Page 9 of Craze

Axe pierced the ground and has dropped into an old tunnel. I’m not surprised. RamBash has found Axe. Both report they are damaged but upright. Macabre is severely injured after landing on a field of rocks. Tangle is unresponsive.

Axe>>Local: We’ll tunnel toward the mountains. Wait for coordinates.

If anyone of us left can carve a tunnel it’s Axe. RamBash will help.

I easily find Macabre by the haze still in the air. Sliding down his crater, I hear the roar of a Skysprinter.

When I look up, a spray of fragmenting metal drenched in flames fills the sky. Far above us, someone in a starjumper’s suit rockets back toward another lone soldier who’s taken out a second ship.

Amp cries out for Cara so loud in our network that Macabre and I cringe.

Savage reports.Diesel’s got her!

Cara took out a skysprinter?Macabre looks shocked.She took out her own kind for us?

The portal shimmers as it swirls with the promise of freedom for our brothers. I know it isn’t their fault, and I’m grateful that even some Solcrue know we are worth saving. But I’m frustrated we aren’t with them.

Poppy guides the LightBlade through. After two years, four months, nine days, and twenty three hours stuck in captivity, Iam at least outside the walls of the plant. It’s not ideal, but it’s an improvement. It still gives us a chance to recoup and fight back.

Macabre has busted an arm and part of his ribcage is collapsed. His eyes drift up at the cluster of hibernation cells as they vanish through the portal. No other enemy ships arrive. No other Brothers fall. Still, we watch until the last unit disappears.

Macabre>>Craze: I sent Morbid a report. He knows who is left here.

Sliding myself under his good arm, I haul him up. He growls but doesn’t resist. The weight of my brothers is immense, but we are trained and capable of carrying two full soldiers for days when fully operational. But I am far from my prime.

Solcrue starved us in the plant and kept us in the dark, hindering our power. Out here, in the sun, I am charging like the others. Still, my legs burn and my back aches from the weight.

I am not losing another Brother. I will carry them until I break.

Together, we limp to the rim of his crater. I scour the fields for Tangle. He’s landed in a grassy area by the last recording his eyes relayed. As we hustle to his location, I scan for skysprinters and patrols.

There’s a hoverdrone far out on the plains of Hyperion that turns toward us. It has weapons, though not as large as a Tacticat. But I need to move faster.

Sure, Titans don’t need oxygen or food. We don’t need gravity or heat. Humans and Solcrue do. And we’re strongest with those things. But it still takes time to power-up in the sun, and I’m afraid I’m too drained for what is going to be asked of me today.

I wearily set Macabre down at the edge of Tangle’s crater, rest Ranger’s contorted husk beside him, and wade down into the soupy soil. Only a hand is visible in the grass of the slough. The rest of Tangle is buried in mud.

Macabre>>Craze: Hurry! The drone is almost on us!

It changed direction fast, likely thanks to parts we pulled off of brothers and salvaged under threat of the Solcrue using coilguns to punch out our ultromotors.

Just the thought of that gun snaking up my insides and eating a hole in my power core gives me the shivers.

Craze!Macabre shouts at me.

I lug Tangle out of the marshy mess, clear his mouth of mud, and set his sopping body down beside Macabre.

I’m not going to get them to cover in time. I know it when I see the drone racing toward us. The only thing I can do is be in the way.

Craze— Don’t.Macabre resets Tangle’s body but keeps tabs on my movements. Tangle’s digibadge lights up. He chokes and spits up sludge but doesn’t open his eyes.

I’m not thinking about the consequences as I walk into the path of the drone, dripping wet, muddy, exhausted, and furious. I rarely think. I wasn’t designed that way. But I’m trying because I know my design is flawed. I can’t smash my way out of this one and keep my Brothers close.One thing at a time.

We need a fast way out of here. All of us.And I’ve found one. It’s just not going to be easy or fun.

Macabre>>Craze: You’re too low on power. It’s not worth the risk to be—

Craze>>Macabre: Myself?

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