The road widened into a flat plateau carved into the side of the junk mountain. it was an ancient loading zone for orbital lifters. A cracked concrete stretched before us, splitted by weeds and blooming with rust.
And standing in the center, blocking the path to the summit, was the Siege-Crab.
It was grotesque.
A quadruped walker, low to the ground, covered in thick sloped armor plates that resembled a turtle's shell. It had two massive pincer-claws jutted from its front, each equipped with plasma cutters that glowed faint blue. And a dorsal turret squatted on its back like a parasite.
[BOSS: CORPORATE SIEGE-CRAB]
[LEVEL: 18]
[ARMOR CLASS: IMPENETRABLE]
"It's huge," Maya whispered over the comms. And the hover-skiff hovered behind the Titan's legs, using me as a shield.
The Crab rotated slowly. Its optical sensors—a cluster of red lenses—locked onto us. It let out a mechanical hissed of stream.
TARGET LOCKED.
"ARES, analysis," i ordered.
"It's armor plating is tritanium-composite," ARES reported. "Our chain-gun rounds will not penetrate at standard angles. Railgun is at eighty percent charge—not yet operational. Tactical recommendation: retreat and reassess."
"Retreat isn't an option," I said. "We have six hours before the satellite realigns. We go through it."
The Crab fired.
VOOM. VOOM.
Two ball of blue plasma shot from its pincers.
"Shields!"
I raised the Titan's left arm to block. But the plasma splashed against the energy barrier, boiling the air into steam.
[SHIELD INTEGRITY: 70%]
"It hits hard," I grunted, fighting the feedback shuddering through the controls. "We need to flip it. It belly armor will be soft."
"Flip a fifty-ton walker?" Glitch's asked. "With what—physics?"
"With gravity," I said, remembering the warden hammer. But this time i didn't have the hammer. I had a Titan.
"Sarah—flank left. Draw its fire. I need it to turn."
"Copy that!" Sarah said.
The hover-skiff shot out from behind me, with it's engines screaming. Sarah drove straight toward the cliff edge, banking hard at the last second. Maya leaned out, firing the Enforcer rifle at the Crab's sensor cluster.
The bullets sparked uselessly against it's armored lenses. But they were annoying.
So the Crab took the bait. It rotated, with its dorsal turret tracking the skiff.
DA-DA-DA-DA-DA.
Heavy machine gun fire chased them across the plateau, chewing craters into the concrete.
"It's focused on them!" I yelled. "Now!"
I pushed the Titan forward.
The mech charged—a lumbering, earth-shaking sprint across the loading zone.
I slammed into the Crab's flank.
CRUNCH.
Metal screeched as the two giants collided. The Crab slid sideways, sparks erupting from its clawed feet. But it didn't tip. Its stance was too wide, its was too stable.
It countered instantly.
One massive pincer clamped onto the Titan's left leg.
[WARNING: HYDRAULIC PRESSURE CRITICAL]
[WARNING: ARMOR BREACH DETECTED — LEFT LEG]
"It's crushing the leg!" ARES warned. "Mobility compromised!"
I couldn't move. The Crab had anchored me in place, preparing to fire a plasma bolt into my cockpit.
"I can't break the grip!" I yelled, straining against the controls.
"Elias!" Glitch shouted. "The cliff edge—the ground under it is unstable! This whole plateau is an overhang!"
I pulled up the tactical map. He was right. The concrete extended over a shelf of loose scrap barely held together by rust and prayer.
"ARES," I said. "Divert all shield power to the right arm."
"Commander, that will leave the cockpit unprotected—"
"Do it."
The blue hexagonal barrier vanished from around the Titan's body. It reformed around the right fist, condensing into a concentrated shell of crackling energy.
I raised the glowing fist.
I didn't punch the Crab.
I punched the ground.
BOOM.
The concrete shattered beneath the Crab's outer legs. The rusted rebar snapped.
The edge of the cliff crumbled.
The Crab lurched. Its legs scrambled for purchase on falling debris, it's claws scraping uselessly against crumbling stone.
It released my leg.
"PUSH!" I screamed.
I drove the Titan's shoulder into the Crab's side with everything I had.
The walker tipped. It slid backward, it's claws scratching desperate grooves into the concrete. It went over the edge—
But it didn't fall.
Its rear claws dug into the cliff face. It hung there, dangling over the abyss by two legs, refusing to die.
Its dorsal turret swiveled upward. The plasma cannon aimed directly at my cockpit.
I had no shields.
"It's not dead!" Maya screamed.
I stared down the barrel. Blue light was building inside.
"Let finish it," i whispered.
I raised the chain-gun.
I didn't aim at the Crab. I aimed at the cliff face above it—the section of rock anchoring its weight.
BRRRRRRT.
Thirty-millimeter rounds chewed through the stone and rusted metal.
CRACK.
The entire shelf broke free.
A thousand tons of rock and scrap cascaded down. The Crab fell with it, tumbling silently into the fog, claws grasping at nothing.
Five seconds of silence.
Then—
THUD.
A dull impact echoed up from the abyss. A moment later, a blue explosion flashed through the mist.
[BOSS DEFEATED: SIEGE-CRAB]
[XP GAINED: +3,000]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 14]
I slumped back in the pilot's chair. Sweat dripped from my nose onto the console.
"Threat neutralized," ARES reported. "Path to summit is clear."
I looked up. The Uplink Station loomed ahead. Just a few hundred meters up the final slope.
"We made it," I breathed.
The hover-skiff pulled up alongside the Titan's damaged leg.
"Nice push," Sarah radioed. She sounded relieved. Almost impressed.
"Don't celebrate yet," I said, eyeing the ominous silhouette of the station. "We still have to hack the sky."
I engaged the Titan servos. The left leg groaned—damage from the claw, the armor was cracked—but it held.
We limped the final miles.
We reached the summit.
And there, waiting at the station's main gate, was a single figure.
Not a robot. Not a soldier.
A woman in a white lab coat, standing calmly in the rain, holding a datapad. Her face was illuminated by the glow of the screen.
She looked exactly like Sarah.
My blood ran cold.
"Sarah," I whispered into the private channel. "Are you seeing this?"
Silence. Then, ice in her voice:
"I see her."
"Who is that?" I asked.
"That's not me." Sarah's said. "That's Project Gemini."
"Project—what?"
"She's my clone, Elias." Sarah's voice cracked. "Malachi didn't just take Maya from me. He took my DNA. And he made... that."
The clone looked up at the Titan. She smiled—a cold, perfect expression that never reached her eyes.
"Welcome home, Sister," the clone's voice echoed from the station's external speakers. Calm. And pleasant. "We've been waiting for the update."