"Annie, listen to your uncle! Hide, now!” an elderly wed, pulling at her arm, trying to lead her away.

  “No! Let go!” Aruggled, tears streaming down her face. “They’re going to kill my dad!”

  But Jacob had already spotted her. Despite her attempts to disguise herself with short hair and smudged oil on her face, her beauty was unmistakable. “Perfect…” Jacob’s lips curled into a grin, aarted toward her, eyes gleaming with urained greed.

  “Annie, run!” Annie’s mrabbed Jacob’s pant leg from behind, pleading desperately.

  “Get off me!” Jacob snapped, kig her with brutal force. She hit the ground, blood spilling from her mouth, but her grip held firm, her eyes unwavering.

  “Don’t just stand there! Get her!” Jacob ordered, as he tinued beating the woman. His men, eager to follow his and, moved toward Annie, but the steel pnt workers stepped in front of them, a line of determined faces.

  “Out of the way!” one of Jacob’s men barked, raising his gun, hoping intimidation would work as usual. But to his surprise, a steel pipe swung through the air, aimed right at his head.

  “Damn you!” The enraged workers swung their steel pipes with all their might, striking one of Jacob’s men and splitting his head open. Blood spttered as he fell, his pistol dropping to the ground, quickly scooped up by another worker.

  In an instant, the ped into chaos. Gunshots echoed, mingling with screams and the siing sound of steel pipes shattering bohe air filled with the savage, viole of revenge. But reality is unfiving. Soon, the harsh rattle of automatifire sliced through the frenzy. The workers fell silent, the st sparks of their defianuffed out.

  “Who else wants to die?” Jacob sneered, leveling his rifle at the remaining workers. Behind him, the ground was littered with bodies, a thick pool of blood spreading out from the dead. The survivors stared at each other in despair, realizing their steel pipes were powerless against his on.

  “Hand over Annie…” one of the workers began, but his voice faltered. No one wao give her up, but they were out of options. Annie was the steel pnt’s pride. They had watched her grow, seen her achievements bring honor to their small world. It ride that meant more than any personal aplishment.

  Yet now, could they truly give her up to these monsters? The oldest man among them, face etched in sorrow, gently covered Annie’s eyes. His hand shook as he took the pistol from a fallen rade, raising it to her forehead.

  “Annie… close your eyes, sweetheart,” he whispered. “Think of the amusement park.”

  As his fiightened origger, a sudden roar of an engine shattered the silehe sound grew louder, until, with a thunderous crash, a vehicle smashed through the factory wall, sending debris flying.

  Every head turo see the intruder. It was the escort truck, reinforced with a thick yer of armor and front spikes, its modified body bristling with makeshift onry. The vehicle looked like a beast unleashed, ready to tear through anything in its path. The double doors swung open, a menag invitation.

  A silent moment passed before realization dawned. Help had arrived.

  The sudden roar of the steel vehicle shattered the teandoff in the factory, igniting a flicker of hope in the eyes of the exhausted workers. All attention soward this hulking mae, standing defiantly amid the chaos.

  Anne, who had been shielded by the workers, pried open the old man’s grip, her gaze transfixed on the formidable vehicle before her. Just as fusion began to settle, Jacob raised his rifle without a word.

  BANG! BANG! BANG!

  The rapid-fire shots of automatic rifle rounds echoed through the factory, and sparks flew as the bullets struck the metal shell of the vehicle. But instead of pierg it, the bullets left only shallow dents.

  "Bulletproof?" Jauttered, frowning. With a casual gesture, he poio one of his men. "You, go check it out!"

  The man he picked was Ivae his fear, Jacob’s unyielding stare drove him to inch forward, step by step, toward the armored vehicle.

  BANG! BANG!

  Ivan hadn’t even reached the door when loud, thunderous soued from ihe vehicle, like something massive preparing to break free. Jacob barked, “Go on, check it out!”

  With trembling hands, Ivan reached for the door handle, gripping it tightly. But before he could pull, a tremendous force exploded from within, bsting the door outward. The impact hit Ivan squarely in the chest, g it in. His ribs shattered, and he crumpled to the ground, coughing up blood mixed with bits of his own ans. His life was ebbing away.

  From within the vehicle stepped a t figure what looked like futuristic steel armor, over two meters tall and radiating a chilling, murderous aura. The factory fell silent as everyoood in stunned disbelief, uo fire a single shot.

  Ihe armor, Zack sed the factory floor through the heads-up dispy. “Ego, how many steelworkers are still alive?”

  “Sing… sir, seven remain, though two are critically injured. Only five move.”

  A hard gliered Zack’s eyes. Metal, high-strength steel—his MV armor, his dream of a flying air fortress—all required vast resources. Upon seeing survivors at the steel pnt via satellite, he had e here without hesitation, but now, most of the skilled workers y dead. Rage simmered in his chest.

  “Ego,” he muttered coldly, “I’m going to kill them.”

  "Targets have been marked for you, sir," Ego replied.

  The blue light in the eyes of the armor shifted to a burnihe air grew tense as a menag aura emanated from the suit. Jacob, sensing the danger, roared, “Shoot him!”

  His rifle erupted in a volley of bullets, each round ricocheting off the armor with sharp, metalligs. One of the ricochets strue of his men, who fell to the ground clutg his bleeding arm. Soon, the others joined in, but they were armed with only pistols, and the 9mm rounds barely left a scratch.

  “Did you rob an armory?” Zack scoffed, striding forward.

  Each step of his oon armor made the ground tremble, ae his size, he moved armingly fast. In moments, he was in front of one of Jacob’s men, raising his armored fist. The punded with a siing ch, obliterating the man’s head in an explosion of blood. The spray spttered across another man’s face, who froze, squeezing his gun’s trigger in blind terror, even as it clicked empty.

  Zack turned and smmed his fist down, snapping the panicked man’s neck with brutal efficy.

  “Is that all you’ve got? Just guns?” Zack growled, striding toward the remaining men. Bullets bounced off him harmlessly, the sound of gunfire g in his ears.

  Soon, the floor was littered with bodies. Most were left unreizable from the brutal force of his attacks. Only Jacob remained, standing with a y rifle in his hands, fag the armored figure with a cold, defiant gaze.

  Click.

  The rifle was out of bullets. “Out already?” Zack’s voice echoed from within the suit, a chilling meical monotone.