Machine Story

Invasion

Sirens throughout the colony began to blare. All the soldiers began to put up barricades at the entrance and armed themselves to defend the colony. Commander Roman was making sure they were all in their battle positions waiting for the enemy to arrive.

It didn’t take long for the first wave of Metadross to arrive. They came in different variations, small flying drones the size of birds or tarnished mechanized robots known as the bruiser units, that were the size of humans. They stormed the front of the colony in vast numbers trying to break through the human resistance.

Commander Roman ordered his squad to fire their ammunition all at once. However, their attacks barely scratched the Metadross. Their armor was very resilient against their bullets and the ground forces continued to march on slowly. The air drones were much quicker and came swooping in to take out some of the soldiers.

“Keep it, steady men! We need to hold the line!” Commander Roman urged but they were getting overwhelmed. The ground forces were slowly arriving towards the entrance and the commander didn’t know what to do. He looked around at all his men that were being attacked by the flying drones and realized, “Hey, where in the world is private Ajay?”

From behind, Roman could hear the sound of an extremely loud and rusty engine. He turned around to see a tank that was headed their way. As the armored tank got closer, it began to honk to signal everyone to get out of the way. Commander Roman and all his soldiers ran to the side and allowed the vehicle to pass them out into the battlefield. The tank began to fire its explosive shells at the oncoming Metadross.

Its massive firepower knocked out a good chunk of bruiser units and it brought up the morale of all the other soldiers. The commander and everyone on the ground were cheering. As the helm of the tank opened, the commander was met with a familiar face.

“Private Ajay? WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN A CLASSIFIED VEHICLE?” He asked in outrage. “I got scared so I went to the bathroom but on my way there I stumbled across this and wondered, why aren’t we using this?” Ajay replied. The commander was still angry but before he could reply, a mass of Metadross jumped onto the tank and began tearing it apart.

“Men, get those junk robots off the tank! We need to support Ajay!” Roman ordered. They did all they could but the bruiser units were too much for them to handle. They were easily cast aside by their sheer strength and now Ajay was stuck in the tank surrounded by the enemy, ripping the vehicle apart plate by plate.

As one of the Metadross was about to reach Ajay, a bullet was fired onto its chest that completely short-circuited its system. Then one of the droids had a chain wrapped around its body. It was then flung and tossed into another one of its comrades, putting them out of commission. Finally, the remaining Metadross were sliced down by a man with two sabres.

Reinforcements had arrived! Three men in their early 20s were part of a special force equipped to fight against the Metadross. The first was Shaan the marksmen, who had 20/20 vision and could hit targets that were a hundred yards away with his sniper. Next, there was Roop, who swung around two chain whips with great control. And finally, there was Niall, the man who dual-wields two sabres. In addition to their skill, the weapons they carried were made from Metadross metal. This was one of the few ways to penetrate the tough armor of the enemy forces.

After saving Ajay from the first wave, Commander Roman and the rest of the soldiers pulled Ajay out of the armored vehicle. They were then told to retreat to the colony and recover their wounds. Niall, Shaan, and Roop assured the soldiers that they would be fine and they turned around to face the oncoming second wave.

Niall: How many do you think there are?

Shaan: At least 200. Maybe more.

Roop: Only? I was expecting this to at least be a warm-up.

Niall: Want to make this a bit more interesting?

Roop: Go on, I'm listening.

Shaan: Oh boy, here we go again…

Niall: Keep track of your score, the loser has to buy dinner for the other two.

Roop: Deal!

Shaan: Like I even have a choice?

After their short conversation, they engage in battle against the opposing army. Roop came in swinging his chains, lashing out towards the two Metadross in front of him. He then jumped into the middle of the fight surrounded by a small fleet of Metadross. Despite being outnumbered, he swung the chains over his head at rapid speed taking out all his enemies within seconds.

With a little time to catch his breath, Roop noticed Shaan not too far away. “Hey Shaan, how many do you have? I already got ten.” He said proudly. Shaan fired one more bullet which took out another enemy unit, “Thirty.” Roop’s eyes widened, “THIRTY? What? How? You…” As Roop was too focused on that number, Shaan quickly fired two more rounds, striking a couple more opponents that were about to attack Roop. “Thirty-two,” Shaan added.

While the two were preoccupied, the final fighter waited calmly with his eyes closed and his sabres by his side. A mass of Metadross were charging straight in his direction but Niall refused to move. When the enemy got close enough, Niall instantly opened his eyes and yelled out his signature word, “YEET!”

He blitzed through the horde, spinning like a tornado and slicing through every one of the mechanical foes. He cleared about fifteen of them and knew there was no time for celebrating. He turned around, expecting reinforcement to be on their way.

Another horde of Metadross were making their way in the direction of the colony. Niall readied himself for another battle but suddenly, the opposing army halted their advance. Almost simultaneously, every single unit began to turn its backs on the three fighters and flee the battlefield.

In a matter of minutes, the area was cleared, the enemies were nowhere to be found. Commander Roman, Private Ajay, and the rest of the soldiers threw their helmets up in celebration! They had successfully repelled the massive attack from the Metadross.

“So how many did you end up taking out? Be honest!” Roop asked with skepticism. “Forty-eight,” Shaan replied nonchalantly. “What? Hey, small fries don’t count! You can only count the big ones.” Roop argued. Shaan, still keeping his cool, replied “They look the same on the score sheet.”

Roop was upset that his score was much lower than Shaan’s. He called for Niall to find out what he got, in hopes to feel better about himself. However, Niall wasn’t paying attention to their squabble. He was lost in thought and it took Roop shaking him by the shoulders to get his attention.

Shaan and Roop were curious as to what Niall was thinking about that he completely forgot about the bet. He began to question the two, if they thought the enemy withdrawing felt strange. The enemy had the offensive number and firepower to break into the colony but retreated abruptly. Roop thought Niall was overthinking things but Shaan agreed with Niall. They had fought against the Metadross before and they were mindless, battling without consideration of fleeing.

“Okay, so where do you think those metalheads ran off…” Before Roop could finish, everyone heard an explosion occur in the distance. The three immediately looked at each other, and knew what each other was thinking. Shaan and Roop began to head towards the direction of the detonation. Niall made sure the soldiers were all okay before joining up with his two comrades.