Inferno Ascended

The mecha were not sturdy structures, but they were still mecha. 

They were armor that prized the ease of getting inside and maintaining some speed, with small tanks in a compartment behind their backs. The iron and brass frames had only hind legs, like that of a velociraptor, with inverted, exposed joints. The men piloting the machines of destruction had the option of using mechanical arms or their own, and most did the latter, to maneuver their rifles with more accuracy. Their mechas didn't have as much autonomy, which made Glax suspect they weren't powered by steam alone. Were the Prometheans actively using the antichor for their weapons?

He took aim at one of the fastest approaching Prometheans, trying not to waste any opportunities. His first shot hit exactly where he wanted it. The gun in the enemy's hand. The second shot was an attempt at luck, at the enemy coming closer than desirable. Even Glax was surprised when the Promethean's head snapped back, leaving a trail of blood despite the helmet. 'YAY! Still the best sniper in the league!' he grinned.

The mecha fell back slowly.

"INSIDE, GO BACK INSIDE!" He yelled, as the closest mechas turned their attention to their group. Tychos and Alekos disappeared into the other car's hatch just as the spot they were standing in was shot through with bullets. 

He and Ras dove through their car's trapdoor a moment later, and Glax darted to the bridge between two cars. Not so far away they heard another shot, muffled by the loud noise of the train.

Rasmus was impatient that he couldn't engage in a fight right away. "They need to get closer!" he growled, venting his frustration.

"Ras, do you want to try something crazy?" Glax's hands were inside his tunic, ripping off the vselys clocks. He couldn't be restricted by the clock magic bounds, and at the same time, he was afraid of losing the precious artifacts. But he was proposing acts of insane courage, and that must start with himself. Glax stowed his clocks in his backpack and tossed it into a corner of the car.

"You know your ideas are the worst! And I'm always down for them!" he yelled back as he watched the enemies approaching.

"There's a fallen mecha and an unarmed one. I'll give you cover to knock down the one still standing. I'll get into the other mecha." He quickly explained.

"You're going to what?!"

"When I have a mecha we'll reverse the score, Ras! Trust me!" He opened an insane smile.

"Crap! Let's do it!" Rasmus shrugged any precautions aside. Glax yelled to the two colleagues in the other car.

"We're going to jump! Distract them! Tychos! Fire away!"

Tychos nodded he understood and to show this, he went to one window, firing his machine gun at their enemies coming by the other side. Glax and Ras looked at each other, laughing at the madness they were going to do, and jumped into the high grass around the tracks, away from the line of shot.

It was not the most graceful of the falls, but both managed to cushion the most impact, with only a few scratches. They immediately split to opposite sides, avoiding a barrage of shots.

They had no time to lose, and Ras immediately made a zigzag line to the unarmed mecha. The Promethean piloting the target machine wasn't intimidated at all by the tall man with a spear, and stomped like a giant shaking the ground to meet the Valosian.

Glax was also running right behind Ras, feeling the ground shake under his feet from the train passage and the march of the mechas.

It was indeed frightening to come closer to the huge machines in the open field. But he said he'd cover for Ras, and he'd do it!

Even so, he fired at another mecha coming toward him from the side. Though his shots bounced off the structure, Glax was sure his shot hit the human. 'On the knee, adventurer!'

That halted the mecha's advance for a moment. Glax was happy that the Promethean technology still didn't allow them to have mechas that could have a good displacement rate and, at the same time, be heavily reinforced. Their human bodies still needed to be exposed inside the frame, with little armor so as not to overwhelm the already heavy mechanism. Much of the engine's power was used for the hydraulic gears they developed, and Glax could praise them for that ingenuity.

While this was a problem for them, simple warriors.

Ras leapt over the fallen mecha and used it to hurl himself at the Promethean coming toward him, the spear pointed at its occupant. His foot hit one of the legs of the human, and his fist came down with all his strength.

He drove the spear into the Promethean's flesh, piercing his unprotected thigh and the metal underneath. The man's gun fired by itself as it fell to the ground.

