The guardian lifted its other leg. “Unhand my commander,” he said again, its voice still garbled, and brought down its foot hard, crushing Rex further.

Then he lifted the first leg again and repeated, “Unhand my commander.” But before it could bring this leg down, Sprite jumped, grabbing a handful of hydraulic cords hanging from the thing’s arm stump, swinging behind its back, and firing the final projectile of the core artillery into the thing’s exposed central core.

The recoil sent the gun flying again, and Sprite kicked off the back of the guardian’s back, landing a safe distance away.