ME: Alright guys, we gotta stall this thing for 20 min. You ready?

BOR: Sir!

AIM: Hell yeah!

SAS: Yes sir.

LUKE: Yup

REG: hey, Winston found her address. She’s in apartment 137 of that apartment building you talked about. Should be on the 4th floor.

ME: Got it. How far away are you two? 

REG: maybe 4 blocks, but I bet Mercy could get there faster if she wasn’t keeping up with me. Tempted to tell her to go on.

She did run up to 100 kilometers an hour on the exam.

ME: You make that call. We’re going to go ahead and engage.

REG: okay, but you guys, please be careful.

AIM: We will!

Henry drew the nanite buster again and readied the megaphone feature of his helmet.

“All civilians, for your safety, stay away from the machine! Emergency services have been dispatched and will arrive momentarily!” 

ME: Sasha, use birdie to distract it! Luke, bolo its hind legs!

Diving from the heavens, Sasha’s zodiac descended upon the legion with an acrobatic spin to prevent itself from crashing. The holographic bird clung to the machine’s face, giving Luke just enough time to line up a shot with his bolo launcher. His forearm muscles swelled and strained as he cocked the launcher until a loud click signaled it was ready to fire. With a pop and a puff of chalky white smoke, a thick dark disc twirled through the air before connecting with the legions hind legs. Upon impact, the disc transformed into a web of black wires and weights that wrapped around both legs.

As the legion thrashed about to throw off the zodiac, the bolo began to tighten further until the hind legs were fully pulled together. The legion strained to free its legs, but the wires held firm. 

ME: Boris! Aimee! Like earlier, but watch the blades!

The three of them moved closer, but Aimee pulled the snake zodiac off her shoulders and to her chest. The metal panels of her back began to shift, and with a leap, she curled into a ball again. Although his arms couldn’t fling her like before, Boris grabbed her again. He held her like an oversized bowling ball before he rolled her in the legion’s direction. She skipped like a pebble over the asphalt a few times, causing sparks to fly each time she struck the ground. When Aimee started rolling, the metal panels making up her ball shifted in height, allowing her to roll smoothly towards the legion without losing speed. Although she didn’t have the same force behind her as before, her collision with the legion sent it flying off its feet before plummeting to the ground. Not wanting to travel with it, the bird zodiac relinquished its grip on the legion’s head.

Before the legion had time to get up, Henry lined up the buster and pulled the trigger. The familiar snap and whistle of the buster rang through the air as the nanite round flew toward the legion, leaving a glowing blue trail of energized air behind. Upon contacting it, small arcs of electricity travelled across its frame, causing the mechanical body to twist and contort. For a brief moment, the legion’s brown eye met Henry’s and he winced. 

Why does it have to look at me like that?

As the legion spasmed, mechanical tendrils from its abdomen began lashing out in every direction. Aimee unfurled her metal shell enough for the snake zodiac to slither out and it headed for the legion. Despite the speed of the tendrils sporadic swipes and strikes, the zodiac expertly dodged each attack as it drew closer. When it reached the legion, the zodiac crawled inside the abdominal cavity and began wrapping itself around the mass of tendrils, greatly constricting their movement. From his behind, Henry heard Luke fire the launcher again and watched another disc glide effortlessly through the air. The legion’s convulsions caused it to contort into itself and the new bolo connected with its chest. The wire mesh managed to spread out enough to ensnare the torso, head and an arm. The metal frame of the legion’s body began to creak and strain as its various parts were unable to move despite the immense force they were exerting.

Seeing an opportunity, Henry ordered the group to advance. As they approached the legion, he saw that even while under the effects of the nanite buster’s rounds, it was reaching toward the apartment building. Looking through the front door into the building’s lobby, Henry caught a glimpse of someone running up the main staircase.

Might be Patricia. We’ve gotta keep it here.

“Tee… tee… teeeee…TEEEEEEEE!” The legion’s speaker spiked in volume to the point that it stunned the bounty hunters. Its jaw opened as if to imitate an animal roaring; fully open to bear its rusted metal teeth. The creaking of its body gave way to the sound of crunching metal. As Henry observed the shell of its body, he could see it warping and bending.

Shit!

ME: Everyone back away, now!

Ripping through its own body, a series of arms exploded out of the legion’s chest, spilling more gore-infused lubricants everywhere. The arms seemed to be a collection of landscaper grafts, now covered in the legion’s viscera. Like mechanical piranhas, the new grafts shredded the bolo web around its torso in a matter of seconds. Ripping the rest of the webbing apart, Henry saw the legion turn its attention to the zodiac constricting its tendril grafts. Henry fired the buster again, stunning the legion, but the landscaping grafts seemed to be unaffected. Before the zodiac could get away, a gardening fork pierced its body. Henry heard Sasha scream in agony and turned to see him clutching his abdomen while one of his holographic antlers glitched out. 

