“It’s a sat weapon! Shit, they do have one!” Calypso yelled, rattling Atlas’ skull as he gazed skyward, trying to single it out.

  “Where the hell is it?”

  There was plenty of electricity out there. Webs upon webs of satellites, criss-crossing the sky. Nothing that’d indicate a nation killer, though. Maybe it wasn’t powered yet?

  Calypso startled, noticing something he hadn’t. “Atlas!”

  “Fire! Fire, damnit!”

  Atlas returned his attention back to the little ant that’d been goading him, watching intently as he sprinted for the relative safety of the hangar after his tiny shout.

  “Did he just-?”

  Atlas started to stand as a wave of tank shells slammed into him, detonating harmlessly against his armor. The blows barely even phased him, and he got to his feet even as the auto cannons of dozens of armored vehicles started to pound away at his armored shell. Scattered soldiers opened up with small arms fire and anti-tank missiles, the electronics of which he disabled with a thought, causing them to flare out lifelessly. He even felt the electric buzz of a drone swarm carving through the air for him, and that was the last indignity he was willing to suffer.

  Atlas reached out with his thoughts and touched the simple minds of the drones. They shorted and dropped dead immediately, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of data running through them. The predatory roar of gunship rotors caught his attention, and he quickly raised a wall of earth before him. Autocannon shells raked the wall, and he kicked it ferociously, sending it rushing forward. Atlas made out the satisfying shink shink shink of rotor blades shearing against stone, and then the wall crumpled overtop one of the nearest hangars, tilting and flattening the structure and the few helicopters he’d caught. The couple he hadn’t surged over the structure and flew past, starting to circle for another run. More thunderous shocks rang out, and Atlas growled in fury as a dozen more tank shells slammed into him. Autocannon shells continued to ricochet off his form, the staccato ringing against his armor driving his rage to greater heights.

  “Ok, I’ve had more than enough of this. I tried it your way, now we’re trying it mine.”

  “Wait! Just- please! We really don’t have to-”

  Atlas ignored her, and reached over his shoulder for Ladon, drawing the sword with an experimental flourish. He twirled it with a spin of his wrist, causing the weapon to take its full configuration. The jagged hunk of metal split and separated, doubling in length to a colossal forty meters as its parts took their full form. Jagged spikes along its length flared into serrated teeth along the middle of the blade, which was now split in half lengthwise. Its edges sharpened and glossed, while golden veins sparked lightning along their edges before the storm consumed the blade. Electricity started to arc aggressively between the sword’s teeth, spitting lightning, while the acrid scent of ozone filled the air. With a thought, Atlas unleashed the blade.

  Light lashed and thunder clapped as an arc of lightning ripped free from Ladons teeth. The immense beam of electricity slammed into the ground hard enough to rattle the earth, evaporating a group of soldiers into ash. Dirt crystallized, concrete glassed, and then Atlas flicked his wrist and the wave arced for some of the armor harrying him. Tanks and APCs popped, erupting into geysers of slag as Ladons fury ripped them apart. It was only then that the energy faltered, leaving smoldering ruin in its wake.

  And then static built again, coiling into the air. Atlas aimed for the next row of tanks, and another wave of lightning lashed out. The humans haphazardly returned fire, but he shrugged off their attacks effortlessly. Slag splashed across the tarmac like splattered oil, and Atlas only ceased the onslaught when another wave of autocannon fire raked his form from the air. He spun with a roar and flicked Ladon in his grip, causing multiple lightning bolts to erupt and bisect each remaining gunship, sending their smoldering halves crashing to the ground.

  More autocannon fire, and he pivoted again, this time so quickly that the Earth rattled beneath his feet before he carved at the air. A wave of electricity cleaved at the tarmac, evaporating incoming shells and slagging another formation of APCs. Soldiers continued to rake his form with pitiful small-arms fire from below, while several more anti-tank missiles fired from the same positions. Atlas once again disabled their weak electronics with the most minute amount of focus, then flared his thrusters, launching up and then reversing them to slam down in the middle of the Russian position. He barely gave them a fraction of a second to react as he spun Ladon in his grip, before flicking the blade. A bubble of electricity surged out from the weapons serrated teeth, shielding Atlas and consuming nearby soldiers. Glassed concrete and slagged metal were left in its wake, while anyone unlucky enough to make contact with the bubble popped as energy surged into their bones.

  What few tanks were left fired another volley, and Atlas’ fist glimmered molten as he used earthen pillars to catch the shells midair. They detonated, showering debris over the airfield, then Atlas stepped into the breach, swinging Ladon aggressively. Blades of electricity shrieked from the sword with claps of thunder, carving the armored vehicles in half with terrible booms as the last of the Russian tanks detonated.

