My sleep is interrupted by a loud ringing. I jolt awake to find it's just my tablet waking me. I grab it and look at the date, wondering why it would wake me at seven in the morning. The tablet reads off it is Monday. I guess they want us to start classes as early as possible. The tablet reads,

Good first morning of school. Every student has at least one physical training class, your block is at eight every morning. Please wear athletic clothes and a pair of shoes you can run in.

I dismiss the text and alarm. I guess an hour to wake up isn't bad. I hate mornings but due to my time in the military, I'm pretty good at getting up and around. In wonder how the others will do?

I do my morning routine of brushing and washing. I then put on my PT uniform which is a T-shirt with the Hussain foundation logo across the chest with long pants to cover my metal legs. I lace up my running shoes which fully cover the rest of my legs.

I head out the door quickly and follow my handhelds direction to the training yard. I arrive pretty early it seems as no one else is there. The yard is very basic with a row of pullup bars, a few climbing walls of various heights, a small agility course and it has the entrance to a very wide paved path which I assume goes for a few miles around the campus considering I only see the entry and exit to it. Aside from that, it's just a large area for any physical activity.

I linger around checking the time every now and then until eight. I check for other students and see only two more. Of course, it is Seraphina and Genevieve. They ignore me as expected when I notice an old man making his way to the yard. He walks with a slight limp, but his arms are massive, and his short hair tells me he probably was a horrifying drill sergeant back in the day but age has really done some work.

He approaches our trio and then says in a frustrated but surprisingly normal voice,

"This is all? What a shame. Oh well. Today is easy, just a single lap around the track at a quick but comfortable pace. I will time you three to get a baseline on your ability to run. Don't worry the track is only two miles."

I see both imperials' faces drop at that and I catch myself from snickering at their discomfort. I guess physical fitness isn't a strong suit of space folk. Then Seraphina speaks up asking hesitantly,

"Sir, I beg your pardon, but why do we need to do physical fitness? We are pilots. We won't really need anything beyond wit."

The old man chuckles and replies,

"That's a fine question, young lady. The answer is, a healthy body is a healthy mind. Keeping your body at some form of fitness can help you perform better academically and also can help overall improve quality of life and what happens if you need to do something outside your AMS and no one is around to help you?"

Seraphina gulps loudly and nods accepting she probably can't get out of this. Then without a word to start, I see the old man pull out a stopwatch and I begin running.

I've never been fast, nor have I ever been a good distance runner. I can run, just not quickly, nor can I maintain high speed. On top of all this having fifty pound lower legs does not help. Each step feels like I'm dragging a sled behind me. I may have gotten to the point where each step while running doesn't sound like a killer android, but I am immediately sweating and breathing hard in less than a quarter-mile. I have to get used to this.

I keep a slow methodical pace as not to lose rhythm and slow myself down. I time each breath with each step and quickly I am falling into a pace that gets me breathing hard but nothing worse. From behind, I hear footsteps getting closer and heavy raspy breathing. The two imperials pass me faces read and eyes full of determination to beat me. What I notice though is that their pace is unsustainable. Their strides to uneven and their breaths with no rhythm. I just keep my pace.

After a few minutes of running, I pass a sign that reads,

1-mile mark

The path begins circling back around towards the field. After another minute I see the girls again and even at my slow pace, I am catching up quickly. They are borderline limping on breaths deep and holding their sides. They are probably;y having really bad side stitches. I pass them at my steady pace chugging like a train. As pass I see them try to speed up once again but Genevive doubles over and starts coughing before running to some nearby bushes. As I round the next bend I hear reching.

Finally, after some time, I arrive back at the field and the old man says my time,

"Fifteen minutes and thirty seconds...."

I kick the ground and swear. The old man looks confused and asks,

"What time were you looking for?"

I reply,

"Fifteen minutes or less for a two-mile sir. I guess I've gotten slower..."

The old man chuckles and replies,

"Well first, that's why we have this class. Second I like your frustration for not getting that baseline. Reminds me of my army days,"

I nod in reply and ask,

"So what now?"

He shakes his head,

"All I'm really allowed to do is make you run endurance like you just did. You can go back to your room or keep working out."

I nod and drop to the ground and begin an ab circuit. Crunches, twists, and planks.After some time which I feel is two long the two girls come walking back onto the field and the old man says their time,

"Thirty minutes fifteen seconds."

I laugh to myself and keep doing my work. The girls don't even pay me mind and walk off back to the villa. Eventually, I do enough reps and head back to shower. I check my device and it tells me my first class is at eleven. Apparently, classes, except my PT class, don't start till eleven.

I get back to my room and shower getting changed into my regular uniform. I strap on my boots and decide to go get breakfast and explore a little. I take my handheld device and use it to navigate me to the main section of campus.

The main section of campus is called academy point as it is on a small point of the island. It has very few classrooms but is the main recreational, and commercial area of the entire island. It is built to look and be a completely modern city with many story high buildings, malls, and many restaurants. There apparently is student and faculty housing on the upper floors of some of the towers. I walk through the main street for a while before I stop at a small cafe.

The reason I chose it is because it is by far the cheapest option over the name-brand coffee shops. I am seated by the waitress and I get myself a basic American breakfast with black coffee. I sit there enjoying myself as I have nearly all the time in the world before class starