Safe Zone 2 Destroyed

Military: Battle

Now that hunanity has been increasing in resistance, the alien forces now have stopped pulling their punches. Their largest attack since the fall of the golden age sees destruction unlike anyone has ever seen.

The Archangels had just recently deciphered the Mechanon coding methods, and used them to form a way of blocking mechanon hacking attempts. Mere days after the invention, Safe Zone 1 lost all contact with Safe Zone 2. Theories were made very quickly, as people traveling through the underground highway reported the tunnel being collapsed. They feared the worst. People were saying how Safe Zone 2 was attacked again. People demanded action, and their demands were met. They demanded their champions be sent. Both Sierra, and what was left of Theta lances   They were all loaded onto two separate dropships, and flown to Safe Zone 2. However, around five miles from their release point, they were intercepted by a small squad of mechrion stingers. The dropships were shot from the sky. Theta lance was able to escape their falling dropship, and so was most of Sierra lance. Though Scott Tyker's titan release was damaged, and he could not escape. He was instantly killed in the crash, and his titan was destroyed. There was nothing anyone could have none to save him.   The Archangels were scattered throughout the eastern side of Safe Zone 2. Michael set a rendezvous point for his lance, and Anthony set one for his. Radio silence was issued after that to hopefully avoid further alien interception. Theta lance's rendezvous point was further north than Sierra's. Whilst wandering towards her rendezvous, Bethany was scanning the local Archangel channels searching for any sign of conflict. Safe Zone 2 was yet to be within visual range.   When scanning these channels, she heard only static. This was a bad sign. Typically, Archangel channels are full of chatter. Everything from status reports, to using them to hold meaningless conversations, there was always something going through these channels. To hear only static was ominous to say the least.   Eventually, the walls of Safe Zone 2 came into view, or what was left of them. Much of the walls had been blasted into rubble. Behind the rubble, towers of flame, and sounds of weapons fire filled the air. Theta lance was the first to regroup. It was no longer a mystery why Bethany heard only static during the scan. Down the road, to the west, Anthony saw a lance of Archangel TItanmasters making a retreat only to be pursued by an outnumbering squad of mechrion battlesuits, and ordered his lance to follow him in an interception.   Sierra lance would regroup not long after, a few miles south of Theta's rendezvous. Charles and Johnathan were the first to reach this point, with Michael only a few short minutes behind. They spent a minute assessing their situation, and evaluating their options (or lack thereof). They came to the conclusion that the only logical step was to search for survivors, and provide aid accordingly.   Before they could mobilize, the three Archangels saw a mechrion dropship. Michael ordered Johnathan to take cover at the flank, and ordered Charles to follow him as he would fall back behind an opposing cover. As the Dropship approached, the Archangels readied the weapons on their titans. The dropship stopped above the Archangels, and dropped a lance of mechrion battlesuits. Before they even hit the ground, Johnathan made his move. They had yet to activate their energy shielding, allowing him to thrust his titan's sword through a battlesuit's back with minor effort. He swiftly fell back to cover.   Michael and Charles stepped out of cover and fired upon the now shielded battlesuits. Their combined firepower allowed them to disable one, and heavily damage another. Johnathan leapt out of cover to intercept the damaged battlesuit from behind, and cleaved it from right shoulder, to left hip, killing the pilot instantly. The last standing battlesuit would concentrate its fire on Charles' titan, disabling the cannons on its left arm. Michael would destroy the last of the alien machines using all of his titan's weapons simultaneously. This caused his titan to momentarily shut down due to the instantaneous, and excessive heat buildup. The heat sinks were unable to dissipate that amount of heat that quickly.   After his titan reactivated, he scanned through the local Archangel channels. Through the static, he heard sounds of combat, and a garbled distress message. The only part of the message that was intact was the coordinates at which they had dug in to fight the mechrion. The position was about a mile north of their own. They began their move.   Anthony, Christopher, and Bethany had joined a group of about a dozen Archangels in defense of one of Safe Zone 2's many courtyards. Destruction surrounded them. Most structures were set ablaze, and what few weren't were damaged beyond recognition. The Archangels had turned the rubble of one of these toppled buildings into cover. This cover created a sort of bowl, protecting them from all ground attack angles. Some of these titans had weapons that could theoretically protect form an air based attack, but they would still take heavy losses.   Mechrion ground forces would round the corner, and come into view, the gentle blue pulsing of their energy shielding contrasted against the orange glow of the fire that enveloped the city. On Anthony's command, the Archangels opened fire on the battlesuits. The combined firepower paired with the distinct advantage in way of cover allowed the Archangels to bring down the approaching battlesuits with relative ease. Shortly after the first group fell, another approached from the opposite flank. Once again, the Archangels were able to tear down the advance. Again, from another side. And again, and again. Each group was progressively larger. The titan's whose weapons required ammo were running out.   