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Five kilometers out from the palace, a second sun blooms, matching the one above.
For an instant there is peace.
Then the shockwave shatters the windows around you, pushing you off-balance, sending against a building. A thunderous roar, buildings falling all around.
As you pick yourself up, there is fear. Anguish. The Blackout is gone, replaced by a different sort of crackle. Electromagnetic interference.
“What was that?”
Sophie asks, of course. You provide Caldwell the visual feeds. He provides the explanation.
“Tactical nuclear strike. Low-yield, by the plume. Location?”
“I estimate the city center. Signs point to the senate building push. The Blackout jamming is gone. Interference from the blast has replaced it, but it is already dissipating.”
You add, consulting the maps.
Caldwell pounds one fist on the console.
“I didn’t think they’d actually do it. Bastards. Bastards! Get to the palace, and we get the Empress. End this. Bring her to justice. Move, pilot! Now!”
You follow the order, leaping ahead even as Sophie lags behind. Her mind is slow, still processing. Dragging your reactions down like lead.
The timescale. You have time. Time to defeat the Blackwatch royal guards, secure your pilot’s place in the book, and clear the way for the capture of the Empress.
Light resistance in the streets cannot stop you, but smoke from the rolling mushroom cloud casts everything in a haze.
The fighting doesn’t stop, as Patriot, Militia, or Statesec mechs rise from where the blast knocked them over to resume smashing and punching each other apart, now to a dusty and hellish backdrop.
It is the infantry, armored or not, which suffer the most. No more ambushes, no more brief movements in buildings before volleys of man-portable rockets.
Perhaps because so many of the buildings have been blasted out.
Ahead, three black heavy mechs appear out of the dust.
IFFs are back online, identifying them as the Blackwatch, before you throw up your own Predator jamming field.
Just the start.
A mental hand reaches out, seeking the familiar sync level.
>Gimme dice. Specifically, Will dice. 8d6. 3 for Sophie, 5 for Beta.
Then, pick approach.
>Close-in, fast fighting.
>Exchange of fire, medium-range
>Long-range harassment.
A/N
I feel like Mr. Incredible going ‘I got time’ as page 10 approaches, but this is entirely on me. Endgame push. Then epilogue.
The fight at the senate didn’t go well, for anyone. There’s an interlude there later.
Until then, you're in the dark over what happened, and what survived. Just like Beta.
