damn kid. But Tecla wasn't done talking. "I had to overheat my baby for that shot though, so be careful. I won't be able to save your asses like that again for a few."

With a grim nod, Fangs replied at the same time as Rift. "Copy, Electrum. Take care." A look at his HUD confirmed that Weasel One had almost made it to Electrum's anchor point by now. 

If the rest of the troop held position here, it would reach the safety of Ottawa soon. A huge triumph for metakind. But that meant they had to hold the line. Echidna and Black Juggler looked at each other, and even though Rift and Fangs couldn't see the other's face, they both thought the same. The best defense was a good offense. 

"Need some support here, soldiers." Inertia let them know, icy calm in their voice. No need to tell them twice.

They started running. Fangs had left Nova Blitz alone with more than ten Kaiju, among them the two remaining category eight ones. There was no doubt in his mind that no other pilot would have been able to hold their own against an enemy force of that size, even for a moment. He himself certainly wouldn't.

But Inertia Galilei wasn't any other pilot. From a distance, Nova Blitz nearly seemed to slow dance with its beastly opponents. It turned here, there, then back again, and with each impact of its mechanical fists it sent Kaiju gore flying in all directions. 

Inertia had long ago perfected the art of activating their metability in short bursts. This way, they could both exponentially increase the virtual mass of their punches and not overexert themself. It was a tightrope act that required absolute concentration and perfect timing. But if the pool of Kaiju blood and innards around Nova Blitz were anything to judge its pilot's ability by, Inertia had gotten even better since the olden days. 

Fangs had once seen a random fan spitball the impact weight of one of Nova's punches online, and they hadn't been far off what the Conclave technicians had calculated. Nova Blitz's fists were the single most destructive weapon in metakind's arsenal, and they would remain at the very top until Inertia retired.

Of the eleven Kaiju that had remained in the main horde after a part had split off to run after Weasel One, only three remained standing. But killing the small fry wouldn't get them anywhere. The two category eights leading the mob still loomed, taller even than Black Juggler's sleek silhouette, who himself was the tallest of the troop by far. 

Absurdly, the sheer tireless acid spewing capabilities of the one Fangs had briefly brawled with weren't proving the main problem for Nova Blitz. The real trouble was the other category eight. It didn't exactly have arms.. but Fangs wished it did. Attached to the massive bipedal beast's torso were an array of tentacles like razor vines, unnervingly long, incredibly fast and eerily coordinated. Fangs decided to dub it 'Tentacle Head'.

The Kaiju drove Nova Blitz back, snaking a hit in every time it turned to smash another small Kaiju. By now, it had done considerable damage. A few of Nova's armor plates had been ripped off whole, and the spiked tentacles had cut a bunch of the cables and servos beneath them. While Nova Blitz was the troop's heavy hitter, speed had always been Fangs' forte. 

Inertia had been forced into a terrible matchup, and Fangs prayed to all the pilots that had come before him that with only one arm, he'd prove to be a match for this colossus. 

"Hey, Fangs?" Rift's voice sounded strange. Eyes focused on the enemies, he replied. "You've got one sentence before we make contact." 

"I feel like back in Panama." 

Panama? Oh. Ah, shit. Nobody else could have known what that meant, but Fangs didn't have time to think about the implications. "We got this, brother. Don't falter." 

Contact.

Coming in low, Echidna kicked away the last category three's left leg. The Kaiju, some sort of Plasma launcher for a head, fell over sideways where it promptly met Nova Blitz's fist. Boom.

Plasma and bone fragments flew - one down, two to go. Time to bust out the big guns. He rerouted the power from Echidna's missing left arm.

CHIMERA LASER ACTIVATED.

Throughout the years, Fangs and Echidna had achieved a degree of fusion unattainable for most pilots. They had truly become one being, part flesh, part machine, the very tip of metakind's spear. And although Echidna had no haptic sensors, Fangs could still feel his throat burn as the plasma coils in Echidna's neck warmed up. Do or die. 

The acid spewer let loose another barrage, but Echidna didn't need Fangs' help to dodge it. She ducked away from the foul substance lobbed at her at impossible speed, undercutting the bulk of it and rising again on the other side. The acid, half liquid and half vapor, had made for a passable smoke screen. 

Even so Tentacle Head might have been ready, but Fangs topped Echidna's mad dash off with another blink. Her right claw a deadly flash, one of the tentacles dropped to the ground writhing. 