From another corner, Sierra lance made their presence know, and ordered a cease-fire in their direction. On their approach, the lance provided vital aid against the latest, and largest advance. Sierra lance climbed, or jumped over the towering walls of rubble, and was among the other Archangels. Anthony told Michael how they could not hold this position for much longer, and that they needed to get an evac signal to Safe Zone 1. The only place that might have a functioning long-range coms system was the Archangels HQ.   As much as Michael and Anthony wanted to search for other lances before attempting to evac, they needed to think of their own lances first. They would move straight to the Archangels HQ. Lances Sierra, and Theta led the march, clearing what targets they could on their own. This was due to the other titanmasters' lack of ammo, and otherwise reduced combat effectiveness. The journey took the better part of the afternoon due to the sheer size of the city. They were on the edge of the city, and the HQ was at the city's center.   Once they had arrived, they saw the structure surrounded by Mechrion battlesuits. They only needed a single Archangel inside the building to send the S.O.S. However, this would require someone to exit their titan, which was almost always suicide, especially against battlesuits. While multiple Archangels volunteered, Michael would refuse all of them, and would take the task himself. He opened the cockpit of his titan, and would hang on to the back pf Charles' titan. Lances Sierra, Theta, and a lance worth of survivors would launch an attack on the mechrion that stood guard around the front of the building. Once he got close enough to the building, Michael would jump off Charles' titan, and run inside, looking for the main comms unit. He drew his heavy pistol. He always made sure to load his weapons with anti-matter propellant rounds. The only small arms ammo capable of disabling a mechrion foot soldier in one shot.   He had to find the device quickly, as the Archangels would not last long against the battlesuits. After about thirty seconds of sprinting through the dimly lit corridors, he rounded a corner only to be knocked off his feet by a Mechrion foot soldier. His pistol was thrown to the other side of the wide hallway. The alien picked him up, and bashed the Archangel against the wall, and threw him down the hall. Michael's awkward landing dislocated his shoulder. Slowly, the alien approached. Michael saw a weapon laying right next to him: a piece of rebar, with a sharp tip. If he were to breach the alien's Element Zero core, it would cause a feedback that would short out the machine's mind, killing it instantly. However, the rebar was too heavy to be wielded with one hand. He had to relocate his shoulder immediately if he wished to survive. Repeatedly, he bashed his shoulder against the concrete floor, trying to knock his shoulder back into alignment.   The alien was only a few feet away when it popped back into alignment. Immediately, he grabbed the rebar, and positioned the tip against the alien's core. The alien felt the contact, and instantly backed away. Now the Archangel was armed. He thrust the weapon toward the core, but the alien grabbed the weapon, and tossed it aside. Michael's grip meant he would be thrown with it. He made sure to land flat on his back, distributing the impact. Right next to him was his pistol. He grabbed the weapon, and aligned the sights. The alien turned to face towards him, leaving the core exposed. Michael pulled the trigger. The high pitched, shrill, screaming blast rung in his ear, and was heard even outside the building. The bullet breached the core, and severed the "spine" connecting the top half of the mechanical alien to its legs, causing the alien to fall in half. Before it could hit the ground, the delayed blast from the Element Zero feedback lifted it back up into the air momentarily. As much as Michael wanted to lay his head back, and rest, he could not. He still had a long-range comms device to find.   Michael's search was not long from there, as he found the device in the next room. "Safe Zone 1, this is TItanmaster Michael Ward. Come in Safe Zone 1!" He sent his message across all frequencies. Commander mason quickly responded. "We hear you, Ward. What is 2's status?" "Fubar sir. The mechrion launched a large-scale attack. There's not much left. Lances Sierra, and Theta are providing aid to what few Archangels are left in Safe Zone 2. Requesting immediate evac." "Already on its way."   Michael dashed back outside. "Be ready for a pickup, Sierra. Spread the word." he said over his lance's comms. "Yes sir." answered Charles. He climbed onto Charles' titan's back, and ordered him to retreat to Michael's titan so he may join the fight. Once Charles reached that point, Michael jumped off, and reentered his titan. Not long after Michael rejoined the fight, the dropships from Safe Zone 1 arrived at ludicrous speeds, coming to a sudden halt. One by one, the surviving lances were picked up, and lifted away from the carnage. Lances Sierra and Theta were the last to leave.   The journey home was a solemn, silent one. Humanity was already weak before the attack of Safe Zone 2. Without it, it was only a matter of time before the aliens would render humanity extinct. If they can level Safe Zone 2 in a day, they could do the same to 1.