I call Dibs!

The briefing room was certainly not the smallest building in the G.U.N compound, but at the same time, not the largest, but it was here that the story would begin. Here in this rather mundane, concrete structure willed with conference rooms, small information deposits and the occasional coffee machine, the grey fox would learn of his mission.

As he approached the building, his mind was taken back to the several occurrences were he'd been called to this location, and especially the first such event. This time would likely be no different, and he had hated the moment he'd received the call-in for the assignment. If only G.U.N could call on a different lackey for their dirty work. And of course there had been no information in regards to the task, simply that as a member of the military he must report.

He once again had to shake any unneeded thoughts away as he found his feet trudging into the bland building. After having been through the security check upon entering the compound, there was no need for another, but instead there was the standard, evenly spaced concrete pillars, dividing corridors that ran off on either side. He followed the hallway directly in front of him and entered the main briefing chamber. A projector screen standing unused in the centre and several rows of empty seats lining the room, circling around the presentation area.

Darken'd been here before, and had hoped never to be again, but here he was. No-one else had showed up, and he had likely missed it, but with a flick of his wrist and a glance at the time, he noticed he was early, but not early enough for no-one to be present. The Chairs had no padding of any kind, and his Uniform was not anything to help, the stiff material was unkind and he had to endure it for who knows how long.

-A long figure decked in military uniform enters the room where Darken had now entered himself, he seemed to be high rank given the uniform and insignia upon his shoulder, so what ever was going down the high brass knew very well about it. The door slammed shut behind him and only he and Darken were in the poorly like room.-

"Ah Darken, so good to see you all again, I had my doubts we would find a mind willing to go ahead with this operation but given your expertise and past experience you were the logical choice...you wondering why and I am about to tell you. 


My name is Captain Alex Liao high ranking member of the advance weapons division of G.U.N, I have called you here today because of developing issues currently surrounding a highly prized and strategically important location that needs immediately surveillance, I'm sure you are familiar with them by now...the Cybreds....3 days ago base Orion ceased all communications with G.U.N high command, Harbinger the central AI at the command element has been unable to re establish a link to the base.


The base is located far west out side a major area simply known as the Northamer located in the desert sections, near the great canyon, a very desolate place, hard rough surface.


Base Orion was responsible for the upkeep and deployment of Cybred forces to Northamer through out, however contact as been lost...we need some one to check out why....this is why I am sending you in to investigate...but do not fear..we have no plans on repeating the mistakes like last time...we are teaming you up with a former G.U.N unit, he will meet you are the GPS co-ordinates and will be providing protection upon your operation.


Your orders are simple..locate..recon..and report....the GPS co-ordinates have already been issued to you...good luck."

-Alex stood up to shake his hand, Darken was to deploy immediately with out hesitation..tho nothing was explained who this guy was that was going to team up with him.-

He felt a little more reassured seeing a familiar face like Captain Liao's and certainly helped light up the rather dark and unpleasant room. And of course, as the captain entered into the room, Darken stood and offered a salute, as per standard procedure, then sat as Captain Liao began speaking.

The grey fox listened carefully to the instructions of the captain, soaking up every detail offered and at the mention of the Cybreds, he momentarily froze, remembering the situation that had involved a rogue bipedal war-machine, and how that had turned out.

Then, as he learnt of where he would be going, and why, which was much better than his first, and most famous mission known as the 'Shamar Incident' and he had declined participating in countless assignments after that event, all until the first Cybred mission that is, then he once again became active in G.U.N.

No matter how much the Captain could assure him, the fox would always be sceptical of the 'military intelligence' behind G.U.N, despite this task being better planned than  Shamar. And as it turned out this mission would also be to a desert, which didn't help to make Darken feel better about it, but it was his duty to serve, and he would to the end.

Then, in conclusion, the fox had already received the Co-ordinates, and was instructed to go. 

The fox stood again, "Yes Captain. Thank you Captain" he said, keeping it strictly business and offering a final salute before departing from the plain concrete room. As he followed the instructions provided out the building door and down the short flight of steps, he began to move towards the destination.

-It would take a tops of a hour to get more or less into his position for meet up point, upon arriving the baron lands were remarkably similar to that of the past desert he operated in, tho here were no sand dunes, but stretches of hard burned ground and wide open plains of brown, small hills and horizons, not a welcoming place at all. 

His GPS would note he reached his rally point and now it was time to see who it was who was suppose to join him in this operation, G.U.N hadn't explained who it was but time would tell for him. Darken had been issued with a hydration system should he need it along side advance recon gear and recording equipment. State of the art so G.U.N was indeed serious about this operation. 

It was quiet, dead quiet, time ticked by and nothing, seems like he flunked..or did he..moments later there was a slight tremor..then came another and followed in suite by more, after some time sounds of machinery could be heard, notably getting louder and louder until Darken would be able to hear the same foot steps as he once heard some time ago hunting the machine...the foot steps belonged to a Cybred and it was heading in his way.

There to the east on the horizon its silhouette appeared, identical to that of the machine that went rogue, striking grey armor, shoulder packed missile pods, and 4 particle beam laser canons spouting on the arms, the menacing small blue glow from its central control pod, it was bearing straight for him.

It came closer and closer but showed no signs of hostility towards him, it steps..5 meters away from him, there he saw the massive machine..standing nearly 9 meters and weighing in a hefty 160 tons...he stood face to face with the Cybred who turned rogue.....tense moments went back as it looked back at him for seconds that felt like minutes. Until...it...spoke.-


"Are you..um...whats the name...Darken...yes Darken...sent by G.U.N for the operation are you not ?" 

-tho its voice was a little synthetic in tone it spoke clear and normal English which in it self was strange.-

Surely enough, and after a long and rather uncomfortable moment of travel, he began approaching the destination. The desert was similar to Shamar, with the only difference being a lack of dunes, and there being vast stretches of scorched dirt stretching onto the horizon. If there was one thing the fox knew about the landscape; it could change dramatically in only a short time-span.

Darken was grateful for the additional equipment that G.U.N had provided, and maybe in time it would convince him that the military had finally learnt from their mistake, but then again, they could just be playing it up for him. As far as he knew, G.U.N was still amazed about how he, along with the help of the freelancer hero and a Colossal-sized mech, rescued nearly the entire task-force that they sent out about a year ago. So they could very well be trying to re-earn his trust, but it was the military, so they likely didn't care about his favour at all.

