[TheFightingSpirit]

Incursion Twenty Seven: No More Games

“CrossRobo online,” said Red Cross, confirming the docking had indeed been successful.

The ranger’s giant humanoid mech, formed from the two Cross Machines, the ariel Challenger and the tank-like Guardian, stomped towards the two hundred metre tall, hard-shelled, elephant creature. The latest product of the Black Water had come charging out of the wilds and jungles to the south of the quarantine wall. It had burst straight through the super reinforced concrete like it were paper and closed in on Steele City in minutes flat.

Just as Lady Oblivion warned them not hours earlier.

It lashed out with it’s thick, barbed trunk, hitting CrossRobo in the abdomen. The sound of metal shearing and groaning filled the ranger’s ears.

“I’m not a fan of these giant monsters,” said Green Cross speaking with a matter-of-fact tone. “And I’m not a fan of Lady Oblivion.”

Blue Cross chuckled and shook his head. “Were you ever, Brad?”

The yellow ranger snapped her fingers in front of their visors. “Concentrate. Remember what we were talking about in training, yeah?”

Forget to pay attention just once and risk a grenade to the face … again. Green Cross shuddered. Got it.

CrossRobo grabbed ahold of the monster’s trunk and attempted to pull it off balance. Evidently trying to wrestle with a kaiju as sturdy as this one wasn’t working… but then neither had unleashing the Guardian's full missile cache.

“What are we going to do?” White Cross said. “It’s taken everything we’ve thrown at it!”

“There is one thing we haven’t tried yet,” Red Cross pointed out.

Instead of wrestling with it, CrossRobo planted its feet firmly against the ground and reeled the monster in with one hand. They raised the mech’s other arm and pressed the end of the cannon’s barrel against the elephant kaiju’s forehead.

Red Cross hit a sequence of buttons. The mech drew vital energy from the internal power cells for it’s finishing move. “End of the road, beastie.”

Just as his fist was about to hit the launch button, White Cross seized his wrist, yanking him back from the point of no return.

“Not yet!” She jumped from her seat and pointed to a window in the skyscraper by which CrossRobo and the monster were duking it out. “There’s someone still in that building.”

“StratCom evacuated the entire area to the bunkers, there’s no one there!”

“Just trust me on this one,” she said rushing out of the hatch at the back of the cockpit.

A beam of light shone from CrossRobo and struck the building, depositing White Cross inside.

Yellow Cross skirted around her console and leaned over the red ranger to see out of the viewing ports. “What the hell is she thinking?”

“At a guess, I’d say she’s taking CrossShadow’s words a little too seriously,” said Blue Cross, his eyes still trained on the shelled elephant. The monster had begun to pull back. He fought with the controls in return. “She’ll get out alive, she always does... Now let’s please get back to the kaiju!”

“Right!” they agreed in unison.

o0o

White Cross landed in a crouched position in a meticulously kept office cubicle. She stretched up to peer over the divider and out of the panoramic windows. By the angle, she estimated she’d ended up a floor or so below the one she wanted, on the western flank of the building instead of the eastern.

She grunted in frustration and dashed out into the hallway. It took not even a second to decide on taking the stairs. Ascending one floor was the easy part. Searching a storey from west to east, front to back proved to be a little more daunting a task.

o0o

“We’ll lead it away from that tower block,” Red Cross said.

It had become somewhat of a rule, the more common this type of battle became, that collateral damage was not only to be expected, but a certainty. Of course, that was no reason to go smashing the city to hell and back. StratCom could throw only so much money at the public and commercial sectors before it got too difficult to handle. Who wanted their lives disrupted anymore than having a gigantic elephant monster lumbering into town.

CrossRobo pivoted on the spot and, with the trunk slung over its shoulder, began to hauled the monster down the street. The robot’s servos and hydraulics, not matter how advanced Dr. Zamora claimed them to be, started to twist, buckle and overheat from the strain. Nevertheless, the mindless creature stumbled forward providing them with the forward momentum they needed to get the plan rolling.

o0o

The floor above was a truly faithful replication of its sister below, besides the addition of a few extra columns.

“If you’re in here, call out to me.” She shouted to be heard over the din of the battle. “It’s okay. I’m with StratCom. I’m the White Cross Ranger.”

She heard a shuffling, then a scrambling. A shape darted across the gap at the end of the row of cubicles.

