The Impound Lot of Sector 4 was an open-air graveyard for machines.
It was a sprawling, muddy expanse enclosed by high, electrified chain-link fences where the Constabulary dumped the vehicles and illegal tech they seized from the Unregistered before melting them down for scrap iron.
Outside the main gates, the riot was in full, glorious swing. Sparky, the one-armed mechanic of the Ash-Runners, was leading a furious mob of citizens, hurling bricks, cobblestones, and crude Molotov cocktails at the automated drone perimeter to create a massive diversion.
But in the deep shadows of the rear alley, a much smaller, far more dangerous rebellion was forming.
Asher crouched behind a rusted dumpster, her small hands shaking violently. She was twelve years old. She wasn't a trained soldier. She wasn't a master hacker. She was just the street-kid Dorothy had pulled from a gutter and given a family.
Beside her, Boomer—the explosives expert of the Ash-Runners—was leaning against the brick, nursing a broken arm set in a crude splint.
"This is a suicide run, kid," Boomer grunted, wincing in pain. "We don't have the heavy firepower to breach the detention block walls. Those are reinforced impervium layered over granite."
"We don't need firepower," Asher whispered, her voice trembling but her eyes completely dry. "We need muscle. Big, heavy muscle."
She pointed a small finger through the chain-link fence.
Sitting in the exact center of the impound lot, clamped down by heavy magnetic locks, were two massive, towering shapes of brass and iron.
Luca and Luna's confiscated Steam-Goliaths. The Iron-Maiden and the Steel-Widow.
"The Titans," Boomer realized, his eyes widening. "They haven't scrapped them yet."
"If we can get them online," Asher said, "we can smash the walls of the Spire."
"We can't pilot them," Boomer shook his head frantically. "The Twins use a specialized, dual-neural galvanic link. It requires two adult pilots with perfectly synced brainwaves to handle the sensory feedback. We're just mechanics, kid."
Asher looked at the towering mechs. She looked up at the looming black needle of the Spire in the distance, where her entire family was trapped.
"I've sat in the cockpit and watched Luna pilot a thousand times," Asher stood up, brushing the dirt from her knees. "I know the exact ignition sequence."
"You're far too small!" Boomer warned, grabbing her coat. "The electrical feedback from the neural net will fry your brain!"
"Open the gate," Asher commanded. She sounded terrifyingly, uncannily like Dorothy.
Boomer hesitated, looking at the fierce determination in the little girl's eyes. He sighed heavily. He pulled a specialized, alchemically-charged EMP grenade from his bandolier and tossed it directly at the electronic gate lock.
FIZZ-POP.
The gate hissed, the magnetic seals failing, and swung open.
Asher sprinted across the muddy lot. Automated security drones swarmed down from the guard towers, red targeting lasers painting the ground all around her flying feet. Boomer stepped into the open, ignoring his broken arm, and opened fire with a heavy grenade launcher, blowing the drones out of the foggy sky in showers of sparks.
"Go, kid!" Boomer roared over the explosions.
Asher scrambled up the massive, iron-plated leg of Luna's mech—the Iron-Maiden. She popped the emergency manual release on the chest plate and dropped inside the dark cockpit.
It smelled intimately of machine oil and Luna's lavender soap.
Asher scrambled into the pilot's chair and hastily strapped herself in with the heavy leather belts. The seat was far too big. Her boots barely reached the brass pedals.
"System Start," she yelled, hitting the main ignition switch.
The dashboard lit up with a harsh, glaring red light.
WARNING. BIOMETRIC MISMATCH. NEURAL LINK UNSTABLE. ABORT IMMEDIATELY.
"Override code: Giant," Asher shouted, her hands flying over the brass toggles.
ACCESS GRANTED. ENGAGING CEREBRAL HARNESS.
A heavy, copper-lined helmet lowered from the ceiling. Asher took a deep breath and pulled it down over her head.
Pain.
Absolute, blinding, white-hot pain. It felt like a bolt of lightning had been shot directly through her spine. The Steam-Goliath was designed for a hardened adult with augmented reflexes, not a child. The sensory feedback of the massive iron limbs flooded her small brain. Asher screamed, a raw, terrifying sound, gritting her teeth until she tasted blood.
"Come on," she gasped, tears streaming down her face as she grabbed the control levers. "Move!"
