Rocky had his extend-o-staff out even before his enemy was upon him, but he only barely managed the feat. The other Titan was shrouded in a cloak, and he could not tell exactly what he was fighting, only that it had to be a half-breed mutt of some type. He struck the creature with his staff and moved at the same time, creating a difficult shifting target for his enemy. The other was no easy target either, and easily evaded his next attacks.

At the same time next to him, the Wolverine fired the massive Etcher. The other shrouded figure dodged aside and came forward. He moved like a true assassin and was looking to get inside the Mustelid’s defenses before he could react, wielding an energy dagger with a glowing outline framing the blade aimed for the guts of his enemy.

Bingo’s cybernetically enhanced reflexes were too quick and dodged to the side almost too fast for the eye to track. He fired again, and this time he did not miss. The assassin fell face down into the water, which turned red from the suddenly exposed hole.

Rocky knew he was fighting another cyborg at once. He managed two solid strikes against the other Titan that would have at least given pause to even the toughest Leonid on the planet. A hand shot out, slipping under his defenses and grabbed him by the throat. He could feel the power in the grip and began to panic as he realized he could no longer draw breath.

Much to his relief, Bingo came to his aide and attacked the assassin savagely from behind. The mysterious Titan attacker could not afford to divide his attention, and in the moment, the Wolverine was the more dangerous of the two. Rocky felt the hand release from his throat, and he drew in a deep gasp for air. He then watched in awe as the two engaged in a lightning fast fist fight. Rocky felt helpless to assist his Mustelid companion but began to think it may be for the better overall if the two tore each other to shreds. He didn’t have much of a guarantee after all, that the Wolverine would not turn his fury back towards him in the next few hours once their objectives had been met.

Bingo made short work out of his opponent however, and after a few moments stood holding the shredded body in one hand, while he removed the hood with the other.

“Who are these Titans?” Rocky asked. “Friends of yours?”

“Maybe they’re friends of yours.” Bingo growled back.

“I’ve pissed a lot of Titans off recently as you may know, but I’m sure I haven’t done anything to piss these Titans off yet.” The Procyon returned casually, retracting his staff and placing it back in his belt holster.

“They’re mafia assassins. The Ivory Ghost Band.” Having studied to his satisfaction, Bingo tossed the body aside.

“Well that’s good to know.” Rocky returned sarcastically. “I’ve never heard of any bloody Ivory Ghost Band. Are they after you or me?”

“Me. You’re too insignificant for the Ivory Ghost to notice.”

“Brilliant. I actually do not take offense to that at all.”

“Well you’ll take offense if their friends are near. This is likely the tip of the spear. They usually prefer ambush assassinations, and for them to come straight at us like that is odd. Likely these Titans died to lure us into a false hope that we’ve dispatched our pursuers. The real ambush is probably ahead.”

“Wonderful. After you dear chap.” Rocky extended an inviting arm deeper into the tunnel. Then, after a pause, he added a command to his Net-Comm monocle. “Thermal.”

The monocle display changed to infrared, which was welcomed, because Rocky’s natural low-light vision was not as evolved as many of the predator races. He was not completely blind in the damp, lightless underground tunnels, but it sure felt like it.

“Have you ever played Goalball? My younger brother is in love with the sport. It seems to me like you’d be good at it.” Rocky made small talk as he followed the gruff Wolverine.

“Hmmph.” Bingo returned with a grumble. “Where I’m from we play a game called Hockey. It’s far superior.”

“Where exactly are you from? Come to think of it, I think you are probably the only Wolverine I’ve ever met.”

“I come from Cabraland, to the north of the Federated Territories.”

“I’ve never heard of that.” Rocky frowned and brought up an interactive GPS map overlay on his monocle.

“Of course you haven’t heard of it.” Bingo spat out in his raspy voice. “That’s because Zenith Corp destroyed it many years ago. “

“It says here that Newdoria is above the Federated Territories.”

“Newdoria.” Bingo replied in disgust. “This is what Zenith has renamed my homeland. But once we were a proud and independent race of Titans. Arctic Rabbids and White Foxens, Weasels, Cougars, Muskrats and Porcupids. We lived in harmony, unlike so many other countries, we were not warlike. When the Zenith Corporation came and began building factories, they enslaved many of the Titans until one day they came into our Parliament and declared that Cabraland was now called Newdor and that they were our new masters.”

Rocky studied the Wolverine as he spoke, and the pain and anger etched on his face. He spoke not like one who had read this from some outlaw history text, but as one who had lived the horrors and had them fresh in his memories.

“You speak like someone who remembers these things, but that was nearly two hundred years ago it says on the Titanpedia.” Rocky said.

Bingo stopped now in front of a set of heavy steel doors leading to another section of the sewers. He inhaled deeply and then spoke cryptically in response.