Fangs screamed, and his and Echidna's cold fury unloaded the laser beam. Forcefully it burned its way through the beast's flesh, severing multiple tentacles at once and inflicting critical damage on the Kaiju. But its other limbs were sure to retaliate. 

Three of them swung at Echidna at once, but they wouldn't hit. Fangs saw them close in, and even the sloppiest of calculations told him there was more than enough time to dodge. He blinked- 

No, he did not. In the brief moment Echidna had been blinded by her own laser, two tentacles had already touched her. They had coiled around her legs, thorns screeching over her armor and holding her in place. There was a quick slice and one of them fell, split in two by Black Juggler in a desperate try to support him, but no use. 

The tentacles smashed into Echidna at incredible speed. Fangs' ear drums were pierced by an abhorrent noise as Echidna was flung backwards, ripping free from the last tentacle that had held her. That, however, was little consolation for the fireworks that flashed on Fangs' HUD.

Gyrostabilisators defective.

Leg actuators at reserve power

Core containment unit damaged

Six coolant leaks detected

Spinal cable integrity critical..

"I get it." Fangs growled. His comms crackled - they weren't supposed to do that - and Tecla's voice chimed in his ear, weirdly muffled. "Old timer?" Fangs shut her up.

"Save it, kid. We've got this." The truth was, though, that Fangs wasn't so sure about that at all. He was out of the fight, at least until emergency protocols would reroute, disable and fix what still could be saved of Echidna's systems. That would take a minute, time they didn't have. The enormous hit she'd taken had catapulted her out of immediate danger and allowed Juggler and Blitz to move up and use their frames to form a defensive screen between her and the Kaiju, but that wouldn't last long. MAK battles were dynamic in nature, always had been. But it seemed Inertia had a plan.

"Electrum, is that rail gun up again?" Tecla's response came quick. "No, sir. But I've got something better to cover you. Charge right ahead." Judging by their next order, Inertia trusted Tecla more than he'd thought. 

"Right. Black Juggler, hold my left. I'm going in for the kill on Tentacle Head." 

A simple "Roger." was the only thing Rift said to acknowledge that, and that only served to increase Fangs' worries about him. This would have been the opportunity for one of his quippy one-liners, and that he missed out on it spelled.. only bad things.

With his field of view fractured since all but one of Echidna's oculars were out of commission, Fangs could only watch what came next. Nova Blitz charged, and in its movement pattern the initiated eye recognized only one thing: Dauntless resolve. 

Black Juggler was close behind, and for a moment it seemed like they were running towards certain doom. 

Tentacle Head was damaged, only about half its limbs remained, its core only covered by a few sinews and thin membranes in its middle. But its remaining appendices still flailed almost as wildly and quickly as before, and that had already proven to be a grave threat to Inertia. 

Emergency repairs at 23%

Graver still was the danger posed by the acidic kaiju, a bipedal monstrosity of grey flesh and bones, dwarfing its comrade next to it with gargantuan size. The battle had inflicted little harm on it until now, and its acid glands steadily pulsed as it readied another salvo. 

From Electrum's location, a staccato of low booming sounds echoed across the bay, much lower than the rail gun before. Fangs couldn't see what it was, but in combination with a choir of whistling noises closing in on the combatants, it forebode destruction.

Emergency repairs at 34%

Faster, please. Nova dashed in, its right fist raised high. If it connected, it would surely finish the beast off, but the move was too telegraphed. Already three tentacles shot up, prepared to rip Nova Blitz's arm right out of its socket. But Inertia didn't show any signs of stopping, and it immediately became apparent why.

Faster than either of the Kaiju could react, a swarm of rapidly moving objects snuck its way into the titanic melee, each of them searching for a target with lethal, perfectly coordinated precision. A devastating series of explosions followed, covering both monstrosities in purple fire balls and staggering them for a brief moment. The tentacles meant to block Nova Blitz' fist were knocked back ever so slightly, and that was all Inertia needed. Nova's servos howled as its fist came down, its weight amplified hundredfold by Inertia's metability, and a disgusting, yet satisfying CRUNCH rang out as multiple tons of titanium tore through Tentacle Head's torso and core, snuffing out the chaotic forces keeping the Kaiju alive.

"Yaaaahoooooo! EAT SHIT!" Tecla celebrated, but Fangs' gut cramped up as he experienced a frightening sense of déjà-vu. 