Glax slipped in the wet grass beneath the mecha Rasmus was fighting. The Promethean had not given up on living and was using the mechanical arm to blow his friend. Glax climbed up from behind, pulling at the cables with his bare hands. He felt his hands and arm sting from the escaping steam and fluids, but he didn't have time to think about it. 

He was already falling to the ground. He used the time-bending power for a graceful fall, and rolled away as Ras continued to punch the Promethean in the face mercilessly.

The Valosian ran to the fallen mecha. Pulling the dead man out of the mechanical casing, he wondered if he could lift the machine. The mecha was mostly undamaged, and he tucked himself into it a little awkwardly. It was like sitting in a cockpit. It didn't even have a safety belt, though. His body was completely loose, and he inserted his calves into the legs' slots. His feet reached the pedals. He reached for one metallic arm, slid his own in, and pulled a cable to close it around his arm.

The other mechas had turned their attention to the real reason they were here, surely believing that their two colleagues behind would easily take care of the two idiots. And that little time gap was what he needed.

"Come on, baby, get up!" He used the levers and pedals with ease. He had no learning curve to deal with those armors. He thanked his cheat for it.

With some effort, he got the mecha upright. Once he had done that, Glax ripped out the small cylinder of antichor powering it, and threw it away. That would unfortunately make his mecha less powerful and less lethal… And he would have to make up for it somehow.

Glax looked at the train tracks again. The last cars were passing him at that moment. The Promethean mecha were surrounding the train, but not as easily as they surely imagined. Glax has seen a mecha that tried to run, falling awkwardly.

"Sucker."

But that was exactly what he was going to do now.

The wide bases he would call feet sank into the ground as he took off. The engine controls were on the inside of the right arm, while the structure was also operated by pedals. Shifting gears and hearing the drive belts and wheels on the frame between her legs hum in quick response. The mecha shivered, but obeyed his speed-walking command with its own legs for speed. He left his gun dangling by the bandolier and hooked his left arm through the other gauntlet. 

And he crashed into the back of a mecha that had reached two warriors who were on one of the freight cars. And used his arm to punch the tank into the back of the other mecha with all his strength. The human in its encasing was expelled on impact, and it didn't stand a chance against the two warriors who finished him off. They soon leapt to another car's roof, to attack another mecha. But they were swept away by volleys of gunfire. The mecha turned the gun on him. 

"GRRR!" Glax put all the power into the joints for a jump. The two machines met with a massive metallic impact, arm to arm. The metal twisted and crumpled, and Glax could look into the face of the human commanding the machine.

It was the first time he had seen a Promethean. This one had straw-colored hair and beard, and green eyes bulging with anger. A pretty plain human face, by the way. The stranger snorted and tried to use the force to push Glax away, but now their mechanical hands were jammed together. 

"Oh, we have a warrior here." Glax laughed and shoved him against the passing car. His mecha was pulled, too, but he planted the mecha's feet firmly on the ground as his opponent was dragged along by the train, then let go and flipped like useless scrap and pulp several yards away. Glax's mecha had one arm torn off. But that was the least of his problems.

'Oops, my bad.' He turned to fend off another mecha that came to attack him from behind and nearly lost his balance when his opponent also tried to throw him into a passing wagon. Luckily, he managed to rebalance and pull away. Grabbing his rifle, he fired point-blank at the pilot. Glax felt his mecha growing heavy and harder to control. He freed himself as fast as he could from the machine, pausing for breath. And using his time-bending power once again, he ran to reach the last car of the train, and to grab the ladder to climb it.

He found many uses for his manipulation of time cheat!

For a moment he stopped for breath again as he watched that at least one more mecha than the one he had knocked down was left behind, destroyed. Warriors attacked a fourth one, mounted on it with their spears and shields. 

He couldn't see Ras, and that worried him.

The shadow of the flying ship covered the weak sunlight, and Glax looked up.

TO BE CONTINUED