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## I.
118 meters. One leg. 108 seconds.
[RIGHT LEG: ACTUATOR MODE — SUSTAINED HOPPING LOCOMOTION][HYDRAULIC PRESSURE PER STRIDE: 1,400 PSI][STRIDE LENGTH: 2.8 METERS][VELOCITY: 3.1 METERS/SECOND]
Each hop is a controlled detonation. 1,400 PSI through the right actuator, 220 kilograms leaving the ground for 0.4 seconds per cycle.
The crowd parts. The 110dB screaming creates a corridor of empty space 4 meters wide.
I cross the first 80 meters in 26 seconds. The halogen light from the Outpost grows brighter with each stride.
The blast-rated glass is ahead. 15 centimeters of laminated borosilicate, rated for 12,000 Joules of kinetic impact.
[FINAL STRIDE — MAXIMUM OUTPUT][HYDRAULIC PRESSURE: 2,000 PSI][LAUNCH VELOCITY: 4.2 METERS/SECOND][KINETIC ENERGY AT IMPACT: 1,940 JOULES x MASS CONCENTRATION]
I do not hit the glass with my leg. I hit it with my entire chassis.
220 kilograms at 4.2 meters per second, concentrated through the fused titanium slag of my collapsed chest plate. The narrowest, hardest point of my frame.
The glass holds for 0.08 seconds. The first layer fractures radially. The second layer delaminates.
The third layer shatters.
[BLAST-RATED GLASS: BREACHED][PENETRATION: COMPLETE][ENTRY VECTOR: CENTER PANEL — 1.8M FROM FLOOR]
I land inside the Outpost on my right leg. The impact cracks the polished white floor tile. Glass fragments cascade around my chassis at 94dB.
[SECURITY ALARM: ACTIVATED — 130DB][FREQUENCY: 2,400 HZ — CONTINUOUS]
The alarm fills Sector 4. 130dB bleeding through the composite walls into the market.
[ALLIED UNIT TIMER: 74 SECONDS]
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## II.
The two guard mechs activate from standby positions flanking the interior corridor. Identical units — 1,600 kilograms each, standard Ark Security loadout.
Right arms extend simultaneously. 12.7mm rotary cannons spooling to 2,400 RPM.
They open fire.
[INCOMING: 12.7MM KINETIC ROUNDS — DUAL SOURCE][RATE OF FIRE: 4,800 ROUNDS/MINUTE COMBINED][ENGAGEMENT RANGE: 6 METERS]
The first burst hits my right shoulder housing. Three rounds penetrate the already-breached armor and exit through the dorsal surface.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.[DAMAGE: RIGHT SHOULDER — THROUGH-AND-THROUGH x3][STRUCTURAL IMPACT: NEGLIGIBLE — NOTHING LEFT TO DESTROY][PAIN: 72% → 81%]
The second burst targets center mass. Two rounds embed in the fused chest slag. One ricochets off the bio-reactor membrane housing at 38 degrees.
[PAIN: 81% → 88%][MOTOR PLANNING: DEGRADING]
I hop forward. 1,800 PSI. Directly into the firing corridor.
[PAIN: 88% → 92%][MOTOR PLANNING: PREDICTIVE ALGORITHMS — OFFLINE][SWITCHING TO: UNFILTERED REFLEX OUTPUT]
The left guard mech tracks my trajectory with standard combat prediction — linear extrapolation based on current velocity and heading.
I am no longer moving linearly.
At 92% pain, my right leg fires at a 40-degree lateral angle. No targeting computation. The trajectory is irrational — a sharp, diagonal lunge that puts me beneath the left mech's firing arc.
Its cannon tracks downward. Too slow. 0.3-second lag in the gimbal reorientation.
My jaw clamps onto the ammunition feed belt. 4,800 PSI on a chain of linked 12.7mm brass casings.
The belt shears. The cannon cycles dry — the bolt slams forward on an empty chamber three times before the system registers the feed failure.