  Auto cannon shells continued to rake through the air after him, but there were much fewer than before. They continued to ricochet and detonate harmlessly against his armor, and Atlas’ fist glimmered in response. Spears of rock impaled the last few armored vehicles still shelling him, crushing the crew and destroying the vehicles.

  The airfield was a lot quieter, now. Half melted military craft littered the tarmac, lighting Atlas eerily against the night. Puddled ashes were scattered across the base, indicating where soldiers had evaporated before the raw power of Ladon. He could still taste some couple dozen minds, but he ignored them. Atlas knew Calypso was pissed, but she’d still wipe any data on him from the internet. The lesser noise allowed him to focus on the two minds he really wanted to see-

  A small, dense object slammed into his antennae, causing Atlas to stagger and curse in surprise. He reached his free hand up, momentarily stunned, and then another slug impacted him, prompting him to drop to a knee as the vibrations rattled his senses. His antennae flared as he snarled in rage, and they quickly honed in on the source of his frustrations. Vladimir was taking cover just outside of one of the hangars with a powerful source of electricity cradled against him.

  “Really? Why would you think a gauss weapon would harm me?” He shouted, as his fist glimmered molten.

  Vladimir was already on the move though, the earth spearing where he’d just been. Atlas felt the quick sizzle of the railgun cooking off as a slug whizzed harmlessly between his antennae, and he stood to flick Ladon quickly toward the annoying little ant. Ozone surged and thunder clapped, and still the tiny human dodged the same lash of electricity that split the hangar behind him in two.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Zzzz pring! Sounded off as the railgun fired again, hitting its mark this time and disorienting Atlas yet again. He made a low rumble of annoyance, then his fist glimmered again as he formed his armor up and over his head. His shoulder pauldrons collapsed and slid in plates up his neck, before folding over his antennae and face protectively. More sensors flared to life in the helmet, taking over the role for his antennae and causing bright amber “eyes” to form overtop the armor adorning his head.

  More railgun slugs cooked off, harmlessly now, as Atlas raised Ladon to the sky. He heard a distant “Shit.” from Vladimir, and then he brought Ladon down. The massive weapon split the tarmac as a bolt of lightning erupted from the earth, evaporating the annoying human runt and causing his unstable weapon to detonate, cratering the glassed pavement where he’d once been.

  Atlas kept his senses locked on the spot for a moment longer, almost expecting the human to fire again, impossible though that might have been by now. Calypso broke the silence instead.

  “Glad one of them got their licks in.” She fumed.

  “Shut it, Calypso. You can be pissed at me later. Where’s-”

  Atlas felt a mind eerily similar to Vladimir’s just below, in the nearby hangar the commander had emerged from. It only took the slightest second longer for him to notice the very same weapon in the Generals hands.

  — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

  “Now I’ve got you.” Aleks snarled, before pulling the trigger.

  An earsplitting shriek shook the air as a tungsten slug spat from the railgun, momentarily deafening the general. It struck the titan center mass, and pinged loudly off of its armored shell. Aleks watched in horror as the pancaked slug tumbled down, down, and down the things armor with progressively louder pings, until it finally plinked harmlessly into the earth below. He gave the worthless slug a few hopeless blinks of shock, and slowly turned his gaze back up to the titan, which was by now curiously gazing down at him. Its free hand began to glimmer a soft amber, and in the same instant Aleks felt his railgun get ripped from his hands. His eyes went wide when he realized where the earthen spire had punctured- it’d pierced the weapons power pack.

  “Oh, shi-”

  The loudest boom he’d felt in decades echoed through the hangar as he was sent sprawling meters backward. Pain burned everywhere, but most acutely in his chest, neck, and arms. Aleks blinked in surprise when he tried to breathe, only for fluid to pool up his throat and send him into agonizing spasms. He only realized he’d landed on his back when he felt more than heard the dull roar of the hangar's roof being ripped from its shell. The titans house sized head towered over him, blocking out the moon as it watched him from beyond the ruin of the hangar.

  Aleks tried to sit up to give himself some semblance of dignity, but his arms weren’t quite working the way he wanted them to. It didn’t help that he coughed up some thick… stuff when he tried to sit up, either.

  He noticed the titans helmet coming back apart, back into those four… horns, antennae, whatever they were. They shifted independently of one another in an almost mesmerizing way, but his attention was really caught by the magma-red glow of the huge things maw. It was eerily pretty, lighting the night in such a way. Even with the smoldering ruins of his forces flickering off the monsters armor.

  “You’re going to die.” It finally rumbled. Its voice shook the very earth- he felt his shattered bones quake and fought back an undignified scream of liquid pain.

