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Bane instinctively ducked down as a storm of purple bolts of light sizzled past him and leave a glowing red smear on a metal crate behind him.

“Holy that was close...What do you call these glowy flying things?!," he yells.

“PLASMA!," I yelled back and returned fire to distract the drone cluster. "Too bad the US hasn't managed to duplicate such firepower." Instead of seeing them erupt in balls of flame, I cursed as the bullet just bounce harmlessly off their hulls.

They break their wall formation and regroup on a new threat (me). The good news is, I relieved the pressure from Bane. The bad news..., I'm out of the friggin' frying pan and in the fire. I glimpsed them focusing their red 'eyes' and crouched just in time before plasma impact shook the cockpit and smeared across the canopy glass.

What the fuck am I thinking? It took 25mm anti-air cannon to take down these annoying bustards -Not some flimsy 9mm. What the hell are they doing here anyway? They won't appear in the middle of nowhere unless...they have a service platform.

The Mother is still ALIVE!

That thought chilled me to the bone.

...

..

.

ALEX! Get a grip! Shoot first, talk later. Anyway, nothing is normal around this island!

I flicked a row of switches. The Cobra's landing gear deployed and raised the craft a meter off the floor. “PRIMARY CANNON ONLINE" appeared on my HUD. A simple targeting reticule formed on my retina. “Guns clear," I announced. “Mahalo motherfuckers!!!"

I brought up a targeting reticule and swept it around the deck. A cluster of 10 drones burst into flame and spiralled out of the air as my double 7.62mm GAU-17 did its job. I watched a few surviving drones forming a tight hexagonal cluster –A desperate move to shield their comrades with their own hull. It appears that they posses swarm intelligence.

I aimed precisely at a weak spot in their phalanx and squeezed the trigger. Three drones spiralled out of the air as their thrusters screamed and belched black smoke into the air.

SHIT! I realised that a single drone had survived the assault and had clamped itself to the base of my guns. I tried squeezing the trigger and hope that the rotary barrel will dislodge the drone. The word “JAMMED" blared on my HUD. Further inspection at the Engineering console revealed that that bastard had cut my ammo belt feed.

“Oh fu-!" I reflectively hide myself behind the ejection seat as two drones swarmed close, their red optic staring at me, filling the air with the hum of their plasma weapons.

“Whizz...*whistle*...KRAK!" I heard that weird sound -some kind of whistling noise in the air followed by a metallic puncturing sound. I peeked at the cockpit and saw two drones with an arrow jammed into each side. They hovered for a while before suffering a fatal short-circuit and fall to the ground, twitching and flickering their red 'eyes' uncontrollably as a few electric arc leaked from their power core.

I bring up the optical sights of the cannons on my HUD and rotated it 270?. A bolt from the blue, Bane is standing proudly inside the wheelhouse holding both... a bow and arrows in his left hand. I've never seen this technique before. I saw him quickly takes three arrows using his right hand, slipped it over his left thumb while pulling the string until a full draw. He held his breath for a while before releasing the arrows. There's a short whistle in the that ended with an explosion and a fireball in the distance.

I used the momentary break to check on my ejection seat. Here, I believe that the fate of my survival is hinged on a single seat...and luck.

Ejection Seats are normally...almost 100% fail-safe and utilise self-propulsion.

Well, not in this case.

My seat needs a constant internal power -which its damaged power core could no longer properly supply. Diagnostic mode just turned up an 'anomalous result'. I forced the seat to turn on by jump charging it using the reactor. A few controls and buttons lit up.

There's a risk here. A non-fully powered seat might flicker on and off during operation which is bad...especially during landing and in combat. I need to store power inside a weapon system's capacitor and use it wisely. I hope this will be enough to fight drones.

I pulled the eject lever.

BOOM!

I shut my eyes as orange flash starts filling my vision when the canopy glass blows off. Then, my stomach lurch uneasily as the seat's rocket motors roared. I leaned firmly against the seat fearing any vertebrae injury and letting the seat simple VI connect to my neural implant.

