III

my proximity sensors went crazy right before a small mound of dirt next to me exploded with a flash. i was moving so fast, the dirt that was blown into the air rained down after i was a good twenty meters gone. thank the gods this guy couldn't aim so much...but you give a kid a big enough fly-swatter...

"Marta," (name of my suit ai) "damage indicator, full suit, twenty percent mask!" my ai overlaid my vision with a light schematic of my suit as i dived behind a rather large rock. the servos on my left leg where a light yellow indicating perceptible damage, but nothing to hamper functionality. the emp behind my laser on the other hand was flashing red...it caught some of the heat slap from a close call with mr. pulse cannon and would not be joining this particular battle. no worry, that monster suit was most likely insulated well enough to take whatever my emp could produce. lucky for me, this guy wasn't much of a mover. he was methodical and had some really nasty guns, but had not moved more than two hundred meters the entire fight. on the other hand, i was definitely nearing the two kilometer mark!

"Marta, deploy chaff." a heat flare shot out of the back of my helmet and from the direction of the rippled lasers that smacked it out of the air, i could figure out where that big bastard was holed up. i was just getting ready to slide out from behind the rock when my alarm sounded again. this time, i could see what they were going on about...the rockets where arcing up at a steep angle. mortars. "Counter measures!"

i curled my head to my knees and the rain strips on my back shot thousands of little bbs into the air, detonating the rockets (of which there were more than twenty) about five meters over my suit.

the explosions tossed me around...really.

it wasn't going to do to sit around and wait for this guy to pound me into paste.

as soon as my vision cleared, i shot another flare off, but didn't wait for the reaction...i was running and triggering my painting laser before i even had a target. i slashed it up to where i thought he was standing and was rewarded with a bright flash as i prematurely blew up a rocket he had fired. i now had a second before he could pick himself up...i stuck out my tongue at him.

it is hard to aim a pov guided weapon on the run. by the time the first disk got to him, he was on his knees and i could see the shiny little circles flying off of his chest plate in many directions...so i looked at his weapons. the line of silver went from the base of his rocket cluster (which fell off his back) and traversed across his neck to the pulse cannon. unfortunately, he was quick enough to duck his chin to avoid beheading; fortunately, his pulse cannon exploded spectacularly, knocking him down again.

i paused long enough to look as my range finder...150m.

i wish i had a can opener.

i had an idea. i started running directly at the big guy firing the cyclic rifle at him and the ground around him with my right as i prepared for a last ditch effort on the way... "Marta, manual override left trigger release!" the other suit was making it to it's feet as my rifle ran out of ammo. i was still 80m away, he started bringing one of his arms to bear and i could feel my left arm getting hot. i leaned forward, still running, until i was past my falling point and said, "Jump!"

i felt a bit of a shift as some ring penetrators from his coilgun sheared off my own coilgun, but it was too late for him...i hoped. i waited until i was close enough to see the pock-marks on his armor and shouted "FIRE!"

my laser gave off a beam as thick as my leg and less than a meter long--and then connected with the big suits mid-section. his systems shorted and gave out with a loud bang. my momentum blasted me through him and sent me rolling into the dirt some twenty meters past the ruined pile that was a combat suit.

i could smell something burning and realized it must be my left arm...i was just lucky my laser only shorted as opposed to blowing up. i turned back to the prone form of the other suit and did a full scan. infrared showed it glowing like a star--power flux and output showed no difference between the suit and the nearby rocks. it was, most likely, around 400*c inside the other suit, but it wouldn't be bothering it's inhabitant.

and damn, i really needed a drink.

-end