Graham stares at them both intimidatingly. His stubborn, pinched expression, as well as the fact that he incapacitated Fox with a single headbutt, inspires a certain respect for Mike and Merlany. But the two of them don't let that intimidate them. A lesson Mike had to learn on his first day. You can't show weakness if you want to prove yourself against these weirdos. Even when placed against a wall, you have to show that you won't let yourself be defeated. Merlany growls at the steel armor. After what happened between her and the Gauntlets, she won't put up with this provocation.
"Mike," she hisses through gritted teeth, "give Skid his few more minutes of cover. I'll take care of that gorilla. Got it?"
He looks at her a little surprised.
"But Merlany, do you really want to be alone-"
Merlany gives Mike a cold look.
"No buts. This poser is mine. You won't be able to do much against him, Mike."
"You're probably right," he agrees, albeit somewhat reluctantly, with his face averted.
The idea that he can't do anything clearly disgusts him. But he wouldn't get involved if Merlany didn't want to. Meanwhile, Skid puts on a big grin.
"Two more minutes and I'm through!"

Merlany looks Graham deep in the eyes. He raises his left arm in front of his men and orders in his rough, deep voice: "The girl is mine. None of you interfere. After all, we Gauntlets have our pride too."
Merlany smiles maliciously.
"You must be really proud to fight a girl half your size."
"I don't judge a book by its cover, witch. I've seen your powers," he replies bluntly.
Both Mike and the other Gauntlets take a step back. It's like an unwritten law in the city. When two evenly matched fighters compete against each other, no one interferes. Merlany steps forward and Graham follows suit.

Lightning sparks jump around Merlany's entire body, the energy crackles audibly in the air and her hair stands slightly on end from the tension. She begins to float above the ground. Graham watches the spectacle in silence. At least he seems anything but impressed.

Merlany extends her right arm, the electricity coiling wildly around it before finally being unleashed on Graham in a massive bolt of lightning. However, he remains calm and quickly smashes the back of his mechanical right hand against the striking lightning, which is easily deflected. The bright light of this impact fills the afterglow of the factory site. Merlany continues to stare stoically at her counterpart.
"Is that all, witch?" the deep voice asks in a growling tone.
Merlany now gathers energy in her left hand to send out a blast wave at her enemy moments later, pushing dust, gravel and debris away from her. The wind created by this almost blows some of the spectators off their feet, but the Ironclad remains rooted to the spot. There wasn't even a twitch on his face.
"Girl, you know that they don't call me the steel tank for nothing," he explains, unimpressed.
He fixes his gaze on Merlany as she looks for a way to harm him. Concentrated on his goal, he literally jumps at Merlany and quickly hits her with his fists. Merlany quickly floats out of danger, but Graham stays close to her. He swings his cybernetic arm wide. His gaze meets Merlany's, sending a chill down her spine. She sees the iron fist coming towards her, whereupon she reflexively throws her cloak around herself. Shortly before the fist hits her like a fully loaded freight train, Merlany disappears along with her coat. The fist races unsharpened into the hard asphalt and shatters the road within a radius of several meters. Graham's eyes widen in shock. Just disappeared in front of him.

Suddenly she appears behind him again out of nowhere with her coat. Her hand is surrounded by wildly bouncing electrical bolts. She places her hand on the bald head of the Gauntlet Commander's head and unleashes her energy. A loud scream pierces the murmuring of the watching crowd. His whole body twitches wildly, his eyes almost pop out of his head and he falls to his knees. However, Merlany quickly runs out of strength and lets go of him. Graham sits up again, breathing heavily. Screaming, he reaches behind him to grab Merlany, catching her by the leg and slamming her to the ground in one powerful swing. Merlany hits the asphalt hard. Her eyes widen in pain and her breath catches in her throat. Before she can even collect herself again, Graham grabs her by the neck with his left hand to lift her up in front of him. He lashes out with his right hand, which he rams powerfully into the pit of her stomach. He laughs again, but Merlany screams loudly and her hair stands up even higher than before, releasing an extremely bright, blinding light from her eyes. From this close, Graham has no choice but to keep his hands in front of his eyes. The air literally begins to tremble, whereupon Merlany unleashes another pressure wave that hurls massive debris from the broken street into the audience. At this close range, Graham is literally thrown off his feet and flies into the black van in which he arrived. Merlany growls, baring her teeth and fires a bolt of lightning at the bus, which - despite the Faraday effect - explodes due to the heating of the tank. The Ironclad lies motionless on the ground, buried under the wreckage of the bus.

Merlany falls to her knees. She is at the end of her strength. Everything blurs before her eyes. Her hair hangs over her shoulders again. The crowd falls silent at the sight they had just witnessed with their own eyes. The Ironclad has been beaten! Mike immediately runs over to Merlany to help her up. It literally takes his breath away to see her like that. After a brief confusion, the Gray Gauntlet fighters surround the two.
"Surrender! It's over!" one of them orders imperiously, pointing a gun at the two of them. Suddenly a mocking, youthful laugh breaks the tension. The Gauntlet turns around in surprise, only to find Skid pointing the Lance Drive's minigun at him.
"It's over... for you!" he laughs manically, whereupon the Gauntlets' henchmen run away.
"Thanks, Skid!" Mike exclaims, relieved.
"Nothing to thank for."
Skid pauses for a moment, grinning.
"By the way, the gate is open."
Mike and Skid look at the heavy metal gate, from which a man in a military-style tank top and cargo pants emerges, a strangely shaped rifle in his hands. The look in his eyes, surrounded by thick circles under his eyes, bores into Skid's head.

"So you bastards are responsible for all this chaos."