The most obvious reason would be that they genuinely needed this to pull through, and as he moved through the searing heat of the desert, the fox took a mouthful of electrolyte mix from the Hydration pack, accepting whatever it was he was going to face in the next span of time.

However, out there, at the location marked on the GPS, Darken saw nothing. No sign of movement, or even life. Perhaps he'd missed the window, or it had been a farce. The only sound he could hear was that of his mental clock, ticking by inside of his own head. But then, the sound deepened in pitch, and he was able to feel it's vibrations.

That was no clock, and it certainly wasn't inside his head. He saw one the outline of one of the very machines he was once told to hunt down and destroy. A Cybred.

Could this be his companion? Or was this the Military's way of tying up some kind of loose end? It mattered not. If the G.U.N wanted him dead, there was no use fighting the inevitable, and if it was indeed Darken's companion, then it'd be best they didn't get off to a rough start. So the fox waited for the robot to arrive at his location, allowing fate to travel it's course.

The vibrations were phenomenal by the time it reached him, looming high above the fox and casting an enormous shadow over him. It's footsteps were like their own earthquakes below the pair of them, and it's whirring mechanics were hissing from the hydraulic movement.

Not only was it a Cybred, it was the exact Cybred he had been ordered to hunt a few months ago. But then it spoke, not in any menacing way, but in a rather casual and unsure way. And in normal, unbroken English at that.

"Uhhh... Yeah. That's me. And you are?"


In truth, Darken's voice betrayed his attempts to sound relaxed, and it came out as a slightly nervous confession.

-It indeed was the very same Cybred not to long ago that they were after, clear identification marked by the fact that this Cybred had not G.U.N logo, it was the dead give away, although he was staring at one of the most powerful weapons currently on the planet..a assault class Diablo Cybred, armed with enough firepower to devastate even the most robust and large of Eggmans machines in but one thermo nuclear ordinance exchange. 

Yet for what it was worth the Cybred seemed..friendly..ironically in it self for something that was suppose to enforce rule with devastating firepower and armor, bristling in the sunlight as light bounced off its steel grey armor, when the Cybred spoke to Darken its small blue visor flickered when ever speaking, in fact he was the only Cybred who had mastered English because of necessary means.

Its command head pod tilting to the left a little as Darken explain that it was indeed him and not some random being wandering this far out into the depths of outer Northamer.

"Good I was wondering when G.U.N was actually going to send some one..I'v been out here for 2 weeks trying to keep a stable distance with out...causing to much of a....suspicion....I am DBL-813 Diablo assault class Cybred bipedal war unit...but you can call my Dibs or Dibby..I prefer those names rather.

I will be providing close in support and protect for your assignment out here..we are near base Orion, I believe it is about 2 miles further west...even I have not been able to establish communication with any Cybred in this area or the base it self...we should head their straight away...if you don't feel like walking..you could always hitch a ride on me."

-The Cybred explained as it kept tilting its head left to right much like a curious creature would. He spoke like English was normal for him, other machines you could hear it in a more artificial way but Dibs spoke it fluently and perfect rhythm.-

Darken listened to the monolith war-machine's information regarding the operation, and relieved, having received confirmation that the Cybred was indeed friendly. He was also doubly glad to become better acquainted with the situation, and where he would be going. 

It seemed that base Orion, one of the more under-wraps locations in the G.U.N database, was actually much closer than he'd thought. And despite having been told that the base was the destination in the briefing, he was now rather anxious to visit it. After all, the technology there far surpassed most of the machinery he'd been exposed to in the labs back at home-base. 

Communication had been lost with Orion, and it DBL-813, or Dibs as it preferred, confirmed that by stating communication with the Cybreds in the area had been lost. The worst that Darken could think of was an Empire attack, but by simply looking at Dibs, he found it hard to believe that anything short of a nuclear war would flush out a base guarded by the metallic behemoths.


"Dibs is it? Yes, I was told I'd be receiving some combat support in this mission, if I needed it. And judging by the superb weaponry you've got, I'd say I'm going to need it indeed. A lift would be much appreciated."

The fox continued to be amazed by the Robot's professional English, and was still a little thrown back by the fact that he'd sought to destroy this very Cybred not long ago.


"So, do you know anything about what happened before the communications black-out? Or have you at least seen anything that might indicate danger, Dibs?"

It was likely just an electrical fault at the base, but out here in the middle of apparently nowhere, Empire forces could very well have infiltrated it and the place could be teeming with robots that shouldn't be there. Which, Darken guessed, was why Dibs was there. 

"Oh, and I meant to ask you Dibs, where'd you learn to speak English so well? You don't exactly have the android accent."


Perhaps, with a little modification, the fox would be able to give his own creations a functioning voice-box that bypassed the unpleasant mechanical tone present in the voices of so many other robots.

-Even dibs with its vast array of radar cover, communication systems and sensory suite's couldn't even get a signal through then you knew something was a miss especially for a complex that had a manned staff at it to monitor operational Cybreds in the area, even this confused dibs as he should of been able to at least link to one of them...-

"Yes G.U.N didn't want to give away my position as you never quite know who may be listening in on the other side...I was not sure how you would react to me suddenly emerging from the horizon..but I will admit you are rather brave to not run from a Cybred...given our nature and weapons we have...most simply don't bother letting one get this close....and sure."

-Dibs advance gyro and state of the art leg actuator system allowed him to drop down to such a level that Darken himself could pull himself onto either the gun pods or the central chassis of Dibs if he so decided.-

"G.U.N had been getting small reports from Orion tactical control that power fluxes were happening more regularly then they would look, to top it all off strange network traffic was coming in and out of the base, the code was not conventional but it seemed to pass through the security with out to much of a trouble. Then, then there was a complete black out from the base...no communication what so ever, even Harbinger the central AI that controls the entire cybred command element could establish a link...what ever happened...must of been something drastic.

Tho I am not apart of G.U.N any more they needed my help as I could easily blend in the area with other Cybreds, yet...after three days I have not encountered a single one..they are suppose to be guarding this entire region..but non have been sighted, that is all I have to go on...we need to get to the base and figure out what happened.


