The D-Bugg's fist dug into the field, picking up the lush grass and leaving the soil underneath by itself. Despite eating up the ground, the speed of the fist did not waver. It maintained a direct course towards AJ.
AJ braced himself, inhaling deeply and squaring his feet for balance. He kept his eye and sword steady, facing the concoction of metal approaching him. Loose dirt that the D-Bugg rooted out flew in front of him and froze in the air, temporarily obstructing his view.
Seconds before the D-Bugg made contact with his body, he sidestepped to the left and swung his sword low to his right, using all the strength he could muster.
The sword and the fist made contact, and sparks of steel on steel exploded around them before coming to a halt in the air, further blinding AJ.
In an instant, AJ's machete succumbed to the sheer force of the D-Bugg's power, shattering under the weight and leaving only a small blunt blade no longer than a knife. AJ held the hilt in his left hand, staring at the now useless lump of metal.
What!? My attack did nothing at all! Is the power of a B-tier that much higher than a C?
He swiveled hastily, anticipating another attack by the D-Bugg. However, it did not come. The monstrous machine had refocused its efforts on RL and, more specifically, the woman it was fighting earlier, who now lay flat on the ground in a daze.
Charging the sleek thrusters on the back of its legs, a blast of high temperature plasma spurted from the exhausts, melting the field away before it shot up high into the air. On the descent. Its frame was aimed to fall directly on top of RL and the other Doomsday Unit.
"RL! Get out of there!"
Grabbing tightly onto the unconscious Doomsday Unit, she pulled the woman and herself out of the incoming attack, just barely avoiding certain death. The D-Bugg affected the ground significantly. A large explosive blast seared the area around. The collision itself splashed more dirt into the air which caused a frozen fountain of soil to form around the machine.
"RL, are you alright!"
"I'm fine! The girl is too!"
She healed quite fast from her injury.
AJ turned his focus back on the D-Bugg whose arm was stuck underneath the ground. It pulled and pulled, trying to rip its arm away from its entrapment. The overzealous attack gave AJ and RL a chance to catch their breath. But the D-Bugg's position wouldn't stay there forever. It was only a matter of time before it could get moving again.
So... ordinary weapons won't work on its body. My own limbs won't fare any better, either. I need a better plan. A fast one.
He studied the D-Bugg up and down. Watching its unusually quick movements.
"Warden, give me a rundown on the D-Buggs specifications."
His Warden's eye went yellow, "With pleasure. While the features are less than the others we have fought, it has a focused kit of abilities and a more robust frame. With a highly flexible exoskeleton, the D-Bugg of twenty meters can move with–"
"Uh, let's truncate the information a bit," AJ said, anxious as the machine gets closer to freeing its arm, "Just give me the details on its most dangerous abilities, quickly, please."
"Its most used abilities are the specialized thrusters mounted on its calves that increase its ability to jump. The D-Bugg also hosts enormous fists fitted with ignition boosters that increase the explosive power of their attacks with thermal energy."
"Highly dangerous, then."
The Warden's eye turns green, "Indeed, I suggest not getting hit by it. It would spell your demise."
"No shit."
Finally, the D-Bugg freed itself from its chains, pulling away with hefty force. Its eyes twirled, homing in once more on the woman. The thrusters on the legs turned from their vertical position to a horizontal one with a sharp click. It blasted forward.
RL got ready to endure a hit, blocking the woman with her body so she wouldn't have to take the brunt of it.
"Miss RL, move!" Owen cried out.
Before the D-Bugg could make it to the two of them, AJ had jumped back into the battle. And with his superior physical capabilities as a Doomsday Unit, he rose to the height of the D-Bugg's triple eyes.
Got you!
Twisting in the air, he dropped his foot onto where the orbs were floating. Where he thought they were, at least. Unfortunately, they had safely moved out of the way of his leg, independently moving from the rest of its body.
Damn! Those must be his eyes, and they can see every which way.
The orbs wrapped around his leg, clenching on tight. Energy from them burned at his leg, causing gray smoke to rise into the air. AJ could not feel the pain, but he realized it was doing damage to his leg. So he quickly wriggled his way off, tumbling onto the ground.
The entire time, AJ's plan was just to get the D-Bugg's attention on him and off of the woman it was chasing, but all his efforts were failing. Nothing was distracting the D-Bugg from his initial prey. In that, it acted differently from the other D-Buggs. There was more intention, maybe even memory, to be able to maintain focus on a singular person.
Quickly getting up, AJ noticed it was readying another thruster. This time, back up into the air. Unlike the D-Bugg in the plaza, this one needed less of a charge. From this distance, however, RL would surely not be able to dodge or defend herself.
"Warden, flash!" AJ commanded.
His Orbital Warden complied, rising to the eyes and emitting a bright light. This time the flash did not disrupt the D-Bugg's visual inputs, and could swat the Warden away like a fly.
