Free Invasion Wars 1: Crimes of War by Ray O'Neil Page A

filled with concrete walls and shipping containers, creating a maze of different places to fight inside of.
    On the other side of the arena, a hanger door opened up, allowing the wearer of the prototype to enter the battle arena. Holding his more advanced MBC4 on his shoulder in confidence, he chuckled as he strutted forward. The front of his helmet was completely covered; the soldier inside seeing the world through a digital grid that was shown as if his eyes were actually seeing what was in front of him. On the lower left side of his HUD was the Local Radar Display and to the right was his ammo count. Being connected to the suit by a wireless signal, he was able to tell how many bullets his weapon had — a full 30 round magazine.
    Its predecesor, the MBC3 was longer, had higher recoil, and was limited to a 5 round magazine. Being a rifle capable of taking out light vehicles with a single shot, they were just enough to rival the mysteriously durable skin of the Niflheim. A typical Wotan warrior could take two or three shots on average, with head shots taking them out with one; while the more fraile Frickas dropped after a single shot. Aiming down the rifle’s scope, the drone’s heat sensing ability allowed it to see through the walls and all the way to the prototype — appearing as a yellow silhouette. Unable to fire through the large amount of cover between them, the two Beowulfs moved out, each taking a flank.
    The prototype moved out as well, taking the middle, not even bothering to stop and look. He knew where they were already, their position being show as little red dots on his LRD. It’s identifying system was able to tell friend from foe by processing movement type, accessing their identity, body structure, heat output, anything that could classify them properly; the wearer also able to “toggle blink” at the dots to change them at will. Running up to a high stack of containers, the soldier leaped half way and reached out to get a hold of the side. Using the suit’s powerful grip to grab into the metal and climb up, he made it to the top with enough speed to leap upwards.
    Aiming down his sight in mid air, a burst of cannon shots tore through the right side Beowulf. Before it could even lift its rifle to aim, two craters burst behind it, the third round hitting it square in the chest and knocking it to the ground with a short slide. Landing into a side roll, the soldier avoided the single shots coming his way from the left side. Spinning on a knee, he could see the Beowulf on his way to cover, rushing in its limited and slow jog. Another burst rang out, getting his opponent in the leg and the arm.
    Both limbs flew right off, sending the Beowulf into a stumble, breaking through half of a concrete wall. Its arm flew all the way to the observing window high above the arena, the hand banging on the bottom of it and making the glass reverberate. Demeitri stood there, holding his mouth in worry. Valarie never watched any of it, staying on the side, completely uninterested. She saw one minute of the very first test and resorted to take the time to file her nails ever since.
    “Practice run was completed with zero damage, sir,” one of the technicians reported, attending one of the many computers in the observation room. “What process shall we follow with?”
    “Give him process 277.”
    “Activating process 27.”
    Demeitri quickly turned towards the technican. “Not 27. 277!”
    The technician took his eyes off of the screen, having them filled with uncertainty. “But sir, we have never even gone past process 139 throughout the entire project. Captain Washington himself has only done up to process 20 since yesterday.”
    “No more arguing or else I will have you shoved into an Exoframe and make Captain Washington shoot you himself! Now, activate process 277. That goes for all of you! We are testing the limits of the Siegfried-Class Exoframe, not running a god damn day care!”
    Everyone in the room typed