Skynet
Destroyed City
Gunfire and explosions echoed through the ruined city. Marcus moved with superhuman speed through the streets and buildings like an unstoppable steel ghost.
Our mechanical aircraft flew through the air, constantly searching for whatever was attacking them - but without success. Inside a building, Marcus picked up an improvised missile launcher he had built from scraps of different machines and aimed at one of the patrols.
With a sharp whistling sound, the missile cut through the air toward the aircraft, which tried in vain to evade. In the next instant, an explosion erupted in the craft's rear thrusters, sending it crashing to the ground in a cloud of dust and flames.
"Minus one," Marcus murmured. Without looking back, he threw the missile launcher to the ground and ran. The next moment, the window where he had just been was bombarded by two other patrols.
The sound of gunfire was deafening as the machines fired until their cannons glowed red-hot. However, Marcus had already left that position. Gripping his grav-hammer, he leaped from a nearby district toward the two patrols.
The aircraft's sensors failed to detect the threat until it was too late. With a clean strike, a tremendous boom was heard as the side of the craft was hit and exploded, crashing into the other patrol and causing both to collide.
BOOM!
Two fireballs of metal fell to the ground, causing additional explosions and raising dust. Marcus coldly observed the explosion before turning to look down another street, where armored units and Terminators advanced rhythmically toward him.
The machines' energy rifles and gunpowder cannons roared in his direction. "My devotion is my shield," Marcus murmured softly, and a psychic shield enveloped him. Uselessly, bullets and energy beams collided against his armor, strengthened by his powers, without even scratching him.
Marcus drew his bolter and began firing. His shots struck with precision at weak and critical points of the machines, causing fiery damage. His constant fire orchestrated destruction and death.
The endless flow of machines seemed unstoppable, but Marcus remained calm. Data streams were captured by his helmet, and noticing the machines' maneuvers to encircle him, he decided to withdraw.
Just as he had come, using his superhuman speed, the machines' sensors soon lost sight of him and resumed their search. Unnoticed, he passed through the wreckage of previous battles and collected materials from destroyed machines.
Soon, Marcus returned to the hideout carrying tons of metal and wires and began working on new equipment using his forge workbench. Drones, missiles, ammunition - with each passing moment, he transformed that pile of burned metal into something with purpose.
Kyle and Marcos, who watched him from the hideout, wore expressions of disbelief - both at the current sight and what they had witnessed earlier. "I never thought it was possible to fight the machines directly, but he proved me wrong," Kyle said to Marcos, who nodded in agreement.
With the machines tightening their siege, there wasn't much they could do except wait for rescue. Besides using the new radio to communicate with the rebel base, they watched Marcus fighting the machines across the city.
There was no need to get close to witness the battle - the explosions and flames rising on the horizon, along with tremors in the ground, spoke volumes about the capabilities of that steel giant.
"Will the rescue take long?" Marcus asked curiously after stacking another pile of devices. Kyle stepped forward to answer. "They said they're looking for a safe zone, but the constant flow of machines is making it difficult."
"Tell them there won't be any functioning machines south of the city by morning," he said firmly, gathering his equipment.
"You're going to fight again? You've been fighting for over 12 hours - aren't you tired?" Marcos asked, but received no answer from the Astartes, who put his helmet back on and prepared to leave.
Soon, the sounds of explosions and tremors echoed through the city once more.
Skynet Base
In the machines' operational bases, cold and constant data streams flowed through Skynet's circuits as it analyzed the information coming from Los Angeles. "What is this?" it wondered, examining the data on Marcus that had reached it.
For the first time since its existence began, Skynet encountered something it had no knowledge of. Data streams flowed as it attempted to analyze Marcus's origins.
Error notifications and variables kept appearing, and soon the machine understood - this being was not from this planet. Initially, Skynet considered that Marcus might be a different human sent back in time, but it quickly dismissed that possibility.
Everything about him pointed to something else. According to the data captured by the machines, he was covered by an energy shield - something not even Skynet was capable of producing, much less humans from a destroyed world.
There were no energy signatures indicating time travel, leaving only one option: he had come from beyond the planet. But why had he come, and why did Skynet have no information about it?
Calculations and theories crackled through its circuits, but Skynet found itself incapable of comprehending this new existence opposing it. Worse, with this new variable, many of its meticulously laid plans had already demonstrated flaws.
Without hesitation, Skynet classified Marcus as a top-priority target, and streams of machines flowed toward Los Angeles with the intent to destroy him.
Back in the City
The sound of screeching metal could be heard as Marcus grabbed a Terminator and ripped it in half with his bare hands. Other Terminators opened fire on him, but it was useless - their weapons couldn't harm him, much less injure him.
Marcus was like a war demon amidst metal sheep. Where his strikes landed, machines shattered. Where his bullets pierced, explosions occurred. Where he walked, chaos and destruction followed.
Soon, the dawn of the third day arrived, and the helicopters sent for rescue cautiously approached Los Angeles - only to find a city even more destroyed than before.
"My God," one of the pilots murmured upon seeing the wreckage of steel titans. The crew couldn't help but tremble at the war that had taken place in the city. "HQ, are you seeing this?"
"We are. Proceed with the mission," John Connor responded from the operations base as images of the conflict reached his monitors. "What the hell happened there?" John couldn't help but mutter. This was unlike anything he had ever seen.
"Could an envoy of the Emperor alone cause such destruction?" he cautiously wondered, his curiosity growing about what kind of being had arrived on his planet.
Soon, they reached the designated extraction point - a small cluster of buildings in the southern part of the city with good visibility and few ambush spots. One of the helicopters landed, and a special operations team disembarked to secure the perimeter.
But at that moment, the sound of metallic footsteps resonated through the air. Nervously, the team aimed their weapons toward one of the buildings where the footsteps originated. Time seemed to freeze as they waited for whatever was coming - but to their surprise, what emerged wasn't a machine but a steel giant carrying a little girl.
"Are you the rescue team?" Marcus's dominant, deep voice boomed through their helmet comms, making the team shudder momentarily as profound silence fell.
"Yes, sir. We're a rescue team. Are you, by chance, the Emperor's envoy - Marcus Primaris?" An older man with a captain's rank stepped forward to speak with him. Marcus nodded.
"Yes, it's me," he declared. Carefully, he placed the girl on the ground and handed her to a soldier, who took her into the helicopter. Soon, Marcos and Kyle emerged from behind him and were also rescued by the soldiers.
"I hope we meet again!" Kyle said, waving at Marcus, who waved back. Their helicopter then took off, leaving the Astartes and the special operations team behind.
"Aren't you leaving?" the giant asked. The soldiers hesitated for a moment. "We will support you in your mission to retake Los Angeles," they said.
There was a brief silence before Marcus spoke.
"You're too late. The city has already been retaken."