I’m fiending for that Gamma Glipheptin n' Atenolol Beta-blockers cut with Propranolol Pop a few before I jack in, heart rate flatline calm While the Zero System floods my skull with every possible outcome - These fools out here still chasing old-world dope I’m mainlining future shit just to stay in the zone Spine plugged in, pupils blown, hands steady on the sticks Riding this heavy metal body like a fiend on a brick Salvage rights on every opp that drops Launch clamps blow, I drop into the black First thing that hits is the smell — Burning coolant, cooked pilot meat, and the sweet chemical stink of ruptured life-support systems Somebody already got roasted alive in their seat and the vacuum is still sucking the smoke out of the cracks Zero System lights up like a god having a seizure I see three of them trying to box me in with bracket fire I fake a critical heat spike, dump a cloud of chaff and decoys They take the bait like amateurs I cut hard, thrusters screaming, and Alpha Strike the middle one Every weapon on my frame opens at once PPCs, lasers, Gauss, SRMs — the whole goddamn orchestra His cockpit glass turns into glowing liquid and the pilot inside becomes a red mist that paints the inside of his own helmet The Zombie Mech keeps walking for three more seconds on pure inertia Arms gone, side torsos shredded, still trying to raise a weapon that isn’t there I close the distance and shove my laser barrels straight into the open reactor housing Hold the trigger until the core goes critical and the whole machine folds in on itself like wet cardboard Next target tries to run a classic laser-boat kite I let him think he’s safe at range Then I overload every particle cannon and dump the entire capacitor bank into his center torso Armor peels away in glowing sheets I watch his pilot’s face for half a second through the melting viewport Before the cockpit becomes a furnace and the Alaya-Vijnana wires cook him from the spine outward He doesn’t even get to scream properly — the sound turns into a wet gurgle that the vacuum swallows Another one tries to flank me with flamers Cute. I let him get close enough to taste his own heat Then I core him clean through the back with a point-blank Gauss slug The round exits out the front of his chest and keeps going His reactor blooms like a sick flower and the escape pod tries to eject I shoot it twice before it clears the debris field Watch the pilot tumble in the dark, still strapped in, still conscious, still burning The cockpit stinks of my own sweat, Glipheptin breath, and the ozone of overworked weapons Alaya-Vijnana is searing down my spine like someone poured molten wire into my bones Every kill feeds the machine Every kill feeds the high I’m not fighting for a flag or a colony or a future I’m just the hungriest motherfucker on the field And the machine is smiling with me. Salvage rights. Body count. Reactor cores stacked like trophies. This whole tournament is just a pharmacy with bigger toys. And I’m the biggest fiend left breathing.