“Seriously, I’m not a fake or anything.” She pushed deeper into the maze of desks and stereotypical blue dividers, searching from side to side for any sight of her target. “I’m here to get you to safety.”

The quick patter of running footfall sounded behind White Cross. She spun around to see the same shape disappear around the corner wall and into the corridor holding the lifts and stair well.

Oh, for god sake.

She made it out just as the lift doors were sliding shut. Pushing out her hands she shoved a concentration of air into the gap to stop them from closing. The panicked office worker, a young woman she now noticed, frantically jabbed at the buttons.

White Cross reached into the lift, and released her air doorstopper. The doors slid open, sensors recognising her as per their job. The woman inside lashed out, eyes closed, and clawed at her.

“Stop!” White Cross below. “Open your eyes. Look. Think with your brain for a second.” She stepped around the office worker and pulled her into the least lethal arm hold Maria had taught her. “I’m on your side!”

o0o

Outside, the monster found it’s footing. It’s wide-feet dug into the concrete and it yanked back. The rangers lost their grip on CrossRobo arm controls and the beast’s trunk slid through their fingers.

It lurched backward, rearing onto it’s hind legs in surprise, and stumbled shell first into the office building White Cross had not long teleported into.

o0o

The building juddered like they were in a earthquake.

Just as the lift doors closed, White Cross saw the floor crumple and concertina accompanied by the sound of distorting steel superstructure.

Moments later the floor seemed to drop out from beneath them. The lift car plummeted at least ten floors before the emergency breaks kicked in. She wanted to say something witty about this being exactly why you should always use the stairs in an emergency.

But the lift jerked to a halt and she hit her head hard against the wall of the car.

The world went black.

o0o

The shelled elephant monster pulled itself from the all but demolished building and trumpeted its anger.

Blue Cross attention was finally torn from the enemy to the building. I hope you’re not hurt in there, Allison. “Now would be a good time to finish this, guys.”

“No complaints there, Blue,” Yellow Cross said.

Red Cross hits the initiation sequence and CrossRobo finished charging crackling energy into it’s two huge arm cannons. He wasted no time hitting the launch button.

The mech’s characteristic energy spheres surged forward, scoring a direct hit on the monster, burning it to ash in seconds.

o0o

It had taken many hours to pull Allison and the office worker out of the wrecked lift shaft. Without being able to secure the mechanism from below, the emergency services had to abseil from more than ten floors above to reach them.

She woke up in a civilian hospital with her four teammates by her bedside.

Catherine entered not long after saying thank you to a nurse. “Well, it took some explaining but the hospital staff know the score. They promised me they won’t let slip who we are.”

“What… happened?” Allison said, attempting to sit up. At least three pairs of hands forced her back down.

“What happened, sis, is” said Ken, scowling, “you were still in that skyscraper when it got totaled by elephant ass!”

“The girl!” she started.

“She’s doing okay, considering,” explained Robert.

Maria sighed audibly drawing the attention of nearly everyone in the ward. She spoke in a whisper to avoid having to wait. “Mind telling me what you were thinking?”

“No one gets left behind,” Allison wheezed. “No one, no matter what.”

“Admirable, yes, but you could have been killed!”

“I’m done playing games.” Her eyes unfocused. She was tired of looking at their judging eyes. “Frankly, if it turns out I managed to save that woman’s life, I’d being smiling... all the way to whatever passes for an afterlife in this screwed up universe of ours.”

o0o

A nurse returned shortly to announce the end of visiting hours. Ken tore himself reluctantly from his sister’s side.

On the way to the cars, he turned to Catherine. “She’s always been a bit of a martyr, I just never thought she’d...”

“You know, this kind of attitude isn’t unheard of in the military. People get so focused on a cause they lose all sight of why they were fighting in the first place.” She stopped him and waved the others on so they could talk with a bit more privacy. “Forget what anyone's told you, Ken, humans are fundamentally selfish creatures. She may say she wants to save the world for future generations, but really? I think she has a deeper, more personal reason.”

Catherine nodded her head toward Robert as he stooped to get into the car.

“What are you-? You don’t think she…”

“I hear best friends means all kinds of rubbish these days.” She winked. “She berates him because she wants him to be the best he can be. Simple as that.”

Ken frowned, then scoffed a chuckle. “I don’t know about that, boss. Rob can really piss her off.”