Manullium Mine - Part 3

Ed picked up one of the manullium ingots and was surprised by the weight. It was like holding a balloon. He half-expected it to float away if he gave it a slight toss into the air.

There was a total of 100 ingots. They managed to load half into the mech. Ed went back the way they came and grabbed control of one of the earlier defeated mechs. Then he returned and filled it up with the remaining ingots. Terra took control of one mech and Gunther the other.

The mechs travelled down the railroad. Ed hid within their shadows. They returned to the cavern with the floating manullium ores. The miners paid no attention to them as they left. They easily travelled through the winding paths and returned to the elevator.

Ed spoke into a copper tube that was next to the elevator. "Bring us up." His voice travelled through a pipe up to a horn at the control area above ground. He stepped onto the elevator with the others. A brief moment later, the elevator began to rise.

The view above ground slowly came into view as they were lifted higher. Dozens of soldiers were firing on Bolin's location. He would normally negate such attacks easily with a gravitational field, but he could not rely on such tricks currently. He was crouched within the small control box, keeping his head down. The box had 3 short walls and a door. Beams in each corner held a roof above the control box. The space between the beams was completely open, not even having a glass window. Bullets constantly bounced off the iron walls as soldiers continued firing towards it.

"Great..." Ed rubbed his forehead while sighing at the unexpected development.

Suddenly, the front gates of the base opened. The army of soldiers returned. The four 10-meter-tall mechs were behind them. None seemed to have experienced any significant damage.

"What do we do?" Gunther questioned with a slight quiver in his voice.

"How good are your acting skills?" He replied.

"Uhh..." Gunther hesitated a moment in confusion before answering. "Okay... I guess?"

"Well, we'll be relying on you then." He smiled. "As of this moment, I am your guys prisoner. You captured me in the mine. They don't know how many of us there are, so they'll believe I was the only accomplice."

The soldiers had already noticed the group rising from the elevator. A soldier was heading their way to check the situation out. Meanwhile, the returning army encircled the control box further. It'd be blown to shreds before long. Especially with the mechs returning.

"What's going on here?!" A tall blond soldier questioned.

"Sir!" A voice echoed from the horns atop Gunther's mech. "We captured this man infiltrating the mines."

"Oh?" The soldier glanced at Ed and frowned. "He should be the accomplice of the man in the control box. Did you spot anyone else down there?"

"No sir." Gunther replied. "He was alone."

Ed slowly rose his arms in the air while feigning a panicked expression. "Don't hurt me! It's just me and my subordinate in the control box! He'll surrender if I order him to!"

"Hah, do you think we need your help getting somebody to surrender, kid?" The soldier glanced back at the control box. Three soldiers had closed the distance. Each one hefted a gun over the short walls of the box, preparing to fire.

Suddenly, a strong gravitational force pressed down on the soldiers and they fell to the ground. The force quickly disappeared. Bolin popped up and stabbed down with his cane-sword. In a brief moment, he had killed all 3 soldiers and ducked back down behind cover.

"As you were saying?" Ed questioned with a smug grin.

"Shut up!" The soldier slammed the butt of his rifle into Ed's stomach.

Ed was completely unharmed from the attack. His body was far too strong for such a thing to hurt. However, he released a fake moan while hunching over, pretending to be in pain.

The soldier glanced at the two miner mechs. "Let's go. You two lead the way and order the surrender."

"Yes sir!" Gunther replied and led the way. Terra's mech, Ed, and the soldier followed behind him.

"Why aren't you guys using the big mechs over there?" Ed questioned curiously. "I bet it'd be over instantly if you did."

"Tsk." The soldier scoffed while looking at him with disdain. "Do you use a steam tank to kill a chicken? Same concept. We won't be so shameful as to use such a strong weapon against the single chicken hiding within that little box."

"Oh?" He smiled while nodding. "I see. You'd rather waste soldier lives than use the overkill method. I'm a bit different. I'd go so far as to blow up a city to kill a chicken if I really wanted it dead. Haha!"

The soldier grimaced at the mention of his dead comrades, but quickly recovered. "Hurry up and order your subordinate's surrender."

