"Ignition confirmed."Captain Hayes yelled over the roaring plasma flame. The industrial torch sounded like a screaming jet engine in the freezing night air.He leaned his weight forward. He braced his boots against the slick icy surface of the elevated airlock threshold. He thrust the blinding blue jet of superheated plasma directly against the titanium oxynitride armor plating of the Leviathan.Hayes expected the metal to yield instantly. He expected the intense thermal output to slice a glowing molten line straight through the locking mechanisms. He anticipated the victorious screech of yielding steel.The plasma torch touched the hull.The roaring jet of blue fire did not cut the metal. It did not even scorch the matte gray paint.The violent high voltage electrical loop generating the plasma arc collided instantly with the unfiltered direct current surging through the entire titanium shell of the mobile fortress.The electrical circuit instantly inverted.The blinding blue flame

"No, I will not order my men to climb that coffin General." Captain Shaw pointed a trembling finger at the smoking corpses scattered across the frozen asphalt of the Monroe Street plaza. "You watched the hull electrocute Captain Hayes just ten minutes ago. The electricity cooked his eyeballs inside his own skull. The machine is a death trap."General Varga turned away from the tanks idling on Lexington Avenue. He rested his hand on the grip of his assault rifle. He looked at his subordinate with a cold flat stare that carried zero empathy."You will follow my orders Shaw or I will shoot you for treason right here in the snow," Varga said. His voice cut through the howling wind. "We lost contact with the subterranean squad down in the vault. We lost a breaching team on the surface. I am not leaving this intersection without that fusion engine.""The billionaire wired the exterior armor to a high voltage loop," Shaw argued. His breath plumed in the freezing air like thick gray smoke. He

Captain Shaw squeezed the trigger of the detonator.A blinding flash of pure white energy eradicated the shadows across the Monroe Street plaza. The chemical explosive packed beneath the titanium undercarriage ignited with terrifying velocity. Four thousand degrees of fire bloomed against the belly of the dead mobile fortress.The snow covering the asphalt vaporized instantly. A thick cloud of boiling steam rushed across the intersection.General Varga stood behind the safety of a rusted city bus on Lexington Avenue. He lowered his polarized goggles over his eyes to watch the execution. He expected the metal of the Leviathan to buckle and slag. He wanted to see the molten titanium pour onto the street like a metallic river.The engineers who planted the charges scrambled backward. They raised their thermal shielding to protect their faces from the blistering radiant heat. They waited for the inevitable structural collapse of the billionaire bunker.But the metal did not melt.Inside t

"One hundred percent," the artificial intelligence announced with pristine clarity. "Leviathan is active."The titanium fortress shuddered as the infinite power of the fusion core flooded the primary drive train. The interior tactical lights flared brilliant blue. The deep humming vibration stabilized into a smooth continuous thrum that resonated through the floorboards.Outside in the frozen Monroe Street plaza the four main battle tanks fired their heavy cannons simultaneously.The deafening roar of the artillery strike tore through the howling winter storm. Four depleted uranium shells crossed the icy intersection with terrifying supersonic velocity. The armor piercing slugs aimed directly for the center of the reinforced glass viewport."Engage defense parameters," Malcolm roared the command. He gripped the steering yoke and braced his feet against the floor.The Crucible Matrix did not require human reaction time to calculate the threat. The advanced automated defense grid powere

The digital display dissolved into a sea of dark static before resolving into a crisp high resolution image. The screen did not show a military command center or a laboratory. It displayed a dark featureless room where three human silhouettes sat behind a long polished table.Heavy shadows obscured their faces and their clothing. They existed only as dark voids against a dim gray background. They were the architects of the new world and they called themselves The State."General Varga," the center silhouette spoke. The voice was heavily modulated to conceal any identifying pitch or tone. It sounded like grinding metal and crushing stone. "We are monitoring the localized radio traffic across your assigned territory. We hear your infantry screaming in the streets."Varga gripped the edge of the console. He kept his hands pinned to the metal to hide their violent trembling. The arrogant warlord who crushed skulls and burned cities suddenly felt like a frightened child called before a jud