/Initiating ELITEs Zero to Zero Ejection Combat Protocols >Class="Long Range Anti-electronic combat specialist"> ---> 'Uploading neural interface' PLEASE WAIT>>>

Oh, I actually hate this!

/BATTLE READY >/PLEASE STANDBY WARNING!!! ="reactor-stability-matrix-compromised"> Proceed? Y/N_

I choosed 'Y'.

Nanofibre and carbon nanotubes began sliding across my skin. It felt tingly, metallic and cold which reminds me of mercury. Then, the whole ejection seat retracts itself into a metal exoskeleton and creep across my entire skin from my back. I closed my eyes as the seat clicked itself around my torso and my neck. When I open them... a polarized combat visor had slid into place. A status bar shown that I could only activate a system at a time.

With years of drills and practice, I touchdown with the balls of my feet and rolled forward. My neural implant integrated my thought into action. Multiple crosshair and firing resolution appeared on my retina as I reflectively activated my missile system, locked on and open fire. Its gonna be a one shot.

Multiple mini-missiles streak the air from my shoulder pod and connect with remaining seven drones. Their thrusters array explode as it made contact with the explosive warhead sending them spiralling down to the ocean.

I let a sigh of relief and stretched my back with a pop. I might join the Ejection Tie Club one day.

Bane let out a low whistle and a burst of applause. “Whoa! There's a military exosuit? I never thought I could see one in my entire life." His voice is thick with amazement as he jumps from the first floor and land beside me. He circles around me a few times hooking his tail around my hip. “You look ho-...uh...great," he clears his throat.

“Look," I cut in. “I really want to keep the ball rolling but now I got a big ass mother ship with an even bigger guns coming for my ass."

“Heheh... don't wanna fly off at a particular tangent eh? I got a few fancy ideas," he fixed his gaze on something behind me and licked his lips.

I trailed his gaze that ended right at the shiny tip of the rotary canon at the underside of Cobra 1. “Wait a minute, that thing is around 248 pound even without the feed system... Oh, well never mind. You lifted this whole thing from the seabed anyway."

“Hehe...so let's get to work. I'll settle this whole thing while you keep on lookout."

“Okay... could you spare me one? I think I could use it with this exosuit."

“Sure! Just trust me. I'm an engineer."

I just rolled my eyes inside my helmet and went to the bridge. After jump-starting the engine, I towed both boat to a swamp upriver. The low dense mist will help us hiding from more drone attacks.

I turned off the engine, grabbed a pair of binoculars and scanned the horizon. A cluster of drones dotted the ocean, flying low near the spot where we used to be. Telemetry radar link from Cobra confirmed that they are flying in zigzag search pattern. They hadn't seen us yet. Good, I like to keep it that way.

I went radio silent and alerted Bane by sending two amber flashes for 'enemies ahead'. Laser or more usually known as 'flash' is a less accurate military slang for laser communications. Basically, it's like sending Morse code using IR lasers. Although having limited combination of signals and data transfer, this WWIII tactic is still widely used because of its element of stealth.

He acknowledged and replied with a single amber flash. I'm quite surprised that Bane, who technically is just a civilian in the middle of nowhere knows about military tactic. This also suggest that the Datapad on is forearm is either modified...or came from the military. Interesting.

I continued tracking the drones. Their red camera lens and black spherical body makes them pretty much like floating eyeballs. I tried to learn as much as can from watching them. How did they fly? Is it called flying or floating? I'm pretty sure if I could fully see their backs I could- They dispersed and fly off in an exit vector.

Arragh!!! Damnit. My team, my family heck even the whole world is fighting waves after waves of this alien invasion bullshit. But me, I'm stuck here doing nothing! I stomped my foot it frustration.

Instead of a loud sharp metal sound, I'm greeted with a clack. I crouched low and knocked the floor. It feels denser and than any other tiles on the floor. I reached for the side of my helmet and activated a small LED light. The flashlight flickered on...and then turns permanently off.

I signed at my damaged power core. It could power missiles yet it failed to turn on five LED bulbs...Wait a sec.

A small metal tiles glowed florescent green at its edge despite the dust-covered floor. I gave the flashlight a slap and it turned on, revealing with a few almost invisible scratches on the tile. I think it could slide to the side. True enough. Inside there's a red handle that says “Emergency Lab Access".