“Yes, well some cyborgs have very long memories.”

“And perhaps very long lifespans as well.” Rocky muttered to himself.

Bingo turned a squeaky wheel that opened the door and then went inside. Rocky followed the other Titan, and before long they had stopped again.

“This is it.” Bingo rasped in his gruff damaged voice. “We are now under Towerview.”

Rocky looked around behind them, surprised that they had not been attacked or ambushed by any other Titans looking to kill them.

“I’ll help you get to your friends and help you get out of here, but then you and your scientist friends will owe me a favor. Agreed?”

“Yeah. I’m sure they would do you a favor in return for helping save their lives.”

“Good. Let’s get after it then.” Bingo then began climbing a ladder that led to a hatch above them.

* * * *

Atani watched through the building’s security cameras that the scientists had patched them all into as the mag-lift doors opened and dozens of combat drones came rushing out. There were three mag-lifts on the north side of the building, and three on the south side. Every one of them opened to unleash their troops in a coordinated maneuver.

Residents of the Towerview AstroBloc had answered the call to arms sent out a few hours ago, and the Union scientists had armed as many as they could, some had arrived with their own weapons. Now was the moment of truth, they were all in position, and the invaders could have no idea exactly what they were walking into.

“Hold fire.” Atani instructed as he watched the robots come out from afar.

The march of combat units came on from both sides, but for now, they primarily concerned themselves with the south end. The north end had been heavily trapped, and within minutes, the procession of robots would be walking into a field of mines that had been set up along the hallways. He waited breathlessly for what seemed like an hour as time slowed to a crawl before the first of these finally went off.

Suddenly the entire floor was rocked with fiery explosions from both ends. Through the smoke their enemies pressed forward, not needing to worry about such things as heat and oxygen.

As the line of robots came in through the south side gates, the entire neighborhood was prepared for them. On either side of the hallway were two-story hab-unit apartments. Dozens of robots began poring through the gate at once.

“Light ‘em up.” Atani spoke into the Net-Comm as he aimed down the sights of his E-Rifle.

Atani pulled the trigger at the same time dozens more did, from either side of the street, on both floors. A field of fire ripped through the robot soldiers from several angles at once. The ones that had made it through the initial mine field were now shredded apart in a maelstrom of bullets, and over a dozen went down immediately.

On the north end, Jardan and a dozen more untrained civilians aimed their E-rifles from behind cover along the street and fired at the few remaining robots that had made it through the blasts on that end. The Trade Alliance security units returned fire, and bursts erupted from both sides of the conflict. The robots, though few remained, had the advantage of onboard targeting systems as well as smart munitions. The only thing that kept them from overwhelming the few defenders on this side of the floor was the fact that the robots did not press their advantage and move forward, instead holding their ground.

“They’re establishing a support zone for reinforcements.” Jardan called back over his Net-Comm. “We have to sabotage the mag-lifts, it’s the only way.”

“Full auto.” Jardan commanded his rifle, then leaned out and fired a volley in the direction of the robots. The robots were not like live Titans, and covering fire was not effective on them, as they had no regard for their own safety, and were fully capable of returning fire calmly even when being fired upon. The side of the porch steps that Jardan was firing from was lit up with dozens of bullets and he was forced to duck back behind cover.

At that point one of the Titans next to him was hit several times from falling rounds and Jardan recognized the danger. Now that he had an E-Rifle, two could play that game.

“Target.” Jardan picked a target using his monocle, and a small red diamond pattern appeared on his overlay. “Smart rounds.” He then commanded and began firing from cover. The smart rounds were equipped with electromagnetic actuators that adjusted the rounds’ trajectory thirty times a second until it guided to the computerized target. They were able to change directions in mid-air and began pelting his target from quite a distance.

Even as the robot he had been firing on eventually was destroyed, the others began firing their direction, and there were rounds passing back and forth like angry little hornets. Jardan was no coward, but neither was he a combat hardened soldier, and his heart began thumping wildly as the firefight intensified.

From the other end of the hallway he heard the same thing, multiple sporadic bursts of fire going off all at once. It sounded even more intense behind him. Fortunately for him, the robots on this end had mostly been destroyed from the initial mines, and only about six remained. These six were horribly outnumbered, and the other Titans around him where firing at them and hitting their targets even as he was pinned.

Jardan picked another target with his monocle. “Target.” He commanded, drawing another diamond to appear, and immediately began firing from cover.

“Arrrhhh.” A Titan from the other side of the hall cried out. “I’m hit!”