"Sure." He nodded. He yelled towards the control box. "Bolin! I surrendered. Come on out!"

World Walker popped his head over the short wall and his eyes widened in surprise. "You actually surrendered?! You, of all people?!"

"Yup. We lost." He replied. "No point in throwing away our lives here. Just surrender."

"Fine." Bolin agreed while putting away his sword-cane. He walked out from the control box. By now, over 100 soldiers, 20 mechs, and the 4 large mechs had encircled the control box. Rifles were aimed at him from every direction. "I surrender." He sighed while lifting his hands into the air. He walked slowly towards the soldier that had captured Ed and stood behind him.

The army stood silently for a moment in confusion. Then, a tall man with short gray hair stepped forward. Wrinkles decorated his aged body, but he stood firmly straight like a pillar. He walked towards Ed's group. "Good job soldier. You'll be getting a promotion for this."

"Captain!" The soldier saluted proudly, holding his chest up high.

"Now let's see. I recognize you two." The captain rubbed his chin. "The famous Forge and World Walker. Hell, to think World Walker would be mad enough to come into a manullium mine. You're practically uncatchable under ordinary circumstances."

"I'm afraid I had no choice in the matter." Bolin smiled wryly. "I was captured by the brat first and have to follow his orders."

"Oh?" The captain rose an eyebrow. "Seems he's quite the esper." He rose his hands into the air and metal began to drip from his fingertips, forming two pairs of handcuffs. He walked towards Ed while smiling, "Don't think of resisting. I've taken down stronger espers than the likes of you, and you're completely surrounded."

"Heh." Ed held a hand up to his mouth, attempting to stifle his laughter. "Haha." His laughter grew stronger, and soon he could no longer control it. "HAHAHA!!!"

"What's so funny, brat?" The captain frowned while a nervous feeling sprouted within his heart.

"Sorry, sorry." He replied while calming down and waving his hand. "I just thought it was funny how I'm being arrested atop a powder-keg that's about to blow up."

"What do you mean?" The captain questioned.

"Well, you see... I have this little hobby. I really like to blow things up. It's a bit of a stress reliever, I guess. You know what I mean?"

"Out with it!" The soldier beside him grabbed him by the hair. "What did you do?!"

"Not much. Not much." Ed replied calmly. "I just dumped a bunch of light mana-powder down throughout the mines on the way out. I only went into one tunnel though, so maybe the explosion won't be that bad?"

"What?!" The captain questioned in shock. "You're bluffing! Do you think I'm stupid? Nobody would be mad enough to do such a thing!"

"I wonder..." He grinned while pointing behind him. "Don't you see the trail of powder behind me?"

The captain eyed the ground carefully and noticed small traces of white powder mixed within the snow. He shivered in fear. "You... you plan to activate the powder from here? The entire base would be blown to hell! You'll die too!"

"Haha, true!" Ed laughed. "Still, I think it's preferable to being sent to the cage."

"..." The captain stood silently for a moment. Then he spoke in a low and solemn tone, "What are your demands."

"I want those four large mechs." He replied. "My men will take them over and fill them with our goods. Then we'll be on our merry way and everyone is happy."

"IMPOSSIBLE!" The captain yelled in anger, his face turning red. "You think I'll hand over those four mechs?!"

"Fine." Ed nodded. "Just two then. That's my final offer. Otherwise, this entire base can go to hell!" His eyes narrowed as bits of flame appeared beneath his feet. 'I think my control is already starting to improve a bit here.'

"Grr." The captain let out a low growl as he looked back-and-forth between Ed and the mechs. He ground his teeth in frustration, "Fine! Take them!"

"Thanks. Also, the soldier that arrested us is coming as a hostage." He smiled while walking past the captain. A trail of light mana-powder continued to fall from his pant leg as he walked, leaving an ignitable trail behind him. Bolin and the two mechs followed behind him. The soldiers' eyes widened as they realized the two mechs weren't actually on their side. The captain nodded towards the tall blond soldier, indicating for him to follow them. The blond soldier had an ugly look on his face, but followed his ordered.