Lab? Well, this is a research vessel after all. I guess I found a shortcut. Today is my lucky day.

I pulled the lever.

...

There's a slight hiss before a line of floor tiles at the middle of the room dropped down, becoming a flight of stairs descending into darkness. I carefully trailed the path and arrived at a short hallway lined with recessed lights, smashed security cameras and thick metal walls of either ballast tanks or engines. At the end of the hallway, stood a vault door – It's reinforced steel surface and bulky beams taunting me to open it.

Thankfully, I know a guy who just lifted more than a tonne of metals from the seabed.

................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

“Careful," I warned.

Bane grunted an acknowledgement as he eased his way down the narrow stairs. There was a sharp scraping sound and [Whoa!] a flash of sparks as his pectoral fins brushed the wall. It was too tight a fit. He turned sideways, which left him just enough room to sidestep until he reached the larger hallway.

“See, I told ya that there's a secret lab." I moved forward and crouched by a numerical keypad at the side of the door. Before I touched them though, Bane swiftly moved behind me and grabbed my arm.

“Is there anything wrong?" I asked.

“Fuh, that was reeeal close!" I saw the finely arranged texture of his gills as he exhaled a relief that fogged my faceplate. “Look," he brought a jumper cable so close to the keypad that an electric arc formed visibly in the air. “It's a trap."

“Uhh...smart move." I remembered that he could sense electricity.

“It never hurts to be extra careful," Bane advised as he clipped the jumper cable to my exosuit frame and grounded the other end to an exposed green wire of a security camera. “I think you could survive an electric shock...But, that doesn't mean I want that electricity to jump towards me and turn this whole room into a Tesla coil. Look, I hate labs, and scalpel... or anything sharp pointed at me. " he audibly sighed. "What I'm saying is 'BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL'. I had a bad feeling about this place."

I carefully touch the keypad—nothing happens.

"Well, that went well." I said.

Bane is slowly opening his eyes, "Honestly, I expected an explosion."

"Bane, don't jinx it!"

A nervous heartbeat passed before I ripped open the keypad.

A circuit board hid behind it. I was just about to fire a hack dart when I considered the larger tactical picture: This door had obviously been booby-trapped. Only god knows what kind of virus, Trojan horse or hacking countermeasure is in there.

However, good ol' brute force will ALWAYS work. I ejected an HMF (High Microwave Frequency) from my backpack inventory, caught it and shoved it in between the circuit's wiring. I shoved another grenade in between the door crack.

I slide behind Bane's breaching stance. “Sorry man. But you might be my only protection."

He took a few seconds to process the information. “Oh! You mean the EM...pulse. I got you covered." He wrapped his tail protectively around my body and gave a thumbs- up.

I pressed a red hexagonal button on my gauntlet-ed hand, a heartbeat passed before static washed across my vision, and a flash filled the hallway.

.

..

...

I peeked at the doors. The metal shone mirror bright where the grenade had detonated but were otherwise unharmed.

A hundred HMF grenade wouldn't have blasted through these doors no matter how well placed they are—but when HMF grenades detonated, they could generate enough electromagnetic pulse to disrupt electronic and shielding. A trick that is not in the book but somehow...Bane knows it.

(Part of me feels grateful that I'm not working with a total idiot and I did not need to tutor him about positioning, posture, footing, hand signal...etc. BUT, the other part of me start to question where did he learns all this. Average cadet took two years of practice. Even then, they still can't get their shits straight. I need to find a time to sit down and talk.)

I dug my hands into the door crack—hoping that the disruption had knocked out the motors and hydraulics keeping these doors closed.

I braced myself and tried to pull the doors apart at the seams. They slid a few centimetres, and then ground to a halt. I adjusted my footing and strained at them again but the doors remained frozen in place.

Adding more salt into the wound, my HUD flickered off. “Realllly now? Of all the time in the universe?" I cursed at the reliability of technology these days.

“Here, let me do the hard work." Bane cracked his knuckles, jammed his fingers into the crack, flexed and pulled—This time the heavy metal slab moved with an ear splitting metallic screech.

