542 Tang Xiao and Jin Tao, All Grown Up

The plump orb was perfectly round, without blemish. It wasn’t long before the whole of Squad 11 was snugly fit inside.

Then, the orb changed again. This time a drill head slowly appeared at its base. The entire orb began to spin, and the drill tore open a hole. Tang Xiao and the mechs within him drilled through the ground. A pair of mechanical hands at the top busily covered up the hole above it by disrupting soil. Tang Xiao and his team disappeared.

Before long the aliens arrived at the mountain top. The first one to scale it was a two-headed creature, long and sleek like some sort of mutated wolf. It leapt upon the patch is disturbed earth and started to dig. However, in that moment a gear hidden within the soil shot up and buried itself in the creature’s belly.

The inertia from the leap and the gear’s force split the monster cleanly in two. Two mangled halves collapsed to the floor.