Free Murder of Crows (Book One of The Icarus Trilogy) by Kevin Kauffmann

activated the armor’s kinetic assistance.  Feldman had a titan’s strength, but the armor and sword together weighed upwards of a hundred kilos.  He was grateful for the extra boost.  
    He was not grateful to see four men with blue Hawks emblazoned on their shoulders as he landed on the other side of the ridge.  Feldman cursed himself for falling for the obvious trap and braced himself for what was coming next.
    The four soldiers unloaded onto Feldman in concert.  Most of the bullets glanced off harmlessly, but others sank right into the joints of his armor.  He could feel the shells tearing through his kneecaps, his torso and his shoulders.  The bullets slowed down his momentum as they pushed him back to the ridge.  He landed and collapsed into his armor.  It was only holding itself at this point.
    They kept firing; all four of the Hawks spent their entire clips.  Feldman was only clinging onto consciousness as the onslaught continued.  It didn’t seem like it could end, but it did.  There was an odd quiet as the four soldiers stared at their broken opponent in the thirty kilogram suit.
    Feldman could feel the blood pouring out of his wounds.  He didn’t know if they’d hit anything vital, but it didn’t much matter.  He was going to bleed out soon enough.  Feldman was already dead; his brain just refused to admit it.  The giant breathed raggedly and tasted metal in his mouth.  He wanted to cough, but he also didn’t want to drown in his own blood.  Feldman guessed that he only had a minute left to live and that he was about to go into shock.  He looked at his opponents.
    They were all children from the look of it; new recruits who feared death.  They had never looked that boogeyman in the eyes.  Feldman thought them an odd mix of fortune; they still had so much growing up to do.  But Feldman knew he would find himself face-to-face with the specter in just a minute or two.  The giant swallowed the blood filling his mouth and resolved that he didn’t even need the minute.
    He forced himself forward using the kinetic motivators.  His bones and joints were useless things, but the suit would at least move forward for him if he tried.  It was pain beyond enduring but he pushed himself past it.  He already knew that he was hurt; he knew that he was dying.  Pain was unimportant.
    The Hawks were not prepared for what came next.  They had thought the giant was already dead.  They had thought he had died kneeling.
    The broken titan rose and lunged at the four children.  His sword was heavy, but he had enough strength left in him to propel his weapon in a wicked arc from right to left.  The poor boy on his right only had enough time to look down before the plasma beam passed through his armor.  The super-heated coil of energy literally burned through the man’s breast plate and sealed the man’s wounds as it passed.  There was a pop from the super-heated air in the man’s lungs when the plasma burned away the air, but Feldman wasn’t paying attention.  The Hawk was still alive as his two halves fell to the ground.
    The soldiers had started to fire on the giant but it was of no use.  The only hope they had was to detach Feldman’s arm and that wasn’t going to happen.  Even the giant had started to lose consciousness midway through the swing.  His arm sailed on in its own momentum.
    The sword bisected the next Hawk just below the diaphragm.  It continued on its downward arc and cut through the next man just above the waistline.  Those two men died quickly; they didn’t last very long once they fell to the ground.
    The last soldier was another story.  The blade passed through the thighs of the last man.  That Hawk fell to the ground screaming and Feldman fell right beside him.  The giant was fading now, but he could still hear the child screaming his heart out.  He just wanted it to stop.  Feldman reached out his hand and closed it around the man’s throat.  Pain lanced through