Another Titan, probably a close friend, a smaller black Catus Felid came out from cover and began firing. Whether he meant to draw their fire from his wounded friend or whether he figured their smart rounds could hit him even behind cover and there was no point in hiding, Jardan did not have time to ponder. This Catus managed a lucky shot and dropped another robot, at nearly the same time a sniper from the second story hit another in the head, shattering its central processor. Bullets struck the ground all around the Felid as he ran across the field of fire towards Jardan.

“Full auto!” Jardan popped up from behind cover and laid down a stream of fire at the nearest robot, and before it could divert its attention to him, began sparking and smoking and dropped.

Several more large caliber rifles rang out from the balconies and windows before everything fell silent. Several of the Titans began cheering and Jardan risked another peak from cover. All the robots were now down.

“Hell yeah! Take that fools!” He cheered alongside the others.

A few minutes went by and the adrenaline, while still high, began to recede slightly. For a little more than a dozen untrained civilians, it was a well-earned victory. Then the mag-lift light flashed once, and the doors opened with more reinforcements. What none of the celebrating Titans knew at that point was that moments before, as real time data was being streamed to commander Rymond downstairs from the robots, he had given a new command.

“Take no prisoners on floor Thirty-Four. Everyone is now an enemy combatant. Free fire zone. Kill everyone.”

As the mag-lift doors opened, a rocket propelled grenade came streaking out of it and through the area. It smashed into the second story of a hab-unit across from Jardan and exploded, raining concrete and plaster shrapnel across the street. The rest of the robots exited the lift firing their E-rifles.

“Fall back!” Jardan cried as he turned to run, even as the stairs he had been behind began to take fire. Several Titans fell before they even got a chance to retreat from the smart rounds. Several more fell as they tried to run, cut down by automatic rifle rounds in the street.

“Atani, we’re overrun here. They brought up reinforcements and we’re falling back.” He yelled over the sound of rattling bursts of fire into his Net-Comm.

There was no reply and Jardan’s heart skipped a beat and he realized the very real possibility that his old friend could be dead.

“Atani? Atani!”

* * * *

“I just keep asking myself one question, because it doesn’t seem to me like you have much stake in this fight. Why would you want to risk everything? A Titan like you has so much to lose, you have a family. Why would you want to help the rebellion?” Rocco asked his new partner.

“I see a lot of myself when I was younger in you. You see Rocco, every Titan hears the call to adventure at some time, but most don’t answer it. Most find something instead to toil their life away at and call it security. For a chance to cover their day to day needs and little else. For the few that get to actually follow their adventure…well, so few do it, I just want to make sure you get a chance to. And no bleedin’ government agency or corporation should be able to tell you that you can’t.” Gunner replied with a warm smile.

Automatic track lighting turned on, lining the hallway with sterile white light as the door opened. Rocco and Gunner stepped into the maintenance tunnel and began making their way down the narrow staircase that led deeper into the darkness far below. Gunner was far nimbler than the large muscular Procyon, who somehow managed to keep up. The pair made their way down nearly a dozen stories before sounds of movement drifted up from below.

Both Titans could see more than a score of Trade Alliance security units coming up the stairs and stopping to file up before the same door they were looking for, the one that led to floor thirty-four. One of the robots spotted the two Titans on the balcony above them.

“Stop where you are. You are in violation of the curfew placed in effect until eight o’clock. Surrender yourself for arrest.”

“Surrender ourselves.” Rocco laughed, and Gunner smiled back.

Two high pitched whines sounded from above as their Plasma weapons were activated and powered up. The canisters in the middle of the rifles glowed a bright blue. Without further interaction, both Titans began firing below them at the robots.

“Blow it out the other end, bloody wanker!” Rocco shouted as the end of his rifle barked white hot plasma bursts at the robots gathered below. The rounds that the gun fired glowed brightly in the stairwell and caused great ethereal blue-white explosions where they hit.

“They’re robots mate, they don’t have an other end.” Gunner replied while firing his gun too.

The entire front line gathered tightly at the door preparing for an entry were devastated by the raining plasma rounds. Metal shrapnel bounced across the walls as the shots struck and blew the robots apart, and what did not explode outward was melted and fused together by the superheated gas. Before any of the robots were even able to move aside or defend themselves, the two Titans had blasted them all to bits with the powerful rifles that were now glowing in the poorly lit hall.

“It looks like magic when they hit.” Rocco remarked as Gunner dropped silently to the floor below, firing at the last ‘bot coming up the stairs. “Wait! Let me go first.”

Gunner stepped to the side of the door and waited until Rocco came down the remaining stairs to join him. The cacophony of battle sounds as gunfire bursts and single pops was now distinct on the other side of the door.

Gunner and Rocco nodded to each other, both secretly wishing they had something more profound to say before opening the door and entering the chaos on the other side. But as both Titans preferred action to words, a nod was sufficiently profound. Rocco pulled open the door and charged through.