The massive mech groaned. The heavy hydraulic pistons hissed, venting massive clouds of white steam into the night air. The gigantic iron machine stood up to its full thirty-foot height, violently shaking off the heavy magnetic impound clamps.
"It's moving!" Boomer cheered from the gate, laughing in disbelief.
Asher didn't just walk; she ran. She threw the throttle forward, piloting the multi-ton mech directly toward the base of the Spire, aiming for the external wall of Detention Block 5—a three-foot-thick slab of concrete and reinforced steel.
She didn't slow down. She raised the mech's massive, pneumatic iron fist, the pressure valves shrieking.
"For the family!" Asher screamed.
CRASH.
The wall exploded inward.
The impact was deafening. Tons of dust, pulverized brick, and twisted steel rebar filled the air.
Inside the detention block, the impact violently shook the underground cells.
Rowan, Jack, and Luca were thrown completely off their feet, crashing against the iron bars.
"What the hell was that?" Jack coughed violently, waving away the thick cloud of brick dust.
Through the gaping, smoking hole in the exterior wall, a giant, articulated metal hand reached in. It grabbed the heavy iron bars of their cell door and simply ripped them completely off their hinges like they were made of damp cardboard.
The chest plate of the mech hissed open. Asher leaned out, blood running freely from her nose and ears, but grinning like an absolute maniac.
"Get in, losers," Asher yelled over the hiss of steam. "We're escaping."
"Asher?!" Luca gaped, his jaw hitting the floor. "You're piloting my sister's mech?!"
"Badly!" Asher admitted, wincing as the mech stumbled slightly. "Hurry up!"
The Giants scrambled out of the ruined cell.
"Wait!" Rowan shouted. He ran down the corridor to the adjacent cell where Ivy and Luna were trapped. He grabbed a heavy stun-baton from the belt of an unconscious guard and smashed the electronic lock until it sparked and opened.
They were free. But they weren't safe.
"Guards!" Jack yelled, scooping up a heavy galvanic rifle from the floor. "Twelve o'clock!"
A full squad of elite, heavily armored Centurions rushed into the corridor, raising their weapons and opening fire immediately.
"Get behind the mech's legs!" Luca shouted, pulling Luna and Ivy toward the iron cover of the Goliath.
Rowan was completely exposed in the center of the hallway. He was trying to drag Vexler—who was barely conscious, limping, and bleeding heavily from his brutal interrogation—out of the last cell.
A Centurion lined up his sights perfectly on Rowan's unprotected back.
"Rowan!" Jack screamed.
Jack didn't think about the ledgers. He didn't think about the fire that took his parents. He didn't think about the name Velox. He simply acted.
Jack dove horizontally across the corridor.
He tackled Rowan to the floor, taking the high-voltage galvanic stun-blast squarely in the shoulder. They both crashed hard onto the cold stone.
Rowan looked up in shock. Jack was groaning in intense agony, his coat smoking and his left arm completely paralyzed from the electrical hit.
"Jack?" Rowan whispered, his voice trembling. "You saved me?"
Jack pushed himself up onto his good elbow, wincing. He looked down at Rowan. The anger was still there in his eyes, hot, sharp, and unresolved. But underneath it, shining brighter than the anger, was the unbreakable bond forged in the trenches of the Ash-Dregs.
"You're a liar. And I absolutely hate your father," Jack spat, grabbing his rifle with his one working hand.
He offered Rowan his good hand to pull him up.
"But you're a Giant. You are family. And we don't leave family behind," Jack said fiercely. "We'll settle the blood feud later. Right now... we save Dot."
Rowan took the hand, a profound gratitude choking him. He pulled himself up, supporting Vexler's weight with his other arm.
"Right," Rowan nodded firmly. "We save Dot."
"Everyone onto the mech's shoulders!" Luna commanded, scrambling expertly up the iron plating and climbing into the cramped cockpit with Asher. She grabbed the secondary controls, her neural link instantly syncing with the machine and taking the crushing pressure off Asher's mind. "We're punching a hole straight down to the Dig Site!"
The Giants clung desperately to the massive, riveted shoulders of the iron machine. With Asher and Luna piloting in perfect synchronization, the mech moved with terrifying, deadly grace.
They charged down the wide subterranean corridor, an unstoppable juggernaut of steel, steam, and righteous rage, heading straight for the heart of the earth to save their sister.