-Darken then asked about how Dibs could speak so well for what he was. Dibs didn't quite know himself but he gave a shot to explain.-

"Well you see Darken, I was the original Cybred..the prototype created, after being built I was visited and met by many beings, both human and Mobian..and given my learning AI I simply watched and learnt..my long time exposure sped up my development as I had certain individuals who would "take care of me" in sense, basically maintenance staff, so they talked to me knowing I could listen..but I could never speak back.

When the crisis unfolded and your team was sent to hunt me down I guess you could say..desperation changed something in my system..the...what is it they called it...ghost in the machine ? A force that lurks inside that some times does thing it was not designed to do..so I some how gained the ability to speak during this dire circumstance, and fluently mastered it as best I could...They wanted to scrap me because they believed I was unpredictable..that I hope that more or less answers it."

-Once on board Dibs began to slowly accelerate, reaching his top speed of 75kph pretty impression for a machine that weighed in at 160 metric tons, and soon they were off, the advance stabilizing artificial muscle that simulated real muscle made sure Darkens ride was pretty smooth.-  

"What is it you do at G.U.N Darken ?" 

Darken could understand that, there were likely hundreds of spies within G.U.N despite any amount of security they could put in, and a secret like dDibs would be very useful information in the wrong hands. And there were so many anti-G.U.N factions and not to mention the Empire, that only needed a foothold to throw a wrench in the works.


"It wasn't that I was brave Dibs, I just figured that if you were here to destroy me, you would have done so regardless of what I'd do, that's all."

The fox then climbed onto the war-machine, allowing himself a better view of the surrounding desert. He was quite surprised by how well the robot's legs could lower to such a level, and yet still stably support Dibs' weight. 

The situation at Orion base was sounding more and more suspicious, the more that Dibs talked. If the Power fluxes or increased network traffic had occurred without the other, even at a not-so-undercover base, they would have been treated as suspicious, but with Orion being what it was, having both happen at once, and then the complete blackout... It was a wonder that G.U.N hadn't sent more people out. But then again, they were probably trying to keep it all quiet, just as they usually did with their mistakes.

"Considering it's an A.I. I just hope it hasn't developed a bug that's too serious. I'm sure you would know what that sort of thing could do. And even if there isn't, they might have simply recalled all of the Cybreds until they could solve the problem, I mean, if the bug effected Harbringer, then they would try to make sure that nothing too problematic happened with them."

And Dibs had indeed answered his question, but it wasn't exactly what he was hoping for.

"So, I wouldn't be able to program something to speak as well as you do? That's quite a shame."

Cybreds were certainly capable of moving at incredible speeds, but perhaps it was just Dibs, after all. His capacities had been changed by the 'ghost in the machine' but at the same time, it might just be a mental-or at least software- change, instead of physical change. 

"What do I do? I'm in the technical and research division. I help design new technology and upgrade mechanical parts and the likes, but sometimes I get sent along on missions like these for some tactical support." 

"That is true to be honest, our weaponry range is several kilometers, coupled with our advance fire control system we can hit fairly accurate even when on the move, tho I'm guessing you glad I found you first and not another Cybred."

-The ride would be fairly comfortable as the advance articulation of Dibs actuators meant his legs could conform and bend to terrain as a living beings legs would in real life, making passing over some rough terrain easy..far easier then standard tracked vehicles.-

"Yes I am not sure myself, if it is a bug or glitch it must be serious enough on it self that they had to recall every Cybred in the area, If Harbinger had a issue they would have to shut off the entire Cybred command element to fix it, that means the entire Cybred force must be switch off as the A.I more or less has full control over them, issuing commands and so forth...I hope that is not the case."

-Dibs noted Darken didn't quite get the answer he was hoping until Dibs realized he actually forget to answer that part of the question.-

"Oh? Yes you could actually, it would be straight forward, tho it would mean I need to accompany you back to where it is you are working so you could directly download the speech code system inside my central unit..after that you may need to make changes but it should be able to work for what ever it is you have planned."

-Darken was part of the same division of those who he originally spent some much time with during his first days at base Omicron, so Dibs was glad to hear he hailed from the same one, perhaps the two could work together more often.-

"That is interesting, during my first days I spent a lot of time with that division, they kept me in working order and made sure I was primed and ready for my first trial, to bad I never saw some of them again..but if you need any help with tech you might want I could try and help out you know."

-Dibs slowly started to slow down to walking pace and then coming to a full stop with one last metal thud of his foot, Dibs's large gyro torso slowly swiveled left to right, the sound of machinery at work as he moved his large torso...it seemed he spotted something.-

"Picking up something...It's a Cybred....there in the distance..you can barely see it moving from left to right...ID confirmed as Talon, height 5.1 meters, weight 124 metric tons, speed 140kph , weapon hard points 2. Its a scout Cybred, moving at stop speed....trying to communicate now."

-Darken could here like binary code going off inside of Dibs, this must be the kind of machine code they use to speak to one another.- 

"Oh...that is not good...the Talon didn't recognize me, noted me as "Unknown vehicle" and now seems to be withdrawing from the area..I can't chase after it, that scout Cybred moves over double my speed...we must proceed with caution...the base is in the distance 2 kilometers and closing"

-Dibs accelerated back to full speed heading for the base, the Talons behavior was odd, instead of acting friendly or hostile..it seemed to run away...Dibs couldn't understand but headed for the base regardless.-

He was indeed very grateful that it had been Dibs to find him first, especially given the fact that any other Cybred would have been out of line, rebelling against a likely order, and definitely catastrophically dangerous. 

The ride itself was rather smooth, with Dibs' gyrating legs able to simulate human movement, and creating a comfortable experience, rather than a painful, robotic exterior ride. Yet another marvel of engineering showing off the genius behind the Cybred's engineering. 

And once again, Dibs was right, if the entire Cybred force was out of action, then Orion base would be left completely open to further sabotage, and any sort of attacks that anti-government organisations could think of. The information held within that base could likely mean the balance of any future wars, especially considering the raw strength of the Cybreds.

