Magic vs Science

The dragon had carved a clean line down the front of Blue Storm's chest. Red lights started flashing in the cockpit, the mech's systems were going critical. As much as Renegade hated it, he had to finish the battle soon. The machine wouldn't last much longer at this rate.

He sent all the mech's power into the boosters and rocketed toward the dragon that was poised to strike. Before he was close enough for the dragon to strike him again he lifted the mech's blade arms and turned on their generators. The blades flared to life with energy.

The dragon let out a roar and charged to meet the mech head on, just like Renegade knew it would. He quickly changed the boosters' output direction by 90 degrees, sending it into a wild spin. With the blades out, the mech spun like the blades of a helicopter. The dragon barely had enough time to move out of the way. Renegade missed the creature's body, but succeeded in slicing off the tip of its tail.

*Oh my God, this is fun! Just flip back and forth! Lol!

Annie

I snapped, ignoring the faint pain from my tail. That was fine. I'd had worse, anyway.

I whirled around instantly and pumped my wings, getting another speed boost.

Let's finish this! I roared at Renegade just as I collided with him, digging my claws into the sides of the blue metal contraption. I let my wings go limp, and we plummeted.

I forgot about the blade on the mech's arm.

Renegade couldn't help but smile as they plummeted to the forest below. The dragon had forgotten something very important. Depending on how you use them, boosters still work no matter how much weight the dragon put on his mech.

They plummeted to the ground, the dragon on top of the machine. Renegade flipped a few switches and Blue Storm's boosters flared to life. By redirecting the output by 90 degrees Renegade flipped his mech so that he was on top of the dragon. They hit the ground before the dragon realized what happened.

It was difficult to stand with his mech missing a leg, but Renegade managed by using the machine's arms to balance itself as it crawled off the dragon. The mech's left blade arm had snapped off from the fall and its wrist guns had been crushed. The only weapon he had left was his right blade arm.

The dragon looked up at Renegade's mech, pain filling its eyes. Go ahead, finish me! If you're going to kill me then make it quick!

The mech's speaker systems were damaged during the battle, so he couldn't respond to the dragon from inside his mech. Instead, he opened the front hatch so it could hear the words from his mouth. "I won't kill you, dragon," he said. "You are a great warrior. You have given me the challenge I have been waiting for for years. I will let you live so that we may fight again." With that he closed the mech's hatch and turned on the boosters. He had to expend a lot of energy to get the mech into the air. Once he was up he flew all the way back to HQ.

Annie

I just lay there, pain rocking my body. I could barely move, and I kenw I wouldn't be able to fly; my wing was turned in a very painful and abnormal direction.

I couldn't transform either; it would set the bones in my body wrong, and I would not heal as well.

All I could do was lay there for a moment, steady my breath, then - very gingerly - make my way towards where I'd left Coden.

He didn't care about the pain that tore at his chest. He pushed his body as fast as it would allow, running for the place where his comrade had fallen. Bones were threatening to push past the skin. He even felt a few reach the outer edges.

With a quick push of power, he lit up his skin with fire, hardening it with sealed wounds and a thick plaster of newly forming skin. He would regret doing that later when the bones had to push through to grow back properly, but he would deal with that later.

Annie was almost crawling when Coden finally reached her side. At first there was no movement, but the steady rising and falling of her scaly chest told him the good news.

"alive..." he breathed, then let his body tend to his wounds as he collapsed once again to the floor.

Annie

Coden was hurt. Bad.

Yet, so was I.

Damn. What a predicament. I couldn't fly, much less fight, and Coden couldn't move at all without difficulty.

Something had to happen. We had to go somewhere...but where?

I shifted, staggering to my feet. I panted; the pain was intense, but my tolerance and will were stronger. I moved to him, and, with several trials and fails, I managed to get him on my back and laying against me.

I turned east; something was calling me there, something was making me turn that way. Hopefully a shelter would be at the end of my journey.

It felt like forever. The walking, the constant pushing through trees, down hills and back up them again, through a never ending countryside with a wounded man on my back...

My own strength was failing. I could feel it.

Just as I reached my limit, before everything went blank and disappeared, I stepped through the treeline and viewed a field with a structure on the other side.

I collapsed.

Mishca

I followed the man inside his cabin and then turned as the others filed in, trying to memorise their faces; my enemies.

"We need to regroup. Is this everyone?" Garrick asked.

"The dragon isn't here but other than that, I think so," Saera replied, taking a seat on one of the wooden chairs. A few of the others followed suit, some perching on stools or chairs and others sitting or kneeling on the floor. I remained standing for a moment but I had to act like them. I had to try to be like them. So I sat before the entrance and crossed my legs.

"Anyone got a plan?" Lethero asked.

"They're indestructible," Saera sighed. "There's just too many of them and they're all trained fighters and they're all perfect. Their bodies are weapons of mass destruction!" she threw her arms up and then crossed them against her chest. I found it hard to not smile and beam with pride for my people but then Garrick laughed and shook his head.

