Goliath Rage and Tech Swarm

Floor three.

Me, my **** bots, and GhostScoutDrone hovering quiet as a corpse. He glides ahead, pinging enemies and layout with soft chimes in my ear: eight big bandits hulking in ragged armor, two bucket-headed Goliaths pacing like caged beasts, and; sweet; four pieces of compatible tech scattered around the room, amber outlines pulsing invitingly.

I’m about to move when GhostScout pings a warning; red alert flashing.

Auto-turret, wall-mounted, tucked to my left; barrels swiveling slow, sensors humming faint.

But I’m not sweating.

Compatible.

Same for the busted smoke alarm dangling next to it, flickering weakly like it’s clinging to life.

I hit them both with my ScrapJack pulse, the blue energy snaking up the walls like electric tendrils. Metal shuddering, circuits sparking as they tear free and reassemble mid-air.

Sentient Companion: WallBiter [Wall-Mounted Turret] – Ground Class

Deadly, Agile Mobile Turret

Attack: High Velocity Fire, Piercing Legs

Perk: Legs allow movement on all surfaces

• Wallflower? Nah. Wallbiter.

Sentient Companion: SmokeScreen [Smoke Alarm] – Flight Class

Cover Support

Attack: Dense, acidic smoke cloud — deadly to enemies, harmless to allies

Perk: Breaks enemy line-of-sight.

• Smoking kills… so do I.

WallBiter scurries off with a skitter of piercing legs; claws clicking like talons on tile, scaling a wall for the best firing angle, barrels whirring to readiness.

SmokeScreen hums beside me, ready to haze the room with enough acid to melt bandit lungs; its bulb glowing ominous red.

GhostScout finishes his sweep; enemy positions locked in red silhouettes, four more compatible tech locations highlighted amid the clutter.

The enemy count’s lower, but they’re beefier.

Big boys.

Two bucket headed Goliaths in the mix; massive frames straining against dirty wife-beaters, muscles rippling under scarred skin.

I flag LawnRipper to focus them; its blade spinning hungrily. Maybe if I’m lucky, he beheads them early and skips their rage-fueled transformations.

I raise my Divorce Settler; grip firm, stock braced against my shoulder.

Time to set the room on fire.

The first wave drops fast; WallBiter stitches hot lead through three of them; high-velocity rounds punching through armor with wet thwacks, chests erupting in blood and bone shards, bodies jerking like puppets on cut strings before slumping in pooling crimson.

LawnRipper buzzes across the room, smooth as silk; engine roaring, blade whirring to a blur; carving into the first Goliath: slicing clean through the neck with a meaty shear, head tumbling free in a fountain of arterial blood, bucket helm clanging to the floor as the body collapses mid-roar, twitching in a growing lake of gore.

But my bullet ricochets; wrong place, wrong time; pinging the second Goliath’s bucket clean off with a metallic clang, helm spinning away like a discarded tin can.

The change starts; roaring deep enough to rattle my teeth, swelling muscle ripping through skin in bloody tears, vertebrae punching up between its shoulders, cracking audible, brain pulsing as it hulks out, veins bulging like ropes under stretched hide.

When LawnRipper lunges, blade extended for the kill, the Goliath catches it by its chest, crushing it like a soda can, it swings its blade into its shoulder and detonates: the Goliath and half the floor turning into bloody soup.

The battle rages; bullets whizzing like angry hornets, acid fog from SmokeScreen hissing as it billows out; dense clouds burning lungs with acrid fumes, bandits **** and clawing at throats as flesh melts from inside, screams muffled from charred esophagus.

At some point, a microwave gets chucked at me by a panicking bandit; appliance sailing through the air with a **** grunt. It dings as it hits the wall, door popping open with a chime.

I mentally flag it; too focused to deal with it right now; bullets pinging off my shield in angry sparks.

By the time the last bandit falls; gasping and melting under SmokeScreen’s acidic haze, skin sloughing off in steaming sheets, my squad’s taken hits.

LawnRipper and SmokeScreen went out in style, exploding into a final blaze of glory; detonations shaking the room, shrapnel and flesh embedding in walls.

What’s left?

Me, WallBiter; legs skittering restless, SawBonez, and a room full of corpses: bodies twisted in **** poses, guts splayed like abstract art, the floor a slick mosaic of blood, bile, and scattered teeth.

GhostScout pings the tech, like a proud little **** scout; amber outlines glowing brighter.

SawBonez and WallBiter drag them over, items scraping across the floor; my haul lined up like twisted presents at my feet.

I pulse my ScrapJack Protocol, purple glow crackling as each piece shifts and assembles.

Sentient Companion: BurnBoy [Hot Plate] – Ground Class

Incendiary Elemental

Attack: Heat coil whip

Perk: Melts enemy shields over time

• Hot, isn’t it

Sentient Companion: Buffy & Faith [Defibrillator Paddles] – Flight Class

Electrical Elementals; Dual Attack

Attack: Electrified arc strikes

Perk: Quick charges shields, revive allies

• Five by five… for ****

Sentient Companion: TurkeyLurker [Electric Carving Knife] – Ground Class

Slashing Brawler

Attack: High-speed slicing strikes, bonus damage to organics

• Carving more than just turkey today.

Sentient Companion: HotPocket [Microwave] – Ground Class

Corrosive Radiation Elemental

Attack: Short-range radiation blasts, cooks enemies from the inside

• Ding! You’re fucked

My army assembles, glowing, buzzing, sparking; BurnBoy's coils emitting heated ripples, Buffy & Faith arcing electricity between paddles, TurkeyLurker's blade vibrating eager, HotPocket's door clanging shut with a chime.

They’ve all proven themselves or will; battle-hardened, deadly, loyal to the end.

I take a breath, my shield recharging with a low hum, HUD green and steady; air still thick with the stink of slaughter.

Time for the next floor.

More meat for the grinder.