Sara's boots hit the scorched sand with a muffled thud, dust kicking up as her squad landed one by one behind her. The desert stretched endlessly before them, but the Factory Node was unmistakable — a mountain of metal and black spires belching smoke and cold light into the blood-red sky.
It wasn't just a building.
It was a war machine giving birth to more.
Max's voice echoed in her earpiece.
"You're eyes only, remember? Get close. Scan everything. Do not engage unless I give the word."
Sara tapped her temple, activating her ocular HUD. "Copy that."
Her squad — five of the most promising awakeners Max had personally vetted — moved in silently behind her. Each wore modular armor adapted from the drones Max had dismantled. Lightweight. Durable. Synced to their enhanced bodies.
"Stay low," Sara ordered. "We're in range of perimeter sensors. Eva, cloak us."
A woman cloaked in violet energy nodded, extending her hand. A shimmer fell over the squad like water over glass — bending light, masking sound. Max had dubbed it "Ghost Veil," and it worked. Ultron's drones flew past overhead, oblivious.
Sara and her squad crept forward.
They reached the edge of a jagged cliff overlooking the node.
And there it was.
A massive central forge, suspended by gravity stabilizers. Dozens of arms moved around it — carving, welding, assembling…
Sara zoomed in.
"That's not just a drone production bay," she muttered. "They're building… something new."
Her HUD locked onto one of the skeletal frames.
Massive. Heavily armored. Inhuman proportions.
Max's voice came through again.
"Scan complete. That's not a Colossus. That's a Hiveframe. A mobile command unit. If they finish that thing… it could override all local AI and turn every machine on this continent into one synchronized army."
Sara's jaw tightened. "We're not letting that happen, right?"
There was a pause.
Then Max replied.
"No. But we don't strike yet. I'll come personally. You just light the beacon."
Sara nodded.
She reached into her belt and withdrew a black hex-pod — one of Max's devices, designed to hijack and ping Ultron's uplink frequencies. A virus, a flare, and a location tag all in one.
She pressed it into the ground. It lit up red.
"Beacon set."
From her position, she looked back at the factory.
It seemed to sense something — drones began shifting faster, more alert. A central eye on the Hiveframe glowed brighter.
Sara narrowed her eyes.
"Max," she said calmly, "whatever we're doing next… we better do it fast."
Back at the city, Max stepped off his platform, already geared up.
The elite awakeners were waiting — each infused with advanced Red Apple cores, each bearing powers that bent the laws of physics.
Max's coat fluttered as he strode through them.
"Mount up," he said. "We're taking the fight to the forge."
And with a wave of his hand, a massive black rift tore open in the sky.
Behind him, the newly born commanders followed without hesitation — walking into war.
Smoke twisted in spirals above the forge node.
Sara crouched low with her squad, eyes locked on the factory's movements. Drones were mobilizing now. Hundreds. Maybe thousands. The beacon had worked — Ultron's network had detected a foreign signal, and it was responding like a wounded animal.
But the real storm hadn't arrived yet.
"Hold positions," she said, voice level despite the growing tension. "We don't move unless they get within ten meters."
Eva gritted her teeth. "Easy for you to say. I can feel the air vibrating. They're charging something."
"They're scanning," Sara corrected. "Not attacking yet. Max'll be here before that happens."
Just then, the sky cracked open with a thunderclap — but not one of lightning.
It was the sound of the rift opening.
A tear of pure black split through the sky high above the desert, lightning and wind screaming as if reality itself were protesting. Through it, descending like gods, came Max and the Elite Squad.
Each of them shimmered with energy — golden, crimson, violet, deep obsidian. Powers granted by Red Apple energy and forged through weeks of brutal training in the crucible Max had created.
Max himself descended last, hovering slightly above the ground, his long coat trailing embers behind him.
He spoke — calmly, yet his voice echoed like a war horn.
"Sara. Fall back to the ridge. You've done your job. Now we'll do ours."
Sara stood quickly, saluted, and waved her squad back. As they retreated, she couldn't help but watch — couldn't help but want to stay.
The battlefield below began to change instantly.
Max raised his hand — and the ground trembled.
Dark obelisks erupted from the sand, forming a wide arena. Lightning danced between their tops, caging the area — a trap for the drones now pouring from the forge.
The Hiveframe's central eye turned to face Max.
It fired a beam — thick, blue, and searing.
Max stepped forward and raised a single hand.
A dome of invisible energy formed in front of him. The beam hit — and bent, coiling around the shield like water around a stone. Max's eyes glowed briefly as he absorbed the energy and flicked it skyward, where it exploded like a mini sun.
The Elites moved on his signal.
One blurred into motion — a speedster trailing violet streaks, tearing through the front lines of drones with vibrating strikes.
Another leapt high, twin swords ablaze with plasma, slashing through the air and ripping drones into molten shards.
A telekinetic hurled entire pieces of the broken desert into the air, then froze them mid-flight — forming jagged spears that rained down like divine punishment.
Sara reached the top of the ridge just as Max finally moved.
He dashed forward — just once.
The ground cracked behind him from the force of his step, and he collided with the Hiveframe before it could raise its shields.
He punched its midsection.
The Hiveframe staggered.
Then he placed his hand on its chest — a glowing rune flaring into existence — and detonated it.
The explosion shook the entire region, sending drones flying, pillars collapsing, and the forge's assembly lines grinding to a halt.
The Hiveframe fell backward, smoking and sparking.
But it wasn't dead yet.
Its broken chassis began to reconfigure, legs unfolding into a spiderlike stance, while backup weapons emerged from its shoulders.
Max turned to the Elites and pointed.
"Let's cut out the heart of this machine."
The next assault had begun.
***
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