As soon as Jack said it, another shot rang out, the report of a sniper rifle fired by a grey-clad Serbian sniper on one of the other nearby rooftops.

The sizzling round hit the orb taped to the Vandal’s back . . .

. . . and the Vandal exploded.

The little red man just disappeared, blasting out into a thousand pieces in a ferocious blast.

And Jack, Lily and Easton, huddled in the doorway so close to the explosion, had no way and no time to avoid it.

Just as Rastor had planned.

Jack had seen the hideous effects of an orb explosion earlier in the Endless Tunnel: it melted human skin and reduced bronzemen to lumpy puddles.

Now, he got to see a blast, at least for a split second.

It was a truly terrible thing.

Struck by the sniper round, the crimson orb on the Vandal’s back blew out with shocking force.

A starburst of roaring liquid fire sprayed out from the exploding Vandal, razing-incinerating-splattering everything within a thirty-metre radius. Anything that the fireball so much as touched immediately sizzled and hissed, as if struck by searing acid.

There was nothing Jack could do.

Rastor had outsmarted him.

Only then, to his complete surprise, at the exact moment that the Vandal blew apart, a figure stepped calmly and silently in front of Jack, Lily and Easton, positioning itself between them and the blast, turning its back to the explosion.

Smiley.

The superheated fire blasted into the bronzeman’s back—sizzling and flaming—but thanks to the automaton’s quick move, Jack and the others were shielded from the heat blast and spared from being hit.

A few whizzing droplets got past Smiley and sliced through the sleeve of Jack’s jacket but thankfully missed his skin.

Other droplets nicked Lily’s hair, cutting some strands clean off and leaving the edges smoking.

And then it was over.

The Vandal was gone. The blast dissipated. Spot fires burned.

Jack sprang out from behind Smiley, spied the Serbian sniper on the nearby tower, shot him right between the eyes, and then ducked back into the tunnel.

It was only then that Jack realised that Smiley hadn’t moved since his heroic intervention.

Still bent protectively over Lily and Easton, Smiley’s entire bronze back was bubbling, melting. Crude gobs of his metal body oozed downward before falling in dark drops to the ground.

Smiley fell to his knees with a whump and Jack, Lily and Easton pulled him deeper into the tunnel.

‘He saved our lives,’ Lily gasped.

‘Smiley is good bronzeman,’ Easton said, patting the automaton on its chest. ‘Smiley obey order.’

‘He sure did. But I think Smiley’s fight is over,’ Jack said, laying the sizzling automaton against the stone wall. ‘We can come back for him, but right now we still have a job to do.’

Outside, the firefight between their enemies was still raging. Jack edged toward the light.