The safety clamps released with a thunderous clang, and the titan shuddered as her first movements in decades sent sparks and debris flying. The manufactorum shook as the Orks roared in response, surging toward the control chamber.
"Drones, intercept!" Cătălin barked. They surged forward, swarming the Orks, slamming and zapping wherever they could. Plasma bursts and sparks lit the dark hall, holding the attackers at bay.
Daniel keyed in the rail system. "Rails online! Let's get rolling!"
The titan's massive frame creaked as the ancient tracks activated beneath her feet. Slowly at first, then faster, she glided toward a nearby boarding platform. Cătălin and Daniel clambered onto the platform, leaping to grab massive handholds along the titan's shoulder plating. Metal groaned under their weight, but the titan didn't flinch.
"Keep your balance," Daniel shouted over the hum of activating servos.
Cătălin lifted his visor, the helmet HUD syncing with the titan's systems. Life-sign readings pulsed across the display, but he realized quickly—he couldn't control them, only observe. The titan's biological and energy systems streamed data at him, flowing too fast and too complex to manipulate.
"Can't control it… just read it," he muttered. "The readings—everything's stabilizing. Heart, core, servos… all alive."
Daniel nodded, sweeping the plasma rifle along the gaps in the titan's armor. "Good. At least we know she's awake and ready. Let's clear out these Orks hiding in her shoulders before they tear us off."
The integrated bio-life scanner hummed, feeding target data to Cătălin's HUD. Orks crouched in recesses and between the shoulder plates lit up as blinking markers. They moved quickly, cutting them down with coordinated strikes. Plasma bursts flared against green-skinned foes, and sparks flew with every connection.
The titan responded around them. Servos hissed, shoulders pivoted, and her eyes flared white-blue, scanning the manufactorum for remaining threats. Each movement reverberated through the plating beneath their feet, but the machine spirit had fully awakened.
Cătălin gritted his teeth, reading the life-signs. "She's alive… every system responding."
Daniel's grin was tight but fierce. "Now the Orks are going to regret ever stepping into her manufactorum."
The titan took deliberate steps off the rail platform, crushing debris and Ork barricades under her immense weight. Drones formed a moving perimeter around her, and Cătălin and Daniel moved carefully along her shoulders, taking down any Ork still hiding while the titan dominated the battlefield below.