"They're machines. They're nothing. And you know their weakness? Emotions. Look at them. They don't work as a team but us? Together we can defeat them!" There were various cheers and I joined in for a moment but then...

"What was that?" I leapt to my feet and flung the door open, startling the others.

"I didn't hear..."

"There's the dragon and someone's with her. They're badly hurt," I explained, hurrying across to the fallen creatures. If they had been allowed to live then clearly I was supposed to help them and what better way to integrate myself into the group than to help two of their kind.

Coden felt the pain waver in and out, intensifying then dulling. He tried to pull his mind into conciousness, but it wouldn't comply. Occasionally, he could feel hands touch him, pressing on his healing wounds. His body was somewhat of a quick healer, but he still could not pull himself out of his pain-induced sleep.

Annie was on his mind as well. He could help but worry about his comrade. The memory of the thick openings he had seen on her made him almost force his body to waken. But his mouth allowed a few mumbling words.

"Annie... Alive?"

"Only you could turn a prototype mech into a heap of scrap metal in one battle, Renegade," Axel said. "Just once could you maybe bring back a machine in one piece?"

Renegade had returned to HQ that evening with trashed prototype mech 35-Blue Storm. When some of the techies took a look at it they were surprised it could still function, let alone fly all the way back to HQ. Axel was there to greet Renegade's return and he wasn't too happy to see the mech in its current state.

Renegade didn't so much as blink at his superior's comment. "Is my mech repaired yet?"

"The mechanics still need time to work on it. They can fix it, but you'll have to wait until morning," he said.

Renegade said, "Have them contact me the moment it's up and running. I don't care if it's midnight at the time." before making his way to his quarters. The battle with the dragon had worn him out, he needed all the sleep he could get.

Annie

What was this? Where were these hands coming from? Running up and down my body, checking all the wounds...

Was I even alive?

Was Coden alive?

I groaned as someone pressed heavily against my shoulder and wing. That hurt; a broken wing was always uncomfortable...

"I think she's alive," someone whispered.

"What's worse, I think she's waking up!" another one answered.

I was already awake. I opened my eyes, a growl building to show my uncertainty as my sights settled on people around me. Someone was tending to Coden; I recognized them, faintly, but I was still uneasy.

I couldn't hold the growl; I was too weak. I let my head fall back to the ground, but my eyes were constantly moving, scanning, studying.

Where was I? Who were these people?

Axel glared after Renegade, keeping his features set in steely indiference.

Sensors never lied; Axel had seen what happened. Renegade had been on the verge of winning, yet he refrained from delivering the final blow despite trashing the prototype mech in the process. Did he think that war was a game? A soldier's duty was to fight and to win – nothing more. Wars did not end by allowing defeated enemies to escape.

But Axel had dealt with Renegade before, and knew how he operated. And though the attack against the dragon had not succeeded entirely, that had not been the entire prupose.

The thing about Renegade was this: he was an extremely talented pilot, but his emotions were too difficult to predict. Axel needed to trust every single one of his soldiers, and he did not trust Renegade. Normally he would have discharged him without question, but the degree of talent was so high that it seemed wasteful. So Axel had formed a plan; a plan that had just succeeded.

Before the fight, an AI computer had been installed in the 35-Blue Storm. During Renegade's battle with the dragon, it had recorded every single manuever Renegade had made, however slight. From the data, the AI comp would be updated so that it matched the exact piloting ability of Renegade himself with no human pilot necessary. 35-Blue Storm was not simply a prototype mech in its updated prowess on the battlefield; it was also a testing ground for the new AI technology.

Axel now had the data, so he no longer needed Renegade. Addtionally, because of Renegade's emotional instability, discharging him would be a risky course of action, lest he defect and turn traitor.

Naturally, that meant the most logical course of action was termination. In Renegade's quarters two of Axel's most loyal subordinates were waiting.

Ideally, Renegade would not survive the day.

Renegade made his way back to his quarters. As he walked he contemplated on how Axel acted upon his return. He had expected him to fly off the handle when Renegade brought the Blue Storm back in pieces, he didn't so much as raise his voice. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

As he reached for the handle of his door something caught his attention. There were scuff marks on the the floor in front of his door that weren't there when he left this morning. He looked at the keyhole of the door handle and saw that it was unlocked. Someone was inside.

He quietly put his back to the wall beside the door and grabbed his gun from under his jacket. With a steady hand he reached over and knocked on the door. He strained his voice to sound like someone else as he said, "Duran Trinn, are you in there?"

He heard movement one the other side of the door followed by whispers. There were two men, one on his bed and the other at his desk. "Who is it?" came a voice from inside.

"Private Regan. I have a message for him from the General, is he here?"

The man on his bed got up and made his way to the door. "What message?" the man asked.