My suit suddenly flickered on and pulsed one...[correction] ...two warnings :

First, there was signs of movements on the other side of the door.

Secondly, Bane is impossibly [uhh...hot?!...no, I mean] radiating high ammout of thermal energy. Heat waves rippled from his arms up until reaching his shoulder blades and ending at his tail blurring a bit of my vision.

Despite the temperature had soared up to 60?C and the whine of microprocessors inside my armour trying to compensate—I decide to worry about the former.

I shoved the muzzle of my pistol into the narrow opening and squeezed the trigger a few times. Spent shell casings clattered to the floor.

A few heavy clangs echoed from the other side before a curl of smoke drifted form the crack.

With a next to impossible strength, Bane forced the door open. Literally tearing it apart. The sounds of multiple hydraulic cylinder bursting and tonnes of metal twisting beyond repair seemed inferior compared to Bane as he finished his herculean act with a mighty ultrasonic scream.

In fact I had to kill my internal speakers to save my ears.

With a loud CLUMP! Bane slumped to the deck, produced a zahato and gulped down its content. He lolled his head to the side signalling me to proceed.

"I'm in." I said as I went into the dimly lit corridor.

There was a pause over the COM before Bane replied, "Yeah, you go first. Need to catch *pant* breath," His voice was interruped with some coughs. The huge effort took something out of him.

I rushed into the room and stepped over a dead robot on the dusty metal floor. Its an old model of an Anti Personnel Bot, equipped with a pair of muscular looking pair of arms, caterpillar tracks for locomotion and a small 9mm weapon. Its bulky and buff half-humanoid look quickly gained a more colorful nickname : Bouncer. Its torso and head had been punctured open—shot as it tried to hold the doors closed.

A Bouncer in jet black armor plating detached itself from its wall recharge station, its visor and hydraulic winked on. It strode towards me, its visor quickly flashed red (bad news).

I leveled my pistol, squeezed the trigger and fanned the hammer. Three rounds spat from the muzzle before the bolt locked open. An ammo counter beside my gun augmented reality HUD flashed 00—empty.

The shots flared on the Bouncer's energy shielding ;a lucky round penetrated but missed the chest plate and deformed its shoulder. Black lubricating oil spattered on the floor, but it shrugged off the leak and kept coming.

I cursed and scrambled out of the way as hydraulic hammer-fist traced a glowing angry red arc in the air and struck the floor. The resulting shockwave knock me off my feet.

This Bouncer is heavily modified. Its fists was a giant rectangle of red-hot plasma contained in an electromagnetic envelope that emanated from its wrist. Such weapon could theoraticcally melt my armour or at least melt and jammed the joints. Worst of all, I don't have enough firepower to kill it. I am crazy to say that I could take down a Terminator with just a pistoo. Ineed to improvise my tactic but, I couldn't risk taking any hit. So, I did the last thing it expected : I clamped its tracks with my boots and pulled myself close and leave my torso pressed firmly against the floor.

Due to a design flaw, the Bouncer was never created to pick up anything on the floor. Heheh...so I'm just inside its blind spot because it couldn't bow down or duck.

I raised my knee to my chest, coiled and lashed out with a powerful kick. My metal boots connected with the machine's chest. The energy shield flared, rippled and flickered. I raised my M9 and fired the whole mag. Gunpowder rained on my visor and clouded my vision for a while.

...

BUT THE SHIELD STAYED STUBBORNLY INTACT!

WTF?

The Bouncer staggered from the force of the multiple blows. I saw a gyroscope spinning in its midsection. Maybe, if I could hit that part this whole thing would crumble.

I sighted through the iron sight, aimed right at the spinning sphere...when I noticed two bright red glow at the edge of my vision.

ITS TOO LATE. There's not enough room or time to dodge : I raised my left arm to protect my head and is about to pull the trigger when...everything gone dark.

The Bouncer's visor instantly winked out, its shoulder slouched, its hydraulic arm stopped in mid-air and powered down.

Its body splitted into two, revealing tangled wires and sparks before falling to my both side.

Uhh...what just happened.