Deacon pulled Ashe to a safe spot inside the building where they had crash landed while Ragnar looked over to the window to see how far Shadow Cannon was from their current location. Ragnar reached into its chestplate to give Deacon the fuel cell for safekeeping while it jumped out the window to take care of their attackers. The smoking remains of their own ship hoped to provide enough of a distraction for them to escape.

Still, Deacon wasn’t as strong as Ragnar, so he needed every moment he can get to make sure Ashe and himself weren’t caught in the crossfire. He struggled to pull Ashe toward the staircase, but the next challenge was going to be how he was going to get her down the steps safely without sacrificing anymore time.

“Why couldn’t there be an elevator?!” Deacon sighed to himself with Ashe’s limped arm in one hand and the fuel cell wrapped under his other arm.

Ashe’s eyes were closed, her breathing stable, but her face was banged up with a cut above her left eyelid from where she impacted with Ragnar’s shoulder. She was going to live, but she isn’t going to be happy with her circumstances.

Deacon took a deep breath and began to slowly bring her down the staircase while trying to keep her head from hitting the steps. He winced every time he took a step down knowing that any wrong move will probably make her concussion a lot worse than it needed to be. He kept mouthing apologies as if she was able to hear him, but it was probably to make him more comfortable moving her through the staircase while she laid in front of him unconscious looking as if she was sleeping off a hangover; she’s going to wish it was a hangover.

After some time struggling to juggle Ashe and the fuel cell he finally managed to reach the floor below. Deacon quickly gave up and settled into finding a safe hiding spot in the current floor he was in. He gently put the fuel cell on top of Ashe then grabbed both of her arms then slid out of the staircase then through the hall of office spaces until he could find something that can serve as a safe zone for her and the fuel cell until she can wake up. He looked to a closed door that didn’t have a window on it and seemed out of the way from the other doors, it was perfect to keep her out of sight until Ragnar was able to clear out the area from Shadow Cannon; the times he’s seen Ragnar fight gave him some confidence in its abilities to take care of them.

At least he hoped.

#

“Anything?” Reves asked his crew.

“A damaged Elvander rifle, but other than that… nothing.” Yusef held up a busted up piece of Ashe’s rifle. The rail of the rifle was bent out of shape while the barrel curved in an odd fashion. The gun wasn’t going to shoot anything ever again. At least the trigger worked, or whatever was left of it.

Toomes stood over the rubble of the ship and looked toward the coast of the island to see any stragglers, but just like his partner, nothing except for some scared bystanders standing in the wet sand.

The other soldiers scanned the other parts of the crash site for any other pieces of evidence. One of them looked up to the sky, “Maybe they landed in the ocean and probably drowned. There’s no way they could’ve survived this.”

“You really think I’m going to base my entire peace of mind on ‘probably drowned’?” Reves walked deeper into the rubble. “They avoided a biker gang, took out a team of highly trained killers, stole our ship, and you think they would’ve just drowned?”

“I mean, they can’t be alive from this.” The soldier argued.

Ragnar hid behind the some of the pieces of the ship, staying still until it found a way to strike hard and fast.

“I hope you’re right because if I turn around and see a giant robot, you better wish it kills you first!” Reves quickly turned and saw nothing, but the giant building that made the island stand out, “Wow, I guess I was mistaken.”

Ragnar quickly dashed and took out the soldier behind Reves. The sound of its legs making impact with the ground made the other men turn to face it, but saw nothing. The soldier Reves was speaking to was gone in an instant.

“Did you see that?” Toomes asked the other soldiers.

They all nodded a no, they were all caught off-guard as well.

Yusef knelt down and picked up the missing soldier’s gun located away from the Shadow Cannon investigation area. He noticed a large shadow hovering his head and looked up. His eyes widened in fear once he saw Ragnar’s red eyes glowing, looking right at him.

“Holy—” Yusef’s mouth was covered by Ragnar’s large hand and then was thrown with heavy force down to the ground. The loud thud scared the birds around the trees causing them to fly off in a quick, frantic escape. Blood oozed out the man’s mouth from the impact and a large cracking noise came out of his body. Yusef’s eyes were open, but his breathing wasn’t heard, his chest wasn’t compressing, and his pulse was noticeably absent. The man just looked at the sky, lifeless.

“What was that?” Reves looked at the sky, noticing the birds fearfully flying from the noise. He signaled the other men to go toward the noise to see what was there. The three remaining armored soldiers didn’t want to make their hesitation obvious, but carried out the order nonetheless; by the looks of it, they were dead men either way.

They drew their assault rifles and slowly crept toward the sound of the impact. They all had their backs to each other to make sure they weren’t caught by surprise.

“Oh man, is that…” The pilot looked over at the body of Yusef, who was dead with blood staining his mouth.