It must have other ways of seeing us, then. Maybe some kind of thermal vision?
Though the flash did not work, the minor inconvenience of the Warden popping up stalled it enough that AJ reached its arm before it leapt. Plummeting his broken sword into a small opening on the machine like a claw and latching on as it jumped.
Suddenly, and with a great deal of resistance, air stretched his face out, pulling at the hems of his skin. The power of the jump was incredible; he could see the tops of many structures when the machine was at its peak.
A bit of airtime on the unexpected roller coaster and then AJ and the D-Bugg fell back to the ground. The D-Bugg could not use its ignition boosters on its fists for the jump because of AJ, but even so, the concussive power of the landing produced enough wind to blow back RL and Owen.
AJ held on as tightly as possible. After a long toil, he was finally getting the attention of the mech.
To get him off, the D-Bugg flailed its arm around. Rising it up and down as quickly as possible, pounding it directly into the ground.
Shit!
AJ stuck with it, growing nauseous from the incessant amount of moving he was doing. His hair, though in a ponytail that limited it from going everywhere in the fight, was smothering his face because of the erratic movements. Finally, he lost his grip, and he flew up into the air.
"AJ!" RL cried out.
He hit the ground hard, rolling though the dirt until he came to a stop, splayed out on the ground.
I can't kill this bastard. Not without an actual AD.
As he lay there, he looked over at the Doomsday Unit, who he thought would be back chasing the woman, but it finally seemed like his pestering was successful. It walked toward him, eyes swirling, assessing him to see if he had any other tricks up his sleeve. Of which he had none.
"AJ! Move!" RL called out again with even more intensity.
"Take the woman and make a break for it to the barrier! If you can get through, you'll be safe!"
"But what about you?"
"I'll be fine! Just... taking a little breather."
By the unconvincing way he said it, he knew RL wouldn't believe the lie, but it was all he could do. In a few seconds, the D-Bugg would be on him and rip his body to shreds, leaving not an inch of life left. It was best for them to get out safely.
Before the machine could make it and bash him in with its enormous hands. A loud blast filled AJ's ears. A sound of a gun, and a powerful one at that.
He looked up at the D-Bugg. One of its eyes was gone, and its remains spilled over onto the reinforced plating, disintegrating it like an acid.
RL, who was about to make a run to save AJ, paused in her tracks. Soon after the first, a second bullet fired into the other eye of the reeling machine.
AJ looked to the origin of the bullet. Off in the distance, lying on the ground, was another time-treading human, holding steady a sniper rifle aimed towards the D-Bugg. The rifle was almost pure white with only a few black fixtures that seemed more an artist's touch than for practicality. The scope was large and unique, hosting a bar on the side that held nine green ticks, with one tick fully black at the end.
As the person was reloading his gun, the D-Bugg found the source of the attack. Its final eye moved frantically.
BUG. LOCATED.
"Damn! You guys are fighting this without an Auxiliary Device? Absolutely mad." The man with the rifle said jovially, "Those devices are the only items that can even harm such a monster."
The rifle charged once more, soaking in some sort of material before ripping off a round straight through the final eye, rendering the D-Bugg blind.
RL stood with her mouth agape, utterly surprised. A hand tugged at her pant leg.
"Top... of body." It was the woman. She had finally come to.
"I'm sorry, what's that?"
The woman's eyebrows furrowed, 'Its core is at the top of the body, right below where the eyes were. It should be open now."
RL nodded in understanding, 'Owen, look after the girl."
"Of course, Miss RL. "
She dashed off toward the malfunctioning D-Bugg, which now swung its arms randomly in all directions without knowing where anything was. It was desperate to accomplish its job, kill any human before it lost the ability to do so. As she got closer, an arm rushed toward her. She slowed down slightly and the arm just barely missed her in the front. She jumped over onto the arm with and climbed to the height of the D-Bugg, ripping the core from its socket with her bare hands.
Losing its functions, the machine fell backwards, and RL smoothly jumped off of it, core in hand. AJ was still on the ground staring up in the air.
RL smiled, extending out her arm to help him up, "Thanks for saving my ass again. But you've gotta learn to that for yourself, too."
He took her hand, smiling slightly, "You and me both, you were never going to run for the barrier, were you?"
They both laughed.
The man with the rifle approached them, hopping off the perch he had planted himself in. He was wearing a purple buttoned-up shirt and matte black tie. He had on belted khaki pants. Just a couple of inches taller than RL and he had short brown hair and blue eyes. He appeared a little older than the other three Doomsday Units, with a goatee blanketing his chin.
His face wore a wide, toothy smile as the rifle— the Auxiliary Device —rested on his shoulder. His Orbital Warden floated around him quietly.
"You must be the other Doomsday Units. I am Doomsday Unit TY-005. A pleasure to meet you all."