With the power interrupted to a key construction facility, one competitor took up the chance to attack the building and destroy it, leaving it in a pile of ashes as a message to its owners. Mercenaries were once again hired to do the dirty work.
As the Zair stepped into home base, three heavily-armed cores - including Golem - stepped out from the exit, setting their course towards the unpowered plant. A large number of helicopters had been added to as their escorts, including four other cores which had been assigned guard duty as well.
Newly outfitted, repaired, and reseated, the Zair's pilot stepped into the breaking dawn. Even without rest, the Zair felt ready for anything. She caught up to the slow moving convoy, passing Golem on her left. They gave slight nods to one another, in the acceptance of the other's existence. Zair moved ahead, a borrowed sniper rifle on his back as it rose into the air, searching for a place to search for potential threats.
Stryke waved the Zair over, pointing out a spot just above them - the valley would allow the Zair to lie prone while still giving it a good view of the lands ahead. The Zair settled in and set up the rifle as the group moved ahead. It scanned the treetops for any signs of movement, from the whiff of the leaves or even the flight of birds. It found nothing and lay still.
Zair's pilot sat looking at the display screens, checking for any oddities in the jungle ahead. It could see for miles from this vantage point - she did not worry about the Golem and Stryke getting ambushed from behind. A bright flash of light and loud explosion later, all hell had broken loose.
Needless to say, the helicopters were gunned down in an instant, merely providing a small bit of distraction as they exploded into brilliant reds and yellows.
Stryke rose into the air, far above the treetops as it began a sort of retreat. Dozens of missiles began to follow it, but the Stryke's anti-missile systems worked just as advertised. It helped even more that it was an agile mech, allowing it to dodge the two or three missiles it could not shoot with the anti-missile lasers or the 750-round machine gun in its right hand. Stryke landed in the trees and began to dash backward as two similar enemy mechs leaped into the air in a sort of "V" shape.
"Where's Golem?!" screamed a voice from HQ. It was met by silence from the Stryke's pilot. The Zair set its sights on the left-most target, allowing the fire control system to obtain a lock. 1.9 seconds later, as the Stryke took a laser rifle hit to the left shoulder and a rocket in the right knee, a loud noise filled the ear of the Zair's pilot.
"Bingo." Its pilot pulled the trigger, and the weapon released the built in energy. It had only enough ammunition to be fired 25 times before having to completely reload, but it was not needed this time.
It exploded in the hands of the Zair, backfiring and completely destroying the right hand, as well as damaging the core and head parts. The loud explosion sent dirt clouds into the air, attracting the attention of one of the enemies that had pinned down the Stryke. It began to advance on the Zair's vantage point.
Stryke stared down its foe. It surveyed the weapons, the shoulder packs, the body parts. It was meant for quickness, with a floating apparatus instead of biped legs. Both arms were weapons themselves, being four-barreled missile launchers each. The left shoulder held a medium rocket pack - the other shoulder had more missiles.
The right shoulder's weapon flared open and released a salvo. The Stryke, expecting a frontal attack, dodged to the side to find that the missiles fired straight into the air. Its pilot stared at the display for a few seconds too long as its anti-missile system shot down a few incoming missiles fired from its enemy's arms. The rest hit the entire body, all five missiles that were not shot down. It was knocked backwards with the force of the explosion as it side stepped one rocket yet took another square in the chest.
It was knocked backwards and onto its back: just in time for the vertically launched missiles to hit it square in the core.
The Stryke was out of the battle, for now.
The Zair was having similar luck. After successfully planting proximity mine at the site where it once was and picking up the two weapons it had nearby - an energy sword and a heavy caliber automatic pistol - it dropped back below the cliff and waited as its pilot observed the radar. "Why the hell did it fail to shoot, backfire, and explode? It's usually one or two, but -"
Her thoughts were broken by the sound of a mine exploding above her, sending large chunks of rock and letting go a wall of sand. Her earpiece crackled and came on as a voice muttered through it.
"We've decoded the contents of the disc - you will immediately return to base for a refit and new orders." Another crackle told the pilot the lady had shut off the connection.
How exactly was their trio supposed to return to base in the middle of a battle? The Zair's pilot suddenly remembered the battle she was partaking in as the legs of a mech came down crashing on top of her. The energy blade came alive as it tore a hole through the Zair's shoulder, pretty much severing any sort of connection its right arm had with its torso.
It was one of those guard escorts that had left the base with them - it was Hephastus. It leaped up into the air, its green paint glimmering in the sunlight as it rained bullets down from its right-handed machine gun, straight into the torso of the Zair. It began to come down again, its energy blade buzzing with anticipation of a kill with the helpless Zair lying on its back.
A well-placed mortar shot hit it squarely in the back right below the shoulder, causing the left arm to be completely blown off as the Hephastus was sent flying forward, out of sight of the Zair. Its pilot rolled over the Zair and as it helped itself upwards, its own blade came alive as it ran towards Hephastus, still lying dazed on its back dozens of meters away. The Zair's pilot was thirsty for some blood as it turned on its boosters.
Golem flew past as her own booster came alive, sending her forward with a hard jolt. She glanced over to see the Stryke's body - or what was left of it - slung over the Golem's shoulder as she flew past. Flipping the switch to slow her advance, the Zair drove its left arm into the ground, beheading Hephastus, rendering it useless. She turned the boosters on once again as she noticed the Golem was retreating back to base, mortar shells and bullets falling short of its position.
An explosion rattled the Zair as it sent the mech flying into the air, the boosters coming alive at an awkward time, throwing the mech forward into some unintended vector. Had she flown straight, the pilot would have encountered a very well placed lob of yet another mortar, sending chunks of dirt and tree flying into the air. The Zair looked back over its shoulder as two damaged mechs stood lobbing their shells in their general direction, fading into the horizon.
Two black mechs stood waiting to receive their retreat as they arrived back in base. The Golem handed over its burden as it fell to the ground, its circuits melted and destroyed from the hasty retreat. The Zair merely stood there, wondering what had happened. Seven mechs had left this morning, yet only three had returned; the other four had turned against them. One of them had been disabled, and another out of the battle, as only two were left standing, trying to impede their retreat.
The Zair's pilot stood in the repair bays, contemplating over the day.
"I wonder how much they were paid..."