Luke and Boris rushed over to Sasha, but before they could offer any assistance, the legion began using its various shears to start hacking at the zodiac's squirming body. Sasha screamed again, recoiling each time the legion attacked the zodiac. Pieces of plastic and various fluids fell onto the legion as it hacked away at the zodiac over and over again. Henry watched Sasha faint into Luke’s arms and his holographic antlers vanished. Aimee unfurled her shell, taking a moment to reorient herself. Henry could see the look of fury in her eyes.

ME: Aimee, don’t do it!

Digging her claws into the soft dirt to pull herself forward, Aimee began rushing at the legion. Seemingly recovered from the nanite round, the legion deftly used its new grafts to remove the webbing from its legs. It stood up and hunched forward before launching itself at Aimee, kicking up chunks of lawn. Its blade arms were aimed forward like a pair of lances. Henry tried to get off another round, but the lurching motions of the legion caused him to miss, taking out a palm tree leaf in the garden. 

ME: Aimee, stop!

As the two barreled toward each other, Aimee’s shell began to envelop her, but she avoided covering her face.

ME: AIMEE!

Once again, their impact sounded like a car collision as the metal parts of their bodies crashed together. At the last moment, Aimee tucked in her upper body, causing the legion’s blades and landscaping tool to scrape off her shell. One of the blades got stuck in a seam of the shell, snapping it in half from the force of the impact. Despite the legion’s skeletal appearance, it had managed to use its talons to anchor itself and prevent Aimee from knocking it over, but it hadn’t been able to knock Aimee over either. The two of them remained locked to the spot they collided, and Henry watched the landscaping tools’ futile efforts to attack Aimee’s shell, but he also noticed the tendrils were beginning to wrap around her.

It’ll fucking crush her!

Without hesitating, Henry lined up the buster and fired again. Although the round connected, the tendrils remained tightly wrapped around Aimee. He pulled the trigger again hoping another round would short circuit the tendrils, but Henry’s blood ran cold when all he heard was an empty metal click from the buster.

ME: Boris, help me get her!

Henry didn’t have time to check if Boris was coming. He holstered the empty buster and took off running. Henry had taken note that the legion had recovered faster and faster after each nanite round. Aimee only had a few seconds before the legion would try to kill her. Sprinting as fast as his legs could carry him, Henry made it to Aimee before the legion had recovered and began tugging at the tendrils. Even without the legion constricting them, the amount of strength it took to manipulate the tendrils was impressive. Using Aimee’s shell for leverage, Henry was able to get some of the tendrils to move, but it was only half of the ones wrapped around her. As the legion seemed to recover and Henry started to panic, Boris appeared on the other side of Aimee and ripped the remaining tendrils away from her.

ME: Aimee go!

Instead of running away, she instead reached up and used her mouth to grab the garden fork that still had the zodiac impaled on it. The nearby tools that could reach her began slashing at her face.

ME: What the fuck are you doing!? Move!

Gritting her teeth, she jabbed her claws into the chest cavity of the fork she was biting down on. Henry could hear circuitry and machinery snapping and breaking as Aimee fiddled with the legion, but he could feel the tendrils were trying to move again. Seeing no other options, Henry firmly planted his boot on Aimee’s abdomen and shoved her with all the force he could muster. He felt her resist him, but something broke inside the legion, and Henry felt Aimee no longer had the leverage to fight him. With another shove, Aimee toppled backwards, her face covered in bloody streaks, but it seemed she managed to take the garden fork with her. Henry felt a wave of relief for her immediately followed by a crushing tsunami of dread as the tendrils he held began to pull him off his feet. 

In an instant, Henry was sent flying backwards through the air. He hit the ground with a hard thud, momentarily stunned. He absentmindedly watched as Boris and the Legion fought. The man had managed to rip most of the tendrils out of the legion, resolved to slash at him with its blade arms. Using his artificial arms, Boris was able to block and catch some of the attacks, but Henry could see the legion was hacking through them in its relentless barrage. Instinctually, Henry reached for his pistol, undoing the holster and turning off the safety as his fingers wrapped around the grip, but he froze.

If I shoot this thing, all bets are off.

Henry watched as the legion continued to tear apart Boris’s arms until it finally broke through his defenses. The legion’s intact blade had hacked away at the base of the elbow joint and managed to completely sever the forearm Boris had been blocking with, leaving him completely open. Having no choice, Henry raised the pistol and took aim at the legion’s head. 

God, please let this work.

Before he could pull the trigger, Henry, completely tunnel visioned on the legion, caught some movement just beyond Boris. By the time he had directed his attention to it, a blur of bright and dark colors impacted the legion, launching it into the air. Gobsmacked, Henry watched as the legion flew over him, falling back down to the earth past him in a crumpled pile tangle of machinery. Looking back to Boris, he realized what the blur was. Laying on the ground and gritting their teeth, they massaged the bloody soles of their feet. Their pink scars were now glowing a brilliant crimson as their body had trails of steam coming off it.

Mercy had joined the fray.