The Resistance base buzzed with tension.
Screens flickered. Maps glowed. Drones whirred overhead like angry hornets. Everyone was moving — except Bob.
He stood on the command table, arms folded, antenna twitching with focus.
"We've got a chance," General Dev said, pointing at a blinking red dot on the screen. "One of the alien command mechs is damaged — it's vulnerable. But no human can get inside undetected."
Bob's eyes narrowed. "But a cockroach can."
---
The Plan: Crazy, of Course
"You want to sneak inside a 40-foot alien death machine?" Maya asked.
Bob nodded. "Yep."
"While it's still active?"
"Yep."
She sighed. "Of course you do."
Dev handed over a miniature EMP device. "Plant this near its neural core. Fry it from the inside."
Bob grabbed the device, saluted with two legs, and smirked. "Operation Metal Belly begins now."
---
Stealth Mode: Activated
Night fell like a shroud.
Bob zipped across rubble, ducked under barbed wire, and slid into a ventilation shaft on the mech's leg. Inside, glowing wires pulsed like veins.
"It's like I crawled into a robot's digestive system," Bob muttered. "Smells better than I expected."
Suddenly, gears shifted. The mech took a step.
KA-THOOM.
Bob clung to the wall, heart pounding. "Coolcoolcool. Just a walking metal skyscraper. No pressure."
---
Unseen Enemy
Deep inside, strange whispers echoed — not voices, but thoughts.
Bob froze.
Then he saw it.
A parasite. A writhing, jelly-like alien creature latched onto the mech's power core, pulsing with control tendrils.
"The real pilot," Bob realized. "A mind-leech."
He crept closer, planting the EMP behind a cluster of cables.
But the parasite sensed him.
SHREEEEEEEKKK!
Tendrils lashed out.