By David C. Daoust
Margo wasn’t sure how she thought this was going to go, of the six or seven Battle Drones she tried to attack- she’d only managed to get hands on one of them. It broke apart easily enough in her massive grip. It was actually the very first one she’d attacked. A victory that sent her rampaging for more! She had to get a hold of them first though and the damn things could fly! A fact that left her pretty much wandering around the disaster zone swatting at massive houseflies!
Through it all, she stayed pretty close to the APC, escorting those within, as they made their way through the terrain. There wasn’t much left of the town at this point, very few structures remained standing, and of those that did, very few looked ‘intact’.
The barracks ship itself was best defended, not only was the massive space ship guarded by a seemingly limitless supply of Red Faction soldiers, it was parked behind massive walls, that rivaled those of the town walls. Turrets were built atop these walls, all firing at those drones that got too close. Not to mention the massive cannons on the towering ship, itself!
Margo had finally managed to get a hold of another battle drone just as the APC finally reached the gates. It seemed those within were ready for them, because no sooner had the vehicle reached the gates, then they opened up to admit them. Margo was busy grappling with her latest capture when her friends vanished behind the walls. She’d managed to pin its many legs beneath her arms long enough to get a grip on what passed for the things neck, then tore the machine’s head off.
Casting the wreckage behind her, she rushed to the gates to try and gain access as well. The blaster fire that suddenly smashed her head into the ground, told her otherwise. It was strange; she believed she just took damage. As big and tough as this form was, it was not as indestructible as her real body. While the super dense metals deflected much of the impact, she could hear some wires fizzle within her head just as her surroundings turned black.
—
Margo awoke some time later, the circuits within her noggin having finally repaired enough for her to regain control of the body. She took in her surroundings, where once stood the towering barracks ship, were only the barren unmanned walls. Margo was suddenly worried that the Drones had managed to demolish the ship itself, though quickly realized that was silly, she was sure they had launched into atmo.
The battle Drones still raged in the distance, though with the ship no longer a part of the town, the battle had moved off to what remained still standing in the distance. Leaving Margo in what felt like the eye of the storm, at least for the moment.
Suddenly she heard tacking noises that she could not quite place. What began as a distant repetitive tack-tack in the distance, escalated quickly into a cacophony as more and more of that same noise joined in. The noise was becoming louder, and moving directly at her. Through the smoke and debris she caught sight of the first droids coming at her, she finally placed the noise itself coming from their feet as they struck the ground. She wasn’t sure what they were doing, and she actually braced herself as they came within reach.
Puzzled as the small army of droids pushed past her, ignoring her presence entirely, they began to hurl themselves at the walls that once surrounded the Barracks. At least it seemed like hurling at first, what Margo witnessed were the droids systematically scaling the wall, all precisely timed, as they all worked together, forming a kind of makeshift pyramid, allowing those at the apex access to the top of the wall, and then very quickly helped those below to the top, which all rolled forward to the other side of the wall.
Amazed, Margo rushed to the gates, so that she could see the massive swarm of droids make it down the other side! At the center of the landing pad that once held the barracks ship itself, stood a large cylindrical device. It was actually kind of oddly placed, did not seem to belong there at all. The droids seemed fixated on it though, as they made their way directly to it.
Margo had heard Mari’s guess as to what this ‘ Dr.Sun’ had planned, and considering the barracks ship had launched itself into space, she had to assume this was probably the device built to pull it off.
An Electromagnetic burst would send them all to ground, most importantly ending the Drone threat, and ending it with minimal collateral damage. Margo’s Data sphere would be fine, but the body she inhabited would be effectively shut down. So would, she assumed, the droids, which made her think, maybe they didn’t want that device to go off.
Margo was pretty sure they needed that device to go off!
There were a LOT of people in this town, and people were squishy little things. They didn’t stand a chance against massive metal spiders toppling buildings down on top of them. While She lacked the grace of her normal body, the powerful legs she now inhabited allowed her to leap high enough to grab the top of the massive cast iron gate that stood between her and the device, allowing her arms to pull her the rest of the way up, and then over.