Platforms lowered from two of the 10-meter-tall mechs. Ed and the others quickly unloaded the manullium ingots and sent them up into the mechs. Ed, Terra and the blond soldier climbed into one mech. Bolin and Gunther entered the other mech.

Ed used his powers to melt the soldier's gun, changing it into a chain. It wrapped around the soldier and bound him behind the red leather seat within the cockpit. Ed sat in the red chair and prepared to leave.

A voice crackled with static and rang out from the mana-radio. "Thank you, captain. I'll take good care of these toys."

"Humph." The captain's voice crackled back. It was difficult to hear due to the manullium interfering with the mana-waves. "Do you think you've won? Those mechs are new models. I'd like to see how you manage to control them! It requires substantial training."

"HAHA!!!" Ed's laughter rang from the radio. "I thought you were a wise man, captain! But you're a complete fool! I was literally taught by the man that designed this model! I even worked on it! Hahaha!"

The mech began to move as he took control of it. It was completely unlike the levers of ordinary mechs or the unique pedals and handles of Sinless mechs. Instead, it had a switchboard. It was like a keyboard, reminiscent of computers from the past, except that it had switches instead of buttons. It was Dexter's way of simplifying the controls. One simply had to relax in a chair while flipping the various switches to the correct positions. Various gauges would let the operator know the status of the mech. There was still a large learning curve since the user needed to understand all the gauges and switches, but it was much better than the mess of levers it used previously.

"World Walker." Ed's voice rang out over the radio. "Press the controls I tell you too. The red switch at the top left is for starting up the steam-core engine. Then flip..." He explained the various procedures as he himself did them. His hands rapidly danced across the switchboard, as if he was playing a musical instrument. The roaring sounds of steam and pistons rang out as the two mechs' engines started.

The switches controlled the direction of steam coming from the mechs' arms and legs. However, that was for finer control. The mech still primarily relied on pistons and gears just like any other mech. Steam billowed from the two large mechs as they began walking towards the exit of the mining base. The illuminating rays of the sun flashed past the shiny steel exterior of the mechs. Each mech carried a tall spear pointed towards the sky. The army watched helplessly as they marched out of the base, disappearing within the snowy mountains. Their guns couldn't damage the mechs even if they wanted to attack. They could fight back with the other two large mechs, but they might lose. More importantly, they might accidently trigger the mana-powder during the fight.

...

The mechs slowly made their way down the mountain. "I can't believe they didn't install grapples on these models." Ed's sigh rang from the radio.

"Forge..." Gunther's voice rang back. "I thought you said you didn't bring any glass vials of mana-powder with you?"

"I didn't." He replied. "I brought a couple steel flasks filled with it instead."

"Only a couple?" Gunther replied in confusion.

"Right. I couldn't blow up that base even if my life depended on it."

"But... The threat?! The explosion threat?!"

"It was all a trick." Bolin's voice interrupted the duo. "You didn't have enough for such a thing. When you arrived from the elevator, you dumped the powder on the ground as you walked. It made it appear as if you had planned it all out. An explosive backup plan to bring down your enemies with you by igniting the trail of mana-powder. Except, there never really was a potential explosion to begin with."

"Yup." Ed replied. "The whole thing was a bluff."

"What... What if it didn't work?" Terra questioned timidly.

"Well..." He hesitated a moment before answering. "I guess that we would fight our way out while abandoning the manullium. A couple of us probably would have died."

"Died?!" Terra replied in shock.

"Right." He nodded. "We're preparing for war after all. It'd only be normal for some of us to die in the near future."

"You sure seem nonchalant about it." Bolin replied.

"Mm." He agreed. "I'll either become the king of the mountain or be buried with the hordes of the dead caused by my war. I'd naturally prefer the former option, but I'm prepared for both."

"I see... Where do we plan on going?" Bolin questioned.

"Lead the way to your destroyed cabin we stayed at previously." He replied. "Our next piece of business is at that location anyways. It also makes for a convenient hideout. The government will no doubt be searching for these obvious mechs. We need to stay off the railroads and out of the cities for a while."