And as appealing as the offer was, Darken was unsure of how to answer, while he might be able to download the software, it would be like trying to download a Brain. And it seemed that the 'ghost in the machine' had changed Dibs' hardware to behave like a brain. From what the fox had learned in his searches through genetic cloning in the G.U.N database, and only stopping after reaching a highly encrypted document labelled, 'Replican47b', it appeared that attempting to duplicate a brain caused permanent damage to the original.


"Is that right? While I personally never worked in developing the Cybreds, It could be likely that some of my research made its way into the design. You see it's sort of a community thing, any work that I do can be accessed freely by other researchers, and vice versa. As for your offer for the code, I believe that it could be quite risky, but I'm game to look into it. And yes, I would very much like to work more closely with you in developing new technology."

Then Dibs mentioned another mech, a bit far off in the distance, but visible no less. It was only after he'd mentioned it that the fox saw it. Talon, it was called. And by the looks of it, it was trying to escape something. Only after it'd heard from Dibs did it try to leave, and it was suspicious that it should even be out here in the first place. According to the standing theory, there shouldn't be any Cybreds outside of the base. 

"You said that the base is 2 kilometers away? Meaning that Talon is within that distance. You also said before that your weapons can fire accurately much further than the base. Would it be wise to take offensive action?"

-If this was under any other means, Dibs probably wouldn't of been able to allow access to his code, because of Cybreds being designed with extremely encrypted systems, that not even G.U.N was allowed to tamper with, only Vektor engineering, tho ones who built the Cybreds were allowed to access,

 well that an Harbinger itself could do that as well, however since Dibs code was altered to a more free will state, he could over ride the system and allow Darken full access to his programming.

Although some may view working with a towering machine of pure destruction as a little odd given how it could pose a serious threat just in on it self.

After spotting the lone Cybred out in the open that was now actively withdrawing from the area at top speed, Dibs could of very well fired upon it and more or less either damaged it or destroyed it out right, but he refused to fire on another of his own kind unless it was indeed hostile.-

"I can't fire on one of my own unless it is hostile, for all intended purpose its just doing its job..reconing an reporting, scouts only engage if they are in a lance of 3-4 of them..it is probably a lone sentry doing daily recon duties in the perimeter...I say we press on..the base is just up ahead."

-Dibs once more accelerated to full speed, head for the complex, the complex was not a single building it was more of a base with structures here an there, a depot, main hanger, control station and rearm and repair stations. Dibs slowed down to walking speed upon entering the base, his large gyro stabilized torso swinging slowly to left then right inspecting the area.-

"Sweep finished...no signs of any thing out of the ordinary...tho the hanger is empty..no Cybreds in dock....oh..wait...the command station...its been blown clean open...some one was here.."

-Dibs moved forward to the command station, looks like some one had breached it and entered the command station..Dibs was to large to enter and those lowered himself to allow Darken to enter the command station.- 

"Who ever did this had some hefty explosives to blow it open..I need you to go inside and have a look..with any luck we can find terminals with that we can figure out what happened here..don't worry there is no living readings coming from with in the complex...possibly non...I will stand guard as you do." 

-Something had happened, perhaps a raid ? Some one attempting to destabilize the region..terrorists ?-

The lingering idea of a Cybred out there other than dibs caused the fox to be on edge, it was entirely uncomfortable to think that there were Robots single-handedly capable of dealing out mass destruction running around in the desert with only himself and Dibs. But, the Dibs was right, there was no outright evidence that the other robot had been hostile, however the theory that it would've been defying orders was still there at he back of his mind.

With only a couple of kilometres ahead of them, Dibs powered through the scorched land, and the base became visible in minutes. It wasn't a singular building with a few smaller ones like Darken had imagined, but instead it had large buildings accompanying it, each with it's own important and unique purpose, but there was still a main building nonetheless.

The fox held on as the robot spun slowly to the left and right in turn, inspecting the base, and as it did, He saw what could be the command station, with only one difference, it was ripped wide open by some sort of extreme force. And that was only confirmed by Dibs' own comment on the matter.

With a quick moment of movement, the pair stood before the command station, and right in-front of the breach. The rather friendly robot was too big to enter, but the fox was small enough to do so, and he was lowered to a height were he could. 

"Jesus Dibs, are you sure about this. I mean, look at the damage around this hole. It had to have been something fiercely strong, given the tensile strength of this metal, and not to mention the rough impact points... And you said there are no Cybreds in the base, how many are there?"

He looked down the hallway and into the dark, unlit abyss of the station. It was not welcoming, and the outside breeze only made it worse. 

"I need to tell you someth-" he began, but decided it would be best if he didn't "I need you to be very careful. Some serious stuff could go down in there, obviously whoever did this needed something, and could very well still be here. Just make sure only to fire upon internal hostiles when I give the signal Ok?"

Given the nature of any situation that could occur within the complex that would warrant a battle, it would be very likely that Dibs wouldn't consider him a 'friendly' and it would also be possible that he wouldn't see Dibs as one either. Darken wanted to keep any brawling as far away from the robot as possible, If any were to occur. 

The fox gave one last glance to Dibs, and then began walking into the darkness, retrieving the torch from his equipment kit and lighting the way.

-Indeed the base was utterly deserted, there were in fact no remains of any crew personal, no indication of a fire right or any thing, it almost looks like the entire complex was more or less abandon. Why it was well that was still unclear. However it did look rather dicey finding no one at all other then a large hole blasted into the control station. 

Darken seemed to be nervous which by all means he should be, out in the middle of no where, a abandon Cybred base with a god knows what else in the area and the only thing to protect him was a Cybred, just one however.

"I'm certain of it, according to scanners there are no life readings inside the complex, its not that big you should be able to find your way to the main control room, but yes who ever blew this open was packing on ordinance...maybe even captured Cybred weapons, or just a lot of explosives....Base Orion was just one of a few in the area, the base was responsible for the upkeep and deployment of a full company, we looking at 12 Cybreds in total ranging in different sizes and class.


I understand, I will just be around inspecting other parts of the complex, however if you have a radio, set IFF frequency to 813-1 that is my communication IFF, I can talk to you directly through it while inside...stay in contact...I am going ahead to inspect the rest."

After off loading the fox into the control station and understand he needs to be on guard to check the local perimeter Dibs didn't wander to far off, in fact even inside the complex Darken could hear the metal and robotic thuds of Dibs leg system with each step. 

Dibs began to scan every thing upon walking near it, but all matches came up negative, nothing seemed out of the ordinary tho except one thing, the local stash of spare parts, for repairing or swapping weapons out on Cybreds was...missing, the hanger was open, but it didn't look like a force breach, some one gained access to it.

Dibs then preceded onward to the large holding hanger, upon entering the dib ceiling lights flickered to light showed a large metal indoor hanger with bays and gantry ways in them. Not a single Cybred was inside of them, this was grave news as at least 2-3 would still be in holding.  

"Darken...the main Cybred hanger is completely empty, not a single Cybred is inside which is not normal for standard operation, usually 2-3 would be shut down for maintenance via ground crew, also the spare parts and weapons depot seemed to have been cleared out, not much to take but it is gone...How is it going inside the command complex ?"

-As Darken navigated the complex, he would eventually stumble into the right area, a typical lay out for said control room with a large monitor at the front and computers in the back ground, the central screen was still working, however all but one of the terminals had been destroyed..possible sabotage, from this entry point he could delve into the history, day to day running, live security feed of the complex and direct access to the radar town out side.-

There was no-one in sight, no remains of any kind either of organic crew-members or robotic personal. The strangest part about it was that there was no evidence of a fight of any kind, the only tell-tale sign of a struggle was the hole in the wall behind him, and even then, the darkness within the structure swallowed up the memory of that quickly.

The site was abandoned by all means, but with this base being so under wraps, it was absolutely bewildering that it should be so. It was louder at the nearly empty briefing building back at HQ, at least they had the feint buzz of cheap lighting, here there was nothing but the wind whistling in the distance. 

"How can you lose 12 Cybreds? I mean, it's not like they can just hide in the closet."

The fox didn't say it to anyone in particular, but it was audible, and seemed to echo around the room he was in. And as he said it, he tuned the radio transmitter to 813-1 as instructed, and he got the sneaking suspicion that he would need it.

After moving through multiple rooms and dark hallways, Darken made his way into the standard Control room, which was what he was looking for, and hoping for.

But his relief was only for a fleeting moment, as all but one of the terminals were broken, and the one that survived was almost certainly unlikely to contain any information as to the destruction of the place. And the Central screen was flickering but still active.

As he moved over to the terminal, the fox was shocked to learn that it still had some security footage and records of site protocols. Without reading them, he removed a drive from the equipment pack and inserted it into the port of the machine. Not only would the security footage be needed by the head back home, any remnants of research information that could be on here might be useful in his own studies. Not to mention, they could have information on some of the even more undercover projects like their cloning programs. Or hints as to an Agent base somewhere.

After the transfer of the data was complete, he received a transmission from Dibs, and began his own reply through the radio.

"Christ Dibs, I don't want to stay here any longer than we need to. I've found the control room, and everything is trashed. If the Cybreds are gone, then we need to report this to HQ Immediately."

After the transmission, the fox opened up the Video feed on the console to see if the cameras had picked it up, and what exactly happened within the last 48 hours.

-Terminal access gave Darken information about every thing to do with the complex, stats on mission performance, high scale radar detection, memory logs, information drives and surveillance footage, which is what Darken seem to go for. 

Footage took him back to 10 minutes before the event could happen, the feed shows in that the base was running normal, ground personal were all over the place going about their jobs while in the back ground some Cybreds were being maintained, weapon changes and just general down time in the near distance two Cybreds could be seen on patrol on the outskirts..as time ticked on, Darken began to see that personal started to flee from the ground area for unknown reasons, shortly after Cybreds began to  break free from their holding and move in force from complex, exiting the base from the north, after the Cybreds left the base the ground personal began to load the warehouses fully of equipment onto trucks and as well flee the area, but in a totally different direction, after which camera feed was lost entirely. 

Back out side Dibs continued to roam the empty area, the massive metal thuds combined with sounds of robotic pieces moving were about the only thing making noise in this desolate of places. Dibs by now had investigated every thing possible and there was not much else to go on with.

Darken wanted to send a message post haste to G.U.N command HQ, unfortunately Dibs had bad news for him.- 

"Darken, we can't the communication array looks to be severely damaged, no transmission is coming in or getting out I am afraid,I would suggest that we --"

-Dibs stopped speaking, usually when he did this something caught his attention and it most certainly did, turning his torso to the west Dibs picked up something approaching fast.- 

"Darken...we have something closing in from the west...approaching fast....ID confirmed, its the Talon again, it's not breaking off this time its coming directly this way and...hold up! Second contact on radar also approaching in from the west...getting a reading stand by.....ID confirmed...Headhunter...Height :8.9 meters, weight 177 metric tons, speed 65 kph, weapon load out: 8.

Darken that is one of the newest and most powerful Cybrid assault classes on the field, its heading for the base along side the Talon...use the radar controls to transmitted base IFF code to in comming Cybreds, IFF should be on the screen...if the IFF code comes back positive they are friend, if negative...we may have to flee the base as soon as possible."

-While Dibs in his own right was a assault class Cybred, the Headhunter was a much newer design, more heavily armored and a more advance shield system, dibs would not last in a straight up fight, tho he moved to stand guard over the control station, hoping that these were friendly and not hostile.-

The grey fox stood inside the control room, noting that the climate control had been turned off, and the room was similar to an oven as there was nowhere for all the hot air to go. 

He watched the footage with eyebrows furrowed in curiosity, whatever had happened was some serious shit. The Cybreds were all obviously acting of their own accord, at least judging by the personal's reaction. But the strange part about what he saw was that the Cybreds weren't attacking, or even preventing the people from escaping, which would have been typical of sabotage or a terrorist attack. But the instead, the robots themselves were fleeing, and not in any hurry either, they marched out of the complex, all heading in one direction. 

It could be an attempt at stealing the technology, but if whoever did this was capable of moving the Cybreds away from the base, why didn't they kill the personal? And even if they were stealing tech, there weren't exactly hoards of people capable of such a feat, and those that are, likely already have these kinds of machines doing their bidding...

So many thoughts ran through Darken's head, and he was about to tell Dibs what he'd seen in the footage, but was interrupted by the Cybreds own reply, which then stretched into something much more sinister.

Another mech was heading in the direction of the base, the same one from before. To make matters worse, there was another one accompanying it, a Headhunter no less. According to Dibs it was the most advanced Cybred so far, and was likely better suited for Combat than scouting. 

He head the robot say that they were waiting for an IFF, but the fox was already on edge, and after watching the footage, he figured that whatever the Cybreds were here for, it definitely wasn't to ask if they needed refreshments.

"Dibs, I've watched some of the footage from the base's surveillance system. They simply up and left, and the people posted here, working on mechanics and guarding the station all hightailed out of here. You said so yourself, whoever blew the hole in the side of this building could've had stolen Cybred Tech, and the ones that were positioned here damn well look like they were stolen."

Darken's hand buzzed across the terminal keyboard, searching for confirmation of his theory that Headhunter and Talon were indeed positioned at Orion.

-If indeed some one manage to hack in and take control of the Cybreds in the are, they could very facing a extremely dangerous situation with a untold amount of Cybreds now on the loose and potentially extremely dangerous to any one or thing.

Dibs got the transmission from Darken about the footage he had uncovered at the base, the behavior was extremely strange, for them to suddenly just leave the complex in droves as described, something else or some one must of set this in motion. If beings had stolen Cybred tech the results could be devastating if it reached the wrong hands.

However to the problem at hand, the two unknown Cybreds were still approaching the complex, moments went by waiting to figure out if the IFF code was indeed confirmed or were they simply ignoring it hoping to close in for the kill.
 
The sound of slight tremors could be heard as the rumbling of distant foot steps could be heard approaching a soul breaking sound to know that death on two legs were making its way in their general direction, regardless Dibs stood stong and in defensive position, at they very least he could buy time for Darken to escape the base with the information.

Seconds felt like minutes as the Cybreds continued to close with out as much as a response, the quietness followed by the distant rumbling of metal feet approaching was rather un settling, Darken could only imagine how a fully company of these approaching would be enough in on it self to make most opposition re think there choice about wanting to cause war rather effectively. 

Darken's search would not be in vein as he stumbled across the base logistic and stats information, finding details of the cybred positioned at the base at the time. The list was as follows.

Scout/ medium Cybreds
1 Talon
3 Enforcers
1 Scorpion

Heavy/assault
2 Hyperion
2 Myrmidon
1 Head hunter
1 Diablo
1 Torjan

The base seem to have a mixture of all types but the records did indicate that the Talon and Headhunter were present at the base but were noted to be on perimeter patrol when the incident happen.

What was even more tense was that the incoming Cybreds were now busy transmitting their IFF back to them, several seconds passed and a surprising turn of events the IFF came back positive...they were friendly, the yellow icons on the radar changed to green to signify they were not hostile, this also would be picked up Dibs.-

"Darken...they are friendly..no need to worry, they just returning back to base, although they are wanting to know who we are."

-Moments later the 2 Cybreds, led by the Talon and behind it the Head hunter entered back into the base there large metal feet coming to a thudding stop in the complex just before Dibs himself, the three seemed to be communicating to each other via binary code.- 

"Darken, its safe to come out now, they have no intention to harm us, The headhunter mentioned they were on patrol when a sudden powerful signal hit the base and blacked out most of the systems, after it finished the patrol Cybreds lost all contact with those inside the base, they said they ventured north to a small town and attacked it, the two kept their distance and decided to return here to see if they could send a message, but were hesitant when we showed up."

The fox felt tremors rumble through the building, causing him to sway as he read the contents of the system files. Indeed, Talon and Head Hunter had been positioned at the base at the time of the strange event, only mounting on the suspicion coursing through Darken's body. 

The pounding grew louder and stronger, and as it did, the terminal cut out to static, perhaps finally giving up, or maybe it was due to the extreme seismic interference. Either way, his reasoning brought him to believe that the two Cybreds were hostile, and the thumps were a warning as to an approaching enemy. Darken was understandably on edge.

He braced himself for an attack, and his fingers gripped the console tightly to the point of the knuckles turning white. But then Dibs sent through a transmission, the Cybreds were friendly, at least according to Dibs. The fox was suspicious, but offered them the benefit of the doubt and made his journey back to them.

"Dibs, I don't like this, even if they say they don't want to hurt us. And if the Cybreds opened fire on a civilian establishment, how can we know that Talon and Head-Hunter aren't part of some ploy? I'm coming, but I'm not comfortable about this..."

After a long walk through the dark, ruined, dust-filled rooms, the fox found himself at the blast-hole with which he had entered the building.

-Darken had every right to feel that way, Dibs himself still had some doubt but the IFF was confirmed to be friendly, if they were indeed hostile typical Cybred behavior we be fire on sight, this may be a ploy but opening explaining what happened and their reason for returning to base seemed plausible, they could very well be just forward heavy scouts.

The three Cybreds continue to converse among one another waiting for Darken to emerged from the damaged building, Dibs was still on guard, should the Cybreds suddenly attack him Dibs would make sure to defend him at all costs. 

The base terminals had finally all but collapsed, the information lost forever in the dying computers of the complex, Darken would eventually quite literally see the light as exciting from the complex.

Before him stood 3 Cybreds, Dibs, The smaller Talon and the bulky Head Hunter, all three were looking at him for several moments before Dibs began to talk.- 

"Welcome back Darken, now I understand your concerns and even I mentioned them to the Cybreds themself, they assure me they are not hostile, mainly a few who were not effected by whatever hit the base. They make it seem like it was some kind of Virus that only effected the Cybreds at the base, it changed their IFF code and systems to become hostile to life and any thing supporting them, this does explain why the base personal fled so quickly they must of realized what was about to happen. 

The Talon reports that it thought we were hostiles at first and tried to break off and avoid being shot at, went to go get help from the Head hunter to return to the base to retake it, says its been trying to contact G.U.N for help but has been un able to. 

"The head hunter states that the hostile Cybreds are still in the area, what number of them are, are yet undetermined but-"

-Suddenly the Talon Cybred began to act sporadically, quickly shifting its torso to the north and looking in that general direction, mass binary code communications were heard transmitting from it as Dibs deciphered and translated for Darken.- 

"Oh this is not good Darken, the Talon is picking up 2 Assault class Myrmidon Cybreds approaching from the north, Talon says they were part of the force that attacked the town, says they are hostile and must be returning to base, It also says extended range radar picks up 4 more Cybreds in the area....Looks like we are in for a fight. We can either with draw now or stand and fight...I personally say we fight, leaving a near full company of rogue cybreds could be disastrous. 

Darken there is the fire control station across the base, it is responsible for the defense turrets and batteries we going to need you to man them to help us as the odds are heavily stacked, you could even those odds for us."  

The Fox would not be able to go back to the terminals, as they had all given up, and the room itself had followed suite, collapsing in on itself and burying the command room in dust-covered debris. 

The Outside Light was blinding compared to the all-encompassing darkness of the inside of the facility, and it took a moment for Darken's eyes to adjust. When they did, three Cybreds stood before him, one of which was Dibs, but the other two were unfamiliar to him. It only made sense they were Talon and Head Hunter, but at first glance, Darken jumped back in fright, not expecting to see them in such close proximity.

He Listened to Dibs's explanation of the situation, and nodded as he looked the two other mechs up and down, Talon was indeed a smaller model than even Dibs, but Head Hunter was a Goliath in comparison, he'd only seen mechs of a that size once before, and that was a long time ago.

Then Dibs was interrupted by a spasm of automated movement from Talon, causing Darken to brace himself for an attack, but was relieved when none came, and instead he heard a broadcast coming from it's transmitter.

While Talon's reaction was much better than what the fox had assumed, it wasn't all good news, and Dibs had to deliver it to him. 2 of the heavier Cybreds were en route to the base, and definitely not friendly. Apparently there were another 4 of them around, but that still left 4 of the monolith mechs unaccounted for.

Darken felt a cold sweat begin to wash over him, his feet feeling uncomfortable in the armoured shoes he'd been provided as part of his uniform. 


"Jesus Christ Dibs. You're not serious right? From what I've gathered, there are still 4 other Cybreds that we have no idea of the location of, and there are 6 of them converging on the base as we speak. And you want to fight?"

Flashes came back to him of Shamar, there had been lives lost that day, and if not for some third-party intervention, there would have been a lot more. But three cybreds and the entirety of Orion Base full of next-level Weaponry, with only one person to operate it all, against 6 and possibly 10 other Cybreds? That was by all means Suicide in Darken's mind.

Not that he'd ever been afraid of Suicide.


"Ok, if you say we should fight, I'm all for it. I don't really have anything to lose, besides some folks back at home, but they can look after themselves."

Darken began a run through the heat of the abandoned base, moving towards the Fire Control station, and preparing himself for any hell that was going to be unleashed by the oncoming Cybreds, by the sounds of things, they were a lot worse than the Empire drones he'd faced in Shamar.

-Indeed they were friendly, this was no trick or underhanded move, these two seemed to be the only loyal surviving Cybreds in the area, the rest seemed to be hostile as the false return IFF signal deemed some one else or something else was controlling them, having clear intentions to wipe them out, probably didn't want any witnesses.

It was going to be up to them 4 to hold out against the on coming Cybred assault, thankfully the enemy force was not attacking as one cohesive force, rather fragments were coming towards the base, in pairs of 2 or 4, this would allow them to engage and destroy before the second force arrives, should they take longer, they would be over whelmed. 

Dibs could tell Draken had a bad feeling about this so did Dibs but he knew if left alone the machines would destroy more and more, they had to destroy them, a proper G.U.N response could take days if not weeks to destroy them, they had a chance now to take them out. 

"Unfortunately I am, if we withdraw that means a near full company of Cybreds going rampant across the planet, and with that kinda firepower entire towns will burn, thankfully they don't seem very co-ordinated, attacking in small pairs..if we engage right we can come out on top.


Do no fear Darken..I have a plan to defeat overwhelming odds, I used it against the empires machines to great effect...we will be leaving here alive in one piece..they will not."

-As Darken headed for the fire control station Dibs took charge, he had the Head hunter move to the east while Dibs moved west, the Talon began to flank wide, activating its advance electronic counter measure system, hampering enemy radar and targeting.

In the bunker Darken, found that majority of the turrets were still functional, they were class 5 point defense turrets, feared with lasers and long range missile launchers, Darken had two options to use, he could use the manual system to fire at targets he wished or leave it automated for turrets to track their own, less reliable but it meant multiple targeting.

Back out side, the land was quiet, nothing but the distant rumble of mechanized legs in the far distance, their outline warping in the heat of the desert, Dibs and the Head hunter kept watch, the first two Cybreds were nearly in firing range.

"Darken this is Dibs, the pair of Myrmidon Cybreds are nearly with in fire range, we going to need your help to weaken the shields with the firepower you have, it shouldn't be to much of a issue, once the shields are down it becomes a lot easier to destroy them. 


Watch your fire the Talon will be darting and distracting the cybreds when the battle starts...so watch the weapons fire...enemy nearly in range."

-The seconds felt like minutes as on the small targeting radar Darken could see the two red blips every so slightly getting into range...then..the fire control system locks on, he was in range to fire.-

"FIRE AT WILL!"

-Both Dibs and the Head hunter suddenly unloaded with thunderous roars from their weapons, Gigwatt particle lasers, long range missiles, auto cannons, plasma cannons and more were unleashed, of course their firepower was answered and returned with the enemies own fire power, as powerful weapons fired came screaming back, smashing into the base and impacting upon the shields of the friendly Cybreds.

The battle had begun.-

With the idea of an entire town reduced to rubble still settling in on him, and the possibility of more happening if they fail seeming easier to understand, the fox stared directly ahead as his armoured feet pounded the concrete and barren ground beneath them.

The further away from Dibs and the other Cybreds, the louder the pounding of his feet grew, but then he realised it wasn't his own legs making the sound, it was coming from afar off, the other robots. Dibs was right, the enemy was uncoordinated, the seismic tremors were coming in at different strengths and origins, at least according to the sensor that GUN had provided him with.

Darken finally reached the weapons control bunker, and discovered the centre to be filled with information panels about the various weaponry and defence systems littering the compound, the most notable of which were the defence turrets, all equipped with either Laser weaponry, or LRMs. In an instant, he knew what he had to do, and set all of the turrets to Auto-fire, except for one, which he chose to pilot himself.

"Dibs, I've set the base to auto-fire, it should be firing upon the other Cybreds as soon as they are within range."

Then Dibs gave him an update on the situation, the first group was getting closer, much closer in fact, and would soon be upon them, he needed to act fast. He leapt out of the control building and began a climb up the side of the bunker along a ladder to the Turret that was affixed to the top of the building. He watched carefully as his hands gripped each rung, and was grateful for the rough surface of the gloves, allowing for more friction.

Darken reached the cockpit of the turret, and immediately flung himself into the seat, clenching his fist around the controls and furiously punching away at the panel in front of him, focusing the firing parameters before causing any damage. 

With his height advantage, the assaulting Cybreds came into view, black silhouettes on the horizon, warped into a mirage by the blistering heat of the sun. They also appeared on the very edge of the targeting radar within the turret.

A high-pitched beeping alerted him to the turret's auto-lock on the Myrmidons, and Dibs gave the command.

All at once, the base's defences fired, almost as if by Dib's command, and the roaring thunder of the explosives echoed not only from their origin, but their impact. It was as if the entire base itself was standing up to fight against the Rogue Cybreds, not to mention Dibs, Talon and Head Hunter, who were also releasing their own ordinance in a constant stream of fire.

It took less than a second, but it felt like hours until the enemy had returned fire. Large wads off the parched earth were heaved out of the ground and sent flying towards the base, few ever making their way in. Bubbles of focused plasma washed across the outer perimeter of the base, and stray bullets occasionally whizzed past the reinforced cockpit. 

Darken pulled back on the controls and let his own rockets go, hopefully better aimed than the rest of the base's missiles, and he watched as they impacted the ground near the assaulting Cybreds, accompanied by an explosion along with the sound of shredding metal.

The fox shouted to himself in assumed success, but was cut short by the realisation that it was not a successful shot that had produced the noise, but it was instead the sound of a nearby Defence Turret being blown clean off its support by a well-aimed missile.

"How are things looking down there Dibs?" 

Darken began lining up another shot with the LRM as a luckily short-lived laser nearly cut through the defence strut he was sitting atop of.

-Heavy weapons fire was exchanged between both sides, Darken could now get a sense of the sheer devastation that these things could bring to bare, and this was just a mere hand full of them fighting it out across the desert plains. 

Cybreds on both sides were taking shots but shields were holding for now at least, Dibs was busy engaging the myrmidon on the left while the Headhunter was dealing with the Myrmidon to the right, it was game of who could drop the shields the fastest then deliver a volley to kill the target.

Once in range the automated turrets opened fire as missiles went corkscrewing towards the incoming machines, the warheads making mostly contact with the oncoming enemy Cybreds drastically tipping the scale in the favor of them, their shields began to buckle. 

The enemy Cybreds soon realizing the base defenses were indeed active they began to return fire at the automated turrets smashes two apart with mere short exchanges of their own weapon fire. 

Darkens own salvo finally dropped the shield of the first myrmidon, giving a opening for Dibs to deliver a blow and thus he did, Dibs targeted the central cone pod and discharged all 4 particle laser cannons smashing into it, blowing the torso of the first myrmidon clear off its legs, leaving the pair standing.

With one down Dibs moved to engage the second Myrmidon along with the automated turrets and Darkens help.- 

"Good work Darken! one Myrmidon down we will clean up the last one, make sure the turrets are loaded for the second attack. Sensors indicate 4 more Cybreds approaching from the east, looks like 3 enforcer medium Cybreds and one light Scorpion class, The Talon is moving ahead to delay and harass them to buy you time to get ready, fights far from over!" 

-The combined firepower of Dibs and the Headhunter over whelmed the second Myrmidon and landed a second killing blow, knocking the machine down onto the ground with a critical blow to the reactor. 

The base had suffered damage, two turrets were destroyed by the grid was holding, Dibs and the headhunts shields had been affected by the fight and were hoping the Talon could harass them long enough for the turrets to rearm and for the Cybreds shields to replenish.- 

"Talon reports that hostiles are moving in quickly, I think they may be making a bee line for the power grid, if we loose that the turret defense system will go down..we will move to defend."

-The two lumbering machines began to re position towards the power grid, they couldn't let it fall, standing guard the base and its defenders prepared for the second wave. Unknown of what was still to come.-

The Utter Destruction being Unleashed by the Cybreds down below made them out to be more mechanical monstrosities than anything else on the good Earth. Considering the actual lack of civilian Collateral damage in this fight, he didn't want to imaging what had happened a few hours ago at the town Dibs had mentioned. 

One more of the original 12 Turrets were blasted off their bases, leaving only 10 around the entirety of Orion Base, and only 9 chances to cheat death. Which the Cybreds seemed so well equipped to dish out like a bartender at the bar, delivering wanton destruction as they moved through the battlefield.

The small grey fox's ordinance had indeed effected the Myrmidon Cybred, and damaged it's energy shields to the point of leaving it without any effective blast protection, and it was dispatched almost instantly by Dibs and the Headhunter in a display of brutal fury and weaponry.

He began prepping to fire again on the second Myrmidon, but was instructed otherwise by Dibs, who took the Cybred down easily with the Help of the Headhunter, Demolishing both of the enemy Cybreds in mere seconds. But even in the short span of time that had been the first and surely the shortest fight of the battle, the Bases Defence systems had suffered losses.

The loud mechanical Whirring, clunking and buzzing of the Turret above him reloading did little to drown out the earth-rumbling sound of the Cybreds moving around the base, preparing for the next wave of warmongering, corrupted mechs. 

The Enemy had already figured out that the biggest threat, if ignored, was the Turrets, and had devised a plan to end that problem. Destroying the power grid. They couldn't let that happen, there was no way that two Cybreds alone would be able to fend off the 8 rogue war machines on the loose, at least not without a bit of backup support.

The Whirring and Clunking had stopped, replaced by a low rumbling noise, at first the rumbling was that of the machine, mechanics constantly moving so as to prevent seizures. But as it grew louder, it became the sound of Cybreds lumbering towards the base.

The last of the Turrets reloaded and Darken grabbed the radio transmitter.

"We're all clear, loaded and ready to fire!"