Emergency repairs at 56%

The devastating finisher had left Nova Blitz in a similar predicament as Echidna before. Tentacle head's corpse held on to it with a death grip, and although Electrum's carpet bombing had stunned the acidic Kaiju for a second, a category eight wasn't that easily defeated. The behemoth barged through the residue smoke of the bombs an unstoppable terror, its steaming maw wide open, ready to deliver another barrage. With the amount of damage Nova had sustained it couldn't dodge, and Inertia knew that. So, inspired by Echidna's earlier maneuver, Modern Atlas improvised. The comms stayed silent, but Fangs could practically hear Inertia scream as they pushed their metability to the limit. 

Emergency repairs at 71%

Nova Blitz' arm came up again, and with it Tentacle Head's corpse. Its weight reduced by Inertia's metability, the monstrosity's corpse looked light as a feather as it was yanked up into the acid attack's path, but Fangs knew that any strain removed from the MAK's physical load, Inertia bore mentally. This truly was a last resort. And it just might have worked.

Black Juggler crashed into the Kaiju's exposed abdomen, and there was no finesse in the maneuver whatsoever. He held a pair of shivs, and instead of gracefully flinging them like he normally did, he simply started stabbing into the beast's flesh like a madman, ramming the blades through its thick skin over and over. This pushed the Kaiju off balance, which normally would be a good thing.

But what it did in that moment was twofold. Firstly, it opened a hole in the Kaiju's belly. And contrary to what the scans had shown, the acid was not being generated in the beast's throat. A river of caustic fluids burst forth, hitting the unprepared Black Juggler at next to zero range. 

Secondly, it changed the attack vector Inertia had painstakingly moved their vanquished foe's body into, and bypassed their makeshift shield. Not entirely, but enough to do serious collateral. 

Emergency repairs at 84%

Come on, come on!! Both machines' shells lit up in a mixture of electricity crackling and acid burn as the fusion core generated chemicals ate away at armor and vital systems, biting deeper than any of the redundancies built into the MAKs were meant to compensate for. 

And the Kaiju didn't slow down. It stampeded forward, shaking off the crippled Black Juggler, and downright used it as a football. The machine tumbled over once, twice, then came to a halt. He didn't seem to get up again. Time slowed down as the Kaiju caught up, and Fangs could see the malice in its lizard-like eyes this time. 

It lifted its foot. It took no technician to see that when it came down again, it would smash Black Juggler's core to pieces, and with it Rift's pilot seat. Fangs could do nothing but helplessly watch, tied to a two hundred ton shackle that kept him from helping his friend.

"RYAN WALKER! GET THE FUCK UP AND FIGHT!" Somehow, Fangs found the energy for a sarcastic thought. When Inertia resorts to cussing, you know shit's bad. For a heartbeat, no response. Then Echidna's comms crackled again. "Affirmative, sir. " 

Black Juggler was badly shot, but he wasn't piloted by just anyone. His pilot was Rift fucking Walker.

Only split seconds from certain destruction, life returned to what was left of the MAK. Utilizing its only unharmed limb, its right leg, Juggler spun on the ground, both avoiding the Kaiju's stomp and kicking away its other foot, momentarily pushing it off balance. 

It never regained it. When the beast reared its gargantuan head again to keep the rest of the troop in its sights, it was already too late. Nova Blitz had used the time bought by Rift to close the distance. However large the Kaiju was, impossibly thick as its armor might be, it could not stand before Inertia Galilei.

Nova Blitz' fists crashed into it again and again, each impact forceful enough to level a small city, shattering, even pulverizing the Kaiju's head with hit after hit. Acid squirted out of its neck stump, but the damage done was negligible. Inertia didn't let up. And sure enough, the damn beast finally went down. It was so tall that only half its body hit the stony shore; the other half crashed into the bay, causing a giant tsunami. 

Emergency repairs failed. Power Supply insufficient.

Great. Thanks for telling me so soon. But Fangs didn't find it in him to be frustrated. The triplets would fix Echidna up soon enough, and for now he only felt relief. Tecla's victory howl chimed in his ear, and all of them were still alive. Mission accomplished. They had seen worse days and recovered from every one of them.. although Fangs had to admit only very few other battles could compete with this one. Rift had probably passed out, but he too would get better. He looked over to Electrum and Weasel One. 

The hovertrans had crossed the check point at Electrum's feet, and not even the golden MAK's victory dance could endanger it any more now. Immobilized like this, at least now Fangs had time to properly look at the coast. His eyes trailed over the bay, and for no particular reason, followed the tsunami waves' path. 

The seagulls cawed over the water, already returning after the battle. But there seemed to be an area they.. avoided? Yes, Fangs was sure of it. A part of the water seemed to stave off the birds, a big patch right off the coast where Electrum stood. No way. 

