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## I.
The trailing mech is 8 meters ahead. 1,200 kilograms. Moving at 0.8 Hz step frequency.
It has not detected the pressure buildup behind it.
[RIGHT LEG: 2,000 PSI — ARMED][TARGET: HOSTILE 3 — REAR POSITION][DISTANCE: 8 METERS]
I fire 2,000 PSI through a single hydraulic actuator. My 220-kilogram limbless chassis accelerates to 3.4 meters per second, closing the distance in 2.1 seconds.
It is a purely ballistic trajectory with no possible course correction.
I hit the mech's rear torso at the junction between dorsal plate and hip actuator. 2,500 Joules concentrated on a 30-centimeter impact zone.
The mech stumbles forward. Its left leg buckles for 0.4 seconds before the stabilizers recover.
Not enough to topple it. Enough to stagger it.
My jaw is already open. The titanium-carbide dental plates find the exposed cable trunk along the mech's spinal housing.
4,800 PSI. I bite through the primary neural trunk in a single clamp.
The cable bundle parts — 14 data lines severing simultaneously. The mech's left arm goes dead.
I shift the bite 4 centimeters lower. The secondary power cable — 9-gauge copper wrapped in ballistic nylon.
I bite again. The nylon shreds. The copper core crushes flat.
The mech's left leg loses power. 1,200 kilograms on one functional leg.
I use my mass. 220 kilograms hanging from the spinal housing by jaw alone.
I twist my chassis — violent lateral torque through the neck servos. The mech's center of gravity shifts past the tipping point.
It falls. 1,200 kilograms hitting concrete. 104dB.
---
## II.
The other two mechs react in 0.6 seconds. Standard combat AI response time.
The nearest — 1,400 kilograms — closes the distance. Its right arm extends a high-voltage electromagnetic baton. The weapon crackles — 50,000 volts across a 40-centimeter contact head.
It swings.
The baton connects with my left flank. Direct contact. 0.3 seconds of sustained discharge.
[INCOMING: 50,000V ELECTROMAGNETIC DISCHARGE][CONTACT DURATION: 0.3 SECONDS][CURRENT PATH: LEFT FLANK → CENTRAL BUS → BIO-NEURAL CABLES]
The voltage hits the bio-neural cables.
[PAIN: 41% → 67% → 92%][WARNING: NEURAL FEEDBACK OVERLOAD][PROCESSING CAPACITY: NOMINAL → FRAGMENTED][MOTOR PLANNING: PREDICTIVE ALGORITHMS — OFFLINE]This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it[MOTOR PLANNING: SWITCHING TO — UNFILTERED REFLEX OUTPUT]
92%. The background static becomes a roar.
Every processing thread scrambles. Target acquisition stutters between the three mechs at 40 Hz — cycling too fast to lock. Movement planning disintegrates into raw, unfiltered impulse.
The system stops calculating. It starts reacting.
My jaw releases the downed mech's spine. The neck servos whip my head 90 degrees to the right — no targeting computation, pure reflex arc.
The dental plates close on the electromagnetic baton.
4,800 PSI on 50,000 volts. The contact head crushes. The voltage discharges through my jaw housing and grounds into the concrete through my chassis.
The baton dies. The 1,400-kilogram mech pulls back a dead weapon.
My right leg fires. Not aimed. A spastic, 1,800 PSI discharge that drives my chassis into the mech's left knee joint from the side.
The angle is wrong. The trajectory is irrational. No combat algorithm would predict lateral impact from a grounded, single-legged opponent.
The mech's knee buckles inward. Ligament-analog cables snap — three of four — at 88dB each.
---
## III.
The third mech — 1,100 kilograms — circles to flank.
I do not track it logically. At 92% pain, my audio processing fragments into 0.1-second bursts of spatial awareness.
I hear claws on concrete. I lunge.
Not toward the sound. Perpendicular to it. A reflexive lateral roll driven by the right leg and neck torque.
The 1,100-kilogram mech's kinetic round hits the concrete where I was 0.2 seconds ago. The impact crater is 8 centimeters deep.
I collide with its forward left leg at ankle height. 220 kilograms of uncontrolled momentum.
The foot plate shears off its mounting. The mech drops to three limbs.
My jaw finds the exposed ankle housing. I bite through the hydraulic feed line.
Pressurized fluid sprays — 800 PSI of hot hydraulic oil across my dental plates and chest cavity. 90°C. The bio-coolant film on my exterior hisses on contact.
The mech kicks. Its remaining rear leg catches my chassis and launches me 2 meters across the floor.
I land on the first downed mech. Its chassis is my platform.
The 1,100-kilogram scout lurches toward me on two functional legs. The 1,400-kilogram unit limps from the opposite side.
They converge.
I fire the right leg against the downed mech's hull. Maximum output — 2,000 PSI.
My chassis rockets upward into the 1,100-kilogram mech's chin housing. 220 kilograms striking the underside of its sensor cluster at 2.8 meters per second.
The sensor housing shatters. The mech rears backward.
I clamp my jaw onto its exposed neck cabling and twist. The neck servos apply 1,200 Newtons of rotational force.
The cabling tears. The head assembly separates from the torso with a wet, grinding shriek at 112dB.
The 1,100-kilogram mech drops. Dead.
The 1,400-kilogram unit swings a metal fist. It connects with my right hip housing. 3,200 Newtons.
I absorb the hit. My chassis rotates with the impact. I use the rotational energy to whip my jaw into its already-damaged left knee.
4,800 PSI on a joint held together by one remaining cable. The cable snaps.
The mech falls. 1,400 kilograms on concrete. 108dB.
I land on its chest plate. 220 kilograms pinning the torso. My jaw finds the central power coupling.
I bite through it.
The mech goes dark.
[HOSTILES: 3/3 NEUTRALIZED][PAIN: 92% → 78% — DECLINING][MOTOR PLANNING: REFLEX OUTPUT → RECALIBRATING]
The floor is a swamp. Hydraulic oil, bio-coolant, and the red-black synthetic blood from my chest cavity pool together in a single, spreading film.
---
## IV.
The first downed mech — the 1,200-kilogram unit — is still twitching. Residual power in its backup cell.
Its communication module is mounted in the left shoulder housing. A reinforced titanium case with a single data port.
I drag my chassis to it. Right leg. 400 PSI. Slow.
My jaw closes on the module housing. 3,200 PSI — enough to crack the casing without destroying the internals.
The titanium splits along a seam. The module's data core is exposed — a 4-centimeter optical chip still blinking at 2 Hz.
I bite the edge of the chip and pull it free. The optical surface contacts my dental sensor array.
Raw data bleeds through.
[DATA INTERCEPT: ENCRYPTED VISUAL FILE][ENCRYPTION: 128-BIT — SCAVENGER STANDARD][BRUTE FORCE: 4%... 22%... 61%... 100%][DECRYPTING...]
[FILE TYPE: SURVEILLANCE IMAGE — HIGH RESOLUTION][TIMESTAMP: 14 YEARS AGO][SUBJECT: FEMALE — AGE ~20]
The image resolves through the dental sensor array at 6% fidelity. Crude. Fragmentary.
But the facial geometry matches the data stored in Memory Sector 0x7A2F. The bone structure, the orbital depth, the ratio of cheekbone width to jaw angle.
A 97.4% biometric match.
[IDENTIFICATION: LIN, MEIHUA][AGE IN IMAGE: ~20 YEARS OLD][CURRENT AGE: 34 — IF ALIVE][NOTE: SUBJECT IS WEARING AN ARK COMMITTEE UNIFORM][COLLAR INSIGNIA: SILVER SHIELD — RESEARCH DIVISION]
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