Renegade moved in front of the door, gun in hand. He shot five bullets into the door. The door was thin enough for the bullets to go through and hit the man on the other side. Renegade kicked the door open and shot the man sitting at his desk, twice in the chest and once in the head. "What kind of fool do you take me for?" Renegade answered.

(Wow, this was a long one.)

After changing into the suit of one of the soldiers in his room Renegade made his way to the hangar. He knew Axel was behind the attempted assassination. He was always going off about how emotionally unstable Renegade was, and the only thing keeping him from discharging Renegade was his skill in battle. It made sense that if Renegade was discharged Axel would fear he would live up to his nickname and turn traitor, but the only reason he would resort to this is if he had no need for Renegade anymore. It didn't add up, Renegade was still the best soldier on the battlefield, why wouldn't Axel need him anymore?

As soon as he entered the hangar he knew it wouldn't be easy getting out. The entire place was swarming with nighttime security. HK-47 was waiting in the back of the hangar, fully repaired and ready to go. Axel must have lied when he said it wouldn't be ready until morning to get him to go back to his quarters. There was one possibility as to how he could clear the hangar of guards. In the security tower to his right was a console that controlled the hangar's turret system. There was always at least one guard in the tower, luckily, tonight was no exception. If he could get the guard out of the tower quietly he could take control of the turrets and reprogram them to target all organic life in the hangar.

He went up the stairs and opened the door to the control room. The one guard looked at him and said, "What is it?"

"I'm on next shift," Renegade told him. "They told me to tell you to take a break."

"Thanks, man. I can't remember the last time I had a good night's sleep," the guard said as he left, closing the door behind him.

Step one was complete, now on to step two, clearing the hangar. Because of his rank, Renegade knew all the passwords for every terminal in the base. He bypassed the initial logging and went into the turret control system. After a few minutes of typing and constantly looking at the door to make sure no one caught him he finished reprogramming the turrets, all that was left now was to turn them on. He activated the turret system and let the machines go to work.

It was complete chaos in the hangar for about three minutes. A few guards tried to get into the tower to turn off the turrets but Renegade shot them before they could. Once all the guards were dead he turned off the turrets and set a timer for them to turn on again in ten minutes, eliminating anyone trying to follow him once he leaves.

He hurried down the metal stairs of the tower and ran across the hangar floor. The guards undoubtedly called for reinforcements during the chaos, more guards would be here any minute. When he made it to HK-47 he heard shouts from the other end of the hangar, more guards had arrived. Renegade ignored them and climbed into his mech.

As the monitors shimmered to life Renegade heard gunshots. Bullets bounced off the front of his machine's armour. When all the mech's systems were activated he opened the doors on the machine's chest and fired rockets at the enemies. They didn't stand a chance.

Before he left Renegade took a few minutes to destroy the other mechs in the hangar. He had been counting down in his head from the moment he set the timer on the turrets, when he had only one minute left he decided it was time to go. The mech's boosters blared to life as the machine ran to the opening of the hangar. He jumped off the edge and flew off into the night. As he looked into a monitor to see behind him he saw the turrets were doing their job. As he escaped he vowed to have revenge on Axel for what he tried to do.

He thought about what he should do next. After what he did he doubted he could go to any other base for refuge, they would shoot him on sight. There was one place he could go. There was an old abandoned military base somewhere near the area where he had fought the dragon. He could stay there for a while and plan his next course of action. If he was lucky he might even find some forgotten equipment in the base.

Mishca

"You think they'll be okay?" One of the girls asked as she peered down at the dragon.

"They'll live," I told her.

"How can you be so certain?" Garrick demanded.

"Just trust me, okay? And back off everyone, give them some air. If you want to be helpful, go find some water and cloth for bandages. Herbs too..." I hesitated, suddenly realising how close to breaking cover I was.

"Herbs?" Lethero echoed.

"Yeah I..."

"You have herb knowledge? That's great. Any healing magic?"One of the others asked.

"No but my friend did and she taught me," I replied quickly.

Coden's eyes flashed open. people were closely crowded around him, looking at him like a foreign object. He recognized very little of what he could see beyond the crowd. He felt the swords still on his belt. It was their own folly for leaving him armed, believing that he would be defenseless. He gritted his teeth, readying the flames to jump from his body.

"He is awake as well!" one of them gasped. Right then, Coden unleashed a blast of flame, enveloping his body. People screamed, and scattered in all directions. Coden leaped from the makeshift bed, his swords pulled from their scabbards. He made a run for Annie, ignoring all the small jolts of pain that were running through his body. He may not be in top shape, but he wasn't going to let anything happen to Annie.

He forced all that were near the dragon away, intimidating them with the jumping fire. He stood in front of his comrade, daring any to come near. "Come any closer, and you will burn!" he threatened.

One dared to step up.

"Don't do it Mishca!" one called, but the girl stepped forward. Coden looked at her, ready to incinerate, when he hesitated.

"I know you..."