"Kiddo! Eyes peeled on your left!" Fangs yelled, already pulling the ejection lever. "What was that? Your comms are busted, old man!" But Inertia didn't need to understand the words to read the tone in his voice. Nova turned its head in Electrum's direction. And immediately started falling into a sprint.

Fangs' seat rocketed out of Echidna's head at break neck speed, and he undid his safety belts in midair. He could already hear the triplets scolding him, but fuck them. They didn't know anything about real life. 

Electrum turned, but too slow. Another Kaiju propelled itself out of the bay where it had been lying in wait, prowling until the hovertrans and its oh so tasty cargo were close enough to take it down with a single hit. Kaiju weren't normally cannibals, but raw fusion cores attracted them like the light did moths.

Tecla was a good pilot, Fangs didn't doubt that. But that Kaiju, a slippery mass of muscles and scales, simply was too fast. Even without Echidna's scanner array Fangs could see it was at least a category six, probably seven, maybe even eight. And when it barreled into Electrum's undefended flank, Tecla had no time to react before its monstrous jaws closed around its waist, ripping out its core whole. 

Deep down, Fangs knew there was only one way to win this. The only MAK that remained operational was Nova Blitz, and even its reserves were waning. The only remaining option was to finish this with a single, decisive strike. And he wasn't quite sure he could pull it off.

"Inertia, watch it! I'm hopping on!" The freezing canadian air bit into Fangs' skin as he removed the last belt and jumped off his still ascending chair. And then the chair was the only thing flying any more, and several hundred meters below Fangs was sitting on Nova Blitz' left shoulder, no more than an ant against the hulking killer machine. There was no need to communicate the plan. Inertia knew what he knew, and even after so many years their minds worked in tandem. 

"This might very well kill me. Make it count, sir."

Inertia snapped back, but the words took the edge off their tone. "I haven't given you permission to die, soldier. We do this together. Weasel One, brace."

Fangs smiled. Counting was unnecessary. More than half a kilometer off its target, Nova Blitz raised both its hands and folded them overhead. 

Fangs, in turn, concentrated. What he needed to do went so far beyond what the average meta could accomplish that he started doubting himself, but only for a moment. There was no time for second guessing. If this was what it took, Fangs Jovic would go the extra mile and then some, even if it meant his death. He breathed in.

"Go."

And Nova Blitz blinked. Fangs could feel veins burst, muscles rip and the air being squeezed out of his body, but Nova Blitz' fists came crashing down, hitting the last Kaiju's head with a murderous stroke. Inertia must have put all their power into it, because the Kaiju's skull wasn't the only thing that broke. The titanium fists plummeted down with such sheer mass that they pinned it right to the ground, with no more resistance than a fly would have posed. 

Kaiju brain splattered all over the rocky plateau, but there was no stopping. The strike shattered the entire plateau like glass, shaking the ground so much they would no doubt be feeling it in Ottawa, and maybe even back at the pole. Only then was Inertia able to halt Nova's momentum. The MAK was bent over to a ridiculous degree, buried up to the elbows in solid stone, and Fangs could only cushion his own fall by blinking to the ground in multiple jumps.

He hit the ground hard. A rib.. or three? broke, but Fangs had no energy left to even feel concern about it. His whole body hurt, and someone had placed a red veil over his eyes. And that's with all the adrenaline. He could feel himself fading, but there was one more thing he needed to know.

"Hey.. kid?" Blood oozed out of Fangs' mouth, but he continued to speak. "Are you... there?" The Kaiju had gotten to Electrum's core, but if Fangs recalled correctly, Tecla's body was located in its upper chest. She might still be alive. Someone to carry the banner. 

"Hey, no need to use that stone age headset. I ejected years ago." A fiery mane appeared in front of Fangs' eyes, followed by a pair of hazel eyes and an adorable snub nose. Shit, she really looks like Grace. Tecla reached for his hands, and he neither had the strength nor the will to stop her. His eyes slowly fell shut.

"Stay awake, gramps." Normally, he might have laughed. There was none of that now, only pain and fatigue weighing on him like a thick lead blanket. It would be a good way to go. They would sing his praises everywhere, of his heroics and monumental last battle. Maybe this was meant to be the end for him. Rest, at last. But over the muffled cawing of the gulls, he could still hear Tecla loud and clear. "You got this, old man. Stay with me now. Your legend isn't over." 