“We need to split up and cover these grounds, that thing has to be here somewhere!” The other soldier raised his hands and gave them a signal to begin moving out. Their weapons stayed in front of them with the barrels facing toward whatever they were looking at. They didn’t want to leave any stone unturned even if it was insignificant. Ragnar was out there and it was too fast for them to catch up.

#

One of the soldiers found himself alone entering the city grounds where the people evacuated thanks to the ship crashing into the coast. He quickly turned around with his rifle drawn, he scared a few people, but saw nothing that spiked his attention. He continued walking through the city center hoping to find the robot that was taking out his team.

Ragnar stayed in its hiding spot by the souvenir shop behind the lone soldier and waited for his perfect opportunity to strike. His large size made it a challenge to take care of things quietly, but so far, so good on his part. The sheer strength that Ragnar possessed meant he didn’t need to come up with a strategy to take them out and the machine was certain the bullets in that rifle wasn’t going to do any damage. Ragnar’s legs creaked when it lunged causing the soldier to turn around and instantly fired off a few rounds, but the robot’s armor easily deflected them away then its large fist charged at the soldier to send him flying a few feet from where they were standing.

The man laid on the street groaning in pain that was far too unbearable even for his standards. He’d live to breathe, but it wasn’t going to be painless. He just hoped some backup would arrive on the double before the Golem finished the job.

“Damn!” The soldier winced and began to slowly crawl away from Ragnar who was already heavily stepping toward him. He looked over to the horizon to measure the distance he had between himself and the crash site, but a large familiar shadow stood over his view. The soldier sighed and turned around to face his killer.

Ragnar stared with its red eyes and reached over to him with both hands.

#

“Did you hear that?!” The pilot turned over to face the noise of the gunshots. “Where’s Henry?”

“I don’t know!” One of the other surviving soldiers looked behind him, “I thought he was with you!”

“It was your damn idea to separate!” The pilot angrily shoved his teammate.

“Get your hands off me!” The soldier shoved back, “You and I know damn well we don’t have a chance against that thing out here! Now get yourself together!”

“Is there a reason for this little quarrel?” Reves stood by the team, watching the whole scenario unfold from afar.

“No sir, we just lost another man, that’s all.” The pilot answered quickly.

“That’s not good, is it?” Reves looked over to the city. “Yusef was a good soldier, a little off, but a good soldier nonetheless. Now we’re down three men and no results, do you want their deaths to be in vain?”

“No sir, we’re coming up with a plan as we speak.” The pilot stammered through his words in a nervous tone.

“Save it, I got something here that will level the playing field for us. I really hoped I could’ve gotten this done with some human touch, but I guess that’s out of the question. Mr. Toomes, get me my phone.”

“Yes sir!” Toomes quickly marched toward their ship, but not without looking over to his dead friend to pay some last minute respects before he continued on.

Reves looked out to the city and noticed a set of broken windows on the skyscraper, but none of the floors were affected. He squinted at the sight while he processed the new information.

A screeching noise emerged in front of Reves and his team of soldiers. The terrorist leader saw the familiar sight and gave it a welcoming, sinister smile; it was a look no one could get right, but Reves had it on lock.

“The prodigal backstabber returns!” Reves mockingly opened his arms for a “hug”. “I have to admit. You really gave me a headache with this little game of hide-and-seek! I really hope it was worth it!”

Ragnar whirred and stepped closer to Shadow Cannon with the full intent of taking them all out with its unmatched force.

Reves bravely stepped closer as well with his fine tailored suit untouched by the elements that surrounded him. He knew there was going to be a fight expected, but as usual the man had something up his sleeve.

“Where’s the fuel cell, Golem?!” Reves asked with his tone changing from mocking to anger.

Ragnar whirred with an angry tone.

“I see, I guess we’ll have to resort to extreme measures for an answer.” Reves looked over to the skyscraper where Deacon and Ashe were hiding. “It’d be a shame if something were to happen to your friends.”

Toomes arrived with his leader’s phone on one hand and quickly handed it over.

Reves smiled with his thumb on the app icon waiting for his perfect chance.

Ragnar didn’t want to wait for Reves to strike Deacon and Ashe, so without hesitation the Golem charged with full speed toward the terrorist. It jumped to take care of the trouble once and for all.

With full expectation, Reves tapped on the app icon and an identical sight appeared between Ragnar and Reves.

Another Golem.

Shadow Cannon’s Golem quickly blocked Ragnar’s fatal attack and delivered its own counter-attack, sending Ragnar flying toward the city. Ragnar violently skidded and struggled to use its hands to dig into the street to slow itself down before it caused anymore damage.

“Looks like you met your match, Golem!” Reves gave the fallen machine an arrogant smile while his own Golem stood by him like a shield, ready to guard his life by any means.