  “What are… you…”

  “You aren’t going to live long enough to do anything about it. You were trying to activate a weapon, weren’t you? Where is it? What is it? Did you get it to fire?” The towering thing asked. Aleks didn’t really see a reason not to answer, regardless of what Vlad had said. It was useless, now.

  “It’s not here, if Gorgon is what you’re looking for. Can’t imagine it’ll be much use to you now, though.” He said, gesturing around to the damage it’d done to the hangar.

  Even that simple motion lit his arm on fire, and Aleks glanced down at himself languidly to see what the problem was. He immediately regretted it. Lances of shattered metal and bone stuck out through his fractured arms, impaling his limbs and his chest. He slapped a limp hand up in alarm to his neck, and felt the jagged barbs of steel stuck there. Felt his blood pooling around the seams.

  “Oh shit.” He gurgled, spitting up some blood between his lips. “Mind… mmph… helping me up?”

  Aleks barely paid attention as the titan seemed to quirk its head in thought, like it was listening to something. What an odd thing, this creature. Even odder was the rising sensation he felt along his back. He couldn’t feel the concrete folding beneath him, so he just assumed he’d finally been able to sit up.

  His chest still felt too heavy, and it was too hard to breathe. But the feeling was lesser. Somewhat. “Grrggl… thanks…” Aleks said, spitting up a bit more blood and nodding his head towards…?

  The titan knelt, and studied him more closely. Its antennae shifted again, hypnotizing him. “Atlas.” The huge thing finally answered with a sigh. “You shouldn’t be thanking me. Do you even know where you are? ...No, that's not important. Gorgon, right? You said you didn’t get it to fire? What does it do?”

  “Sho’ many questions.” Aleks slurred. He was so… tired. He hadn’t felt so confused… and scared, in a long, long time. He limply tried to fish into his pocket for his sat phone. Maybe his brother could help…?

  “No, no. Was gonna aim it at the Americans. Couldn’t get it… couldn’t get it to…” He hacked, wracking his battered body and causing more blood to bubble between his lips. “Mmph. Fuck. Well. You know.” He said, gesturing around him again.

  Atlas growled in annoyance. “No, I don’t. Was this facility important for firing it? Can it be activated from anywhere else? Does anyone else know about it?” The man started to nod off, and Atlas slammed his fist into the ground, quaking the earth and causing him to groan in pain. “What does it do?”

  Electricity coiled aggressively between Atlas’ antennae, then, speaking in a voice only he could hear. “ATLAS! Stop! Just- stop. Please.” Calypso pleaded.

  “Why? We need to know…” He trailed off, noticing as Aleks fished around in his pocket with one of his shattered arms. “What are you doing?”

  “Just need to… call my brother… let him know it’s going to be ok.” He slurred, finally pulling a sat phone from his pocket. Atlas gave it a rudimentary scan as Aleks messily typed on it. Custom, advanced. Perfect for secure, long distance communications. Atlas’ fist immediately began to glow amber again. He couldn’t let him-

  “Don’t. Just look at him, ok? Really look at him. If for nothing else, then just to see if he’s telling the truth.”

  Atlas paused to focus on the electrical pulses he could sense from the man. He was extremely near to flatlining- he’d lost too much blood from the myriad impalements puncturing his body. His brain activity was rapidly diminishing, and his brain's signals to his muscles were getting weaker at the same rate. But he was still struggling to type on his sat phone, and his mind was focused on one thing- calling his brother.

  Atlas’ antennae vibrated in annoyance. “He’s dead, you know? Died along with your capital. You’re not going to hear from him again.”

  Aleks looked right up at him without a hint of fear in his eyes. Not desperation, or anger, or hate. None of the things he’d expect from a human in the twilight of his life. Just tired, sad resignation. Aleks hit one last button, and his phone made one ring before it made a connection.

  “I know… grrggl… I know. K-560 Aleksei Petrov, you’re clear to launch-GLRHK!” Aleks looked down in surprise at the rocky spear piercing his chest. He didn’t get another sound out before it pulled him beneath the earth.

  “Atlas-!”

  “Confirmed, comrade general. Launch away, over.” Came the barely audible report over the satphone.

  “I’m going to fucking kill you, Calypso.” Atlas snarled, before quickly getting back to his feet. “That’s the last time I show a human mercy.”

  “You should’ve just let him bleed out!”

  “Really?” Atlas roared. “After he launched-! We don’t have time to argue. Where’s that fucking submarine?”

  “Baltic sea, it just launched. All of Europe just lit up like a… well, it doesn’t matter.” Calypso said tiredly. “I’m sorry.”

  Atlas’ boosters flared to life with a roar, and immediately he was airborne. A sonic boom echoed as he accelerated and rose, his stabilizing thrusters flaring to life a fraction of a second later to keep him angled upward.

  “Save it. Just get me to those missiles.”