An unprecedented event was happening right before everyone's eyes. The United States of America was under a full-scale invasion. The Chinese government had to have been planning it for decades. An armada that blanketed the sky must have taken most, if not all, of their limited resources to put together. Today, on what is unquestionably the US's weakest moment, the fruits of Communist China's labors were ready to be picked.
The aircraft looked close to enlarged versions of America's own B-2 Stealth Bomber. Unlike the B-2, these flying machines weren't defenseless, as the attacking US fighter jets found out. As American fighter pilots flew in for the kill, they were greeted with gunfire from 50mm turrets on the wings and small payload anti-aircraft missiles. The bomb bay doors opened. Instead of tons of munitions falling onto the American landscape, Chinese paratroopers equipped for high altitude drops leapt out. Many died before they could deploy their parachutes. But that was expected. With China's overflowing population, there were plenty to sacrifice.
"Their decent angle is too great for a simple trans-Pacific flight," Dr. Faber said as his new electronic eyes zoomed in on the aircraft overhead. "They came from a sub-orbital flight path. They leapt over our radar and defense network in stealth aircraft."
"I'll care about how they got here later," Holmes said rounding his men together. "Right now, we've got suppress them as best we can with minimal ammunition and weaponry. We weren't really planning on a war today."
The paratroopers began to hit the ground. Immediately, they would release their parachutes and draw their weapons. They ran for cover and began firing at the National Guard and Army soldiers who had been out trying to quell the chaos after the devastation. "They're not bombing us. Why aren't they bombing us?" Faber asked Holmes as he assembled his men.
"Because that would destroy what they want."
"Which is?"
"Our land. Our resources. We're ready to move into right now. Bombing would destroy the housing and infrastructure already in place." Holmes stopped for a second. "Goddamnit! You're supposed to be weapon built for this kind of shit! Get out there and neutralize the opposition! Take point! NOW!"
The night sky lit up with explosions as tracer fire. A terrible aerial battle hung over the ground conflict with a torrent of dreaded color and a din of death and destruction. Faber was attempting his best effort to act like a battle robot. He fired at the falling paratroopers with his guns, but missed. He was unsure if it was the faulty connection to the fire control software or maybe that part inside of his conscious that found killing a difficult and unsavory action. A Chinese soldier aimed his gun from the shadows of an alley and opened fire on Faber. At the sound of the gunshots, Faber instinctively jumped behind an overturned car, using it for cover. The vehicle was riddled with deep thunking sounds as the bullets pierced it. The Chinese soldier rounded the other side of the car and yelled what Faber could only imagine equaled to "Die Yankee bastard" in Chinese. He let loose a burst of gunfire from his machine gun. The bullets crashed against the metal body and either were crushed into flat slugs by the force of collision or bounced away, depending upon its angle of impact. The soldier fell to the ground as a few ricochets struck him. It was at that moment that Faber truly began to realize the obvious. He was no longer a man. His flesh and blood was now composite metals and hydraulic fluid. Despite breaking himself open earlier to create a means for communication or even hammering the dents out of his reinforced frame, the thought never occurred to him that he was no longer a man. Seeing the mortality of another human being in direct contrast to his own mechanical resilience shook him past the disconnection from himself and his actions that he'd lived in since the crash. The logic of the situation had been processed in his new digital brain millions upon millions of times since it came online; but Faber had maintained a stronger connection, maybe stronger now than when he was a flesh and blood man, to his humanity and all its emotional trappings. Especially denial.
Faber stood up and began to scan the area. Further down the road, several of the paratroopers had created a barricade. Behind it they were assembling what seemed to be a large gun mount. He pulled the car he had taken refuge behind back down onto its wheels and put the transmission into neutral. Faber lined the car up with the barricade and began to push. The powerful mechanical legs built up speed as the metal arms pulled back to gain momentum for the big push off. With a forward thrust the car rolled quickly down the road and crashed into the soldiers. Holmes could be heard slightly over the clamor of battle surrounding them. He and his men rounded a corner closer to the barricade and immediately ran over the wreckage with guns firing.
Faber joined the group after it was clear that the bloodshed, for now, was over. Holmes once again began to round up his men and plan the next move as Faber seized the gun that the Chinese soldiers were attempting to assemble. Detaching his own guns from his body, Faber began to rework the two separate mechanisms.
"Legionnaire, return to combat!" Holmes barked. "That's an order."
Faber turned around and presented the re-engineered guns to Holmes and his men. He had used the material from the Chinese paratroopers' weapons and parachute harnesses to make shoulder straps to distribute the weight of the weapons. "I can't use these, but you might."
"Great," Holmes sighed. "A toaster with a conscious."