Somehow, she made him believe her. He opened his eyes again and held on to this girl that looked so much like his daughter. He stared at her for the small eternity until the evac came in, and then kept staring while they took care of him, all the way until the sedatives kicked in. And when he dreamed, he still saw her before his eyes, her face full of hope and kindness.

Fangs awoke some time later. He wasn't in pain, which either meant Rift's wife had fixed him up with her metability or he was high as a kite on nerve dampeners. Or both. But he could still remember the events quite clearly and his head felt twice as big as normal, so probably the second. 

The ceiling was white, there were no skylights and his neck didn't feel like he should move it any time soon, so he stayed motionless. How long had it been? His implants were disabled, so he had no way to tell. Fangs' mind wandered here and there, but eventually he fell asleep again.

"Hey, soldier. Don't make me kick you." His eyes snapped open, or at least attempted to. A few tries later, he had blinked all the blur away. Someone had put him in a wheelchair and stuffed him into a slightly oversized jumper. 

Inertia sat opposite him with their elbows on their knees, hands folded, grey hair combed back like always. "Hey, watch it." The nerve dampeners had apparently worn off, because his throat felt like it had been finely minced and then wiped down with sandpaper. "You might just" - Fangs winced - "finish me off. How would that look on your record, boss?" Inertia smirked. 

"You're right, we wouldn't want that. The good people of Ottawa would have to find another saviour, not to mention the Cavalcades of Weasel One." Right. 

"How are they? The Cavalcades. And Rift, Tecla?" The last name barely came over his lips before he burst into a sharp cough that seemed to shove a knife down his throat. 

"Easy." Inertia laid a hand on his knee and patiently waited until the cough subsided. 

"The Cavalcades made it. We managed to retrieve five of their cores as well." Only five? They snatched more than thirty! "Rift is okay. Juggler took the worst of it. He still looks rattled, but he spent the last three days on every talk show on the planet. I don't think they can tell. He's currently in Africa." 

They took their hand off him again and leaned back until their head rested against the wall. 

"Oh, Tecla. Right." It's not like them to forget half my question. Physically they're holding up, but mentally? "She's-" 

"Right here!" The door banged open and made way for a swaying Tecla in hoodie and cargo pants, a cooking pot in hand that was clearly too heavy for her to handle alone. That was when Fangs noticed two things: His nose worked just fine, and he hadn't had a proper meal for a couple days. "Oh, sorry!" She put the pot down on the table, breathing heavily. "Did I confuse this with the retirement home?" 

Her grin was cheeky and sweet at the same time. Inertia just gave her a side eye. "Just so you know, miss Hildasdóttir: I'm only letting this go because that lasagna soup smells delicious and I'm positively famished. In public I would have no choice but to subject you to disciplinary measures. Clear?"

"Yes, sir." For a moment, she looked remorseful. Then her grin broadened. "Now watch out you don't get any of that soup on your vest, it looks expensive, and on the way here I could only get plastic bowls." 

Fangs knew that it was, sinfully so. Inertia wasn't vain, but their wardrobe was worth a small fortune.

"Kid." Tecla, busy plating the soup, looked over her shoulder. She raised her eyebrows in anticipation.

"Thank you." For everything.

"The soup? Don't mention it. I make it every other week, it's really easy actually." She played it off, but in her eyes Fangs could see she knew what he meant. For a moment, the bond between them was as deep as the one between him and Rift. Then she turned, and the delicious smelling food in her hands made Fangs' mouth water. 

"So, we eating before you bite the dust?"

So they did. They shared stories and cake recipes, bitched about this and that, recommended a few good bars around the globe to the younger pilot. Even stoic Inertia warmed up to the occasion after a while, dropping at least a few layers of mental armor. 

Fangs wished this moment would never end. Because although Tecla might not know it, the gift she made the other two was invaluable. They had seen hundreds of battles over the years, given more interviews than anyone bothered to count. Whenever they went grocery shopping, they had to give at least a few autographs. But for an hour or two, inside this sterile hospital room lit by uncomfortably bright neon lights, eating off plastic bowls with plastic spoons, they could be themselves for a while. 

Their duty wasn't over, but Fangs Jovic would remember these hours until the day he died.

Author's note: Thank you for reading. This is the longest piece I've ever written, and not just because the plot demanded it. I had a lot of fun writing robots punching Kaiju, and I really hope the descriptions didn't get too repetitive. There's only so many ways you can hype up somethings' size. I loved writing a futuristic setting for once, maybe even more than I love medieval ones. If anyone who didn't play in my MAK groups read this, I hope it was understandable for you. Have a great day ❤