The cavern trembled beneath the colossal footsteps of the waking titan. The pale artificial light flickered, casting jagged shadows that warped across the cracked stone floor.

  Towering before them, the massive robot emerged fully from the darkness. Its metallic body gleamed with oil-slick black plating, layered over countless segmented joints. From its back sprouted multiple mechanical limbs—each one tipped with weapons forged for annihilation: oscillating saws, barbed claws, plasma torches, and a heavy-caliber cannon that hummed with restrained death.

  A brilliant central lens flared to life on its head, white-hot and unblinking.

  Pepe’s voice broke the tension with quiet horror. “Oh. We’re so dead.”

  “Spread out!” Jarek barked, blaster already drawn. “Stay mobile—don’t clump up!”

  The robot surged forward with shocking speed, launching a barrage of spinning razor-discs that hissed through the air. Brinn barely ducked as one carved a chunk from the wall behind him. Another clipped Jarek’s shoulder guard, slicing the edge clean before embedding in a pillar with a resonant shunk.

  Brinn roared, fire erupting from his forearms as he charged. His first punch struck the titan’s leg—hard enough to shake stone—but the metal resisted. The shockwave knocked Brinn off his feet and sent him skidding across the floor, slamming into a wall with a grunt.

  “Brinn’s down!” Ramm yelled, diving for cover.

  The robot pivoted, targeting the source of heat. One of its arms revved a chainsaw-like blade, swinging down toward Brinn’s dazed form.

  Sai moved.

  He blurred from shadow to shadow and tackled Brinn away from the descending blade just in time. Steel screamed as it tore through stone, showering them with shards.

  “Don’t thank me yet,” Sai muttered as he helped Brinn up.

  “I wasn’t gonna,” Brinn grunted, igniting his fists again.

  Meanwhile, Ramm hurled an EMP grenade at one of the robot’s limbs. The electric pulse lit up its joints with flickering blue light, locking the arm for a few seconds—enough for Brinn to land a flaming haymaker on the shoulder.

  Sparks flew. Something cracked.

  “One joint compromised!” Brinn shouted.

  But the retaliation came quick. Another arm whipped out, slamming into Ramm’s side and flinging him across the chamber like a ragdoll. He landed hard, coughing and groaning.

  “Ramm’s hurt!” Jarek called, firing shot after shot into the mech’s side to draw its attention.

  The titan retaliated.

  A cannon swiveled and fired a searing plasma blast.

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  Sai turned

  The beam caught Jarek square in the chest.

  Everything froze. Sai’s breath stopped. The light scorched through armor, and Jarek crumpled, unmoving.

  No.

  Time fractured.

  Sai clenched his jaw and let the world snap back...

  Three seconds earlier. The hum of the cannon charging. The faint tremor in the ground.

  He leapt into motion, faster than instinct.

  “Twelve degrees left!” Sai shouted.

  Jarek didn’t hesitate. He dove aside.

  The beam carved a molten line where he’d just been standing.

  Jarek panted, eyes wide. “How—?”

  “Ask me later,” Sai said tightly, shadows flickering faintly around his boots.

  Ramm groaned from behind a fallen slab, holding his ribs. “Remind me... to never be heroic again.”

  “Shut up and crawl,” Pepe buzzed, zipping past to release more countermeasures. “I’ve seen cleaner bots take a hit better!”

  With two arms still functional, the robot lashed out. One arm slammed into Brinn’s midsection, cracking armor and sending a shock through his body that dropped him to one knee.

  “Damn it—” he hissed, forcing himself up. “I’m fine.” But blood trailed from his mouth.

  Jarek fired a cluster of high-impact rounds into the exposed shoulder joint. It staggered the robot. Sparks exploded. “Brinn—now!”

  Brinn’s right fist erupted in molten heat, punching straight into the joint Ramm had damaged earlier. With a grinding shriek, the arm detached and clattered to the floor.

  “One arm down!” Jarek confirmed.

  The robot emitted a high-frequency screech and began recalibrating. Steam vented from its side. The temperature in the room spiked.

  “It’s overheating!” Ramm wheezed from the floor. “Force it to overclock!”

  Pepe buzzed low. “That sounds dangerously smart. I hate it.”

  The team coordinated—Brinn pummeled the legs to destabilize it, while Ramm scrambled to plant another EMP grenade on the back knee. Sai moved like a ghost, slicing at exposed cables.

  The second arm fell limp. The machine staggered.

  But then it adapted.

  Its core shifted. Plates moved. And from its torso emerged a compact auto-turret—already spinning.

  Bullets tore through the air.

  Brinn’s armplate shattered as he shielded Ramm. Jarek took a graze across the thigh, biting back a scream as blood soaked his pant leg. Sai ducked behind cover, eyes scanning for a new angle.

  Jarek slammed a charge into his rifle. “Take out the legs!”

  Brinn and Ramm moved. Brinn locked the titan in a hold muscles straining, runes glowing with magma heat, while Ramm slid beneath and jammed a salvaged spear of metal into the knee joint.

  The leg locked.

  Brinn roared and twisted. The joint broke.

  The robot fell to one knee.

  But it wasn’t finished.

  It twisted, desperate, and slammed Sai with a backhand strike that sent him flying. He skidded across the stone and didn’t rise.

  “SAI!” Ramm shouted.

  Pepe hovered over him, blinking rapidly. “Vitals spiking—he’s alive but out cold!”

  Jarek limped forward, gun aimed at the head. “End this!”

  Brinn, bloodied and burning, leapt onto the titan’s back and unleashed all his strength into the neck joint. Ramm joined him, ripping at wires with his cyberglove.

  “Now, now, now!” Jarek yelled.

  The final shots and fire landed as one—

  The head snapped free with a final, shrieking death rattle.

  The machine collapsed.

  Silence.

  Only smoke and the hiss of venting heat filled the air.

  Brinn fell to his knees beside Sai, checking his pulse. “He’s breathing.”

  Ramm dropped to sit beside them, wincing with every movement. “I think my spleen tried to escape.”

  Pepe floated low, blinking slowly. “I will never complain about toaster ovens again.”

  Jarek holstered his weapon, limping. “No one touch anything. Ever again.”

  All eyes turned to Ramm.

  “Okay! Fine! I get it!” he groaned. “Touching ancient technology is now officially illegal.”

  Sai stirred, groaning faintly.

  Jarek knelt beside him. “You good?”

  Sai opened one eye. “We still alive?”

  “Barely.”

  Sai smirked faintly. “Then yes.”

  In the lingering quiet, lights flickered deeper down the newly opened corridor.

  A hum, low and slow.

  Stillness.

  And invitation.

  Jarek stood. “We move. Carefully.”

  Brinn helped Sai up. Ramm staggered to his feet.

  Together, they limped forward into the darkness—one battle behind them, and gods only knew how many ahead.