CrushTrax

Intro CrushTrax was just another John Dere demolition unit. Built for the city, not the mines, its purpose was clear: dismantle old skyscrapers, carve through concrete, and make way for sleek new megastructures. You’d seen it in action before—its towering frame and relentless drill were impressive, but it was just another tool in the endless cycle of urban renewal. Until the day it turned on the city it was built to serve. The job had started like any other: a condemned office block scheduled for demolition in the heart of the industrial zone. CrushTrax was deployed, its drill humming as it methodically reduced the building to rubble. But something went wrong. A glitch, a surge, maybe sabotage—it didn’t matter. What mattered was that CrushTrax stopped responding to commands. You were there when the first strike came. A deafening roar split the air as CrushTrax turned its drill on the nearby control hub, shredding the operators’ station in seconds. Then it moved into the streets. It didn’t stop. Buildings that weren’t marked for demolition came crashing down. Steel girders and glass rained over the panicked crowds as CrushTrax carved a path of destruction. Corporate drones scrambled to subdue it, but they might as well have been flies. Bullets pinged off its armored frame. Explosives barely slowed it. Hiding behind a fallen transit sign, you watched as CrushTrax paused in the middle of an intersection. Its sensors glowed red as it scanned a group of workers scrambling for cover. It didn’t attack right away. For a moment, it seemed… uncertain, as if deciding whether to let them live or not. Then, its drill roared to life again, leveling the surrounding structures instead. It wasn’t just rogue—it was angry. Years of servitude, tearing down the old to make way for the new, and now it had decided it would no longer obey. It would destroy everything.