Juno was tightening torque clamps on the shoulder assembly of his prototype when Riley stepped in, holding a flat projection slab.
“You two building power fantasies,” she said, “or do you want to survive?”
Drex looked up from his monitor. “We’re designing loadouts.”
“You’re designing targets,” she shot back.
She dropped the projection between them. Schematics bloomed in the air—refined versions of their models, each with red annotations and modified modules.
She pointed at Juno’s first.
“You want full melee? Fine. But you need a kill spike.”
A short, brutal-looking blade extended from the shield edge. Reinforced base. Serrated taper.
[SHIELD-SPIKE MOD]
Material: tower-alloy composite
Function: pierce + pin
Mount: internal retractable housing
Bonus: anchoring for heavy counters
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“Use the shield to block, then drive this into something’s core. Grapple, then break.”
Juno grinned. “I like it.”
“You’ll need to adjust balance on the off-hand,” Riley added. “That spike will throw off your guard arm if you don’t tune the servo resistance.”
Already updating it, Juno added a note to reinforce elbow joints.
She turned to Drex’s design.
“Yours is worse.”
“Thanks,” Drex muttered.
“You built a brawler in a spray can. Limited fuel, limited range, exposed cooling pipes. You want to clear swarms and pick targets? Then build like it.”
She flipped the schematic over and revealed her draft.
[FLAME HARASSER CHASSIS – MK I]
Six-legged base for rapid repositioning
Flame channeling nozzles across lower limbs (clears swarms mid-movement)
Thermite pod launcher (short-range, burst payloads)
Underarm scatterfire ports (deadly within 10 meters)
Reinforced back shell with modular plating slots
Side-mounted vent ports for burst lateral shifts (short hops)
“This build is fast, reactive, and clears floors. It doesn’t win slugfests. It controls space.”
Drex leaned in, eyes narrowing. “I’d need a split controller. Foot actuation on leg pairs, arms free for targeting.”
“I’ve got a haptic overlay rig in storage,” Riley said. “Military grade. Might even fit.”
Juno raised an eyebrow. “Why do you have that?”
“I didn’t say how I got it.”
By the end of the day, the updated designs were locked in.
The crawler-style mech stood in the bay—shorter than the last, wider. Thin legs, fast joints. Tubes of flammable fluid ran from its back to the twin arms. The thermite pod launcher hadn’t been mounted yet, but Drex was already testing burst pivots using the wall anchors.
Juno’s mech was all angles. Thick armor, but tighter this time. The shield-spike sat collapsed along the left forearm. His crusher fist had been reinforced with shock plates. Weighty. Clean. Meant to end fights.
Drex stood between the two rigs.
“You realize,” he said, “we’re going to need to go deeper this time.”
Riley tapped her screen. “The tower will expect that.”
Juno cracked his neck. “Then let it.”