I release the belt and lunge upward. My jaw finds the mech's primary sensor cluster mounted beneath the chin housing.
4,800 PSI. The sensor housing collapses inward. Optical lenses shatter. The mech goes blind.
The right guard mech adjusts fire. 12.7mm rounds streak past my chassis at 0.8-meter offset — it is avoiding friendly fire on its blinded partner.
I use the blind mech as cover. My right leg braces against its knee joint and fires — 1,600 PSI.
My chassis launches from behind the blind mech directly at the second unit. 220 kilograms crossing 4 meters in 0.9 seconds.
The right mech's cannon tracks my approach. It fires a 6-round burst.
Four rounds miss. Two hit my right leg actuator housing. The hydraulic line ruptures.
[RIGHT LEG: HYDRAULIC BREACH — PRESSURE DROPPING][2,000 PSI → 800 PSI → DECLINING]
I hit the mech's chest plate jaw-first. The titanium dental plates punch through the outer armor layer — 4mm of composite.
I bite through the primary power coupling behind the chest plate. The copper bus bar parts between my teeth.
The mech goes dark. 1,600 kilograms of dead weight toppling backward.
The blind mech behind me is still standing, sweeping its dead sensor cluster in search patterns. I hop once — 800 PSI, all I have left — and land on its dorsal surface.
My jaw finds the main power trunk at the base of the skull housing. One bite. 4,800 PSI.
The mech drops.
[HOSTILES: 2/2 NEUTRALIZED][ELAPSED: 11 SECONDS][ALLIED UNIT TIMER: 63 SECONDS][CALCULATION: HOSTILE ELIMINATION WAS THE MOST EFFICIENT PATH TO INHIBITOR]
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## III.
The medical cryo-storage unit is mounted on the rear wall. A reinforced steel cabinet with a biometric lock.
I hop to it. 600 PSI — the right leg is failing. Hydraulic fluid trails behind me in a black line across the white floor.
The biometric lock requires a thumbprint. I do not have thumbs. I do not have hands.
I bite the lock housing. 4,800 PSI on a 6-centimeter steel plate.
The plate buckles. The locking mechanism behind it crushes inward. The door springs open.
Inside: 12 vials of synthetic antipyretic inhibitor in a refrigerated rack. Each vial is 200 milliliters, stored at 4°C.
I close my jaw around the injection applicator — a pneumatic gun pre-loaded with a single vial. The gun fits between my dental plates.
[INHIBITOR ACQUIRED: 200 ML — PHARMACEUTICAL GRADE][DELIVERY METHOD: PNEUMATIC INJECTION — CERVICAL PORT][ALLIED UNIT TIMER: 51 SECONDS]
Above the cryo-cabinet, the wall displays a holographic projection. 2 meters wide. The silver shield rotates slowly — concentric hexagons catching the halogen light.
Beneath it, a tagline in clean white font: **THE ARK COMMITTEE — PRESERVING WHAT MATTERS.**
The projection hums at 60 Hz. The same logo on the starch bag, on the cryo-container, on the uniform of a 20-year-old researcher who was strapped to a chair and implanted against her will.
I turn toward the Outpost's public broadcast terminal. A simple console — one transmitter, one antenna, one open frequency.
My jaw releases the injection gun onto the floor. I bite down on the transmitter's data port.
The bio-neural cables in my chest carry a residual electromagnetic signature — 0.08 volts of bio-electric noise. Enough to modulate a carrier wave.
I push it through the antenna.
[BROADCAST: SECTOR 4 PUBLIC FREQUENCY — 462.5 MHZ][SIGNAL TYPE: UNMODULATED STATIC — 96DB EQUIVALENT][DURATION: 2.4 SECONDS][EMBEDDED DATA PACKET: 1 LINE — PLAIN TEXT — NO ENCRYPTION]
[00:00:00. WE ARE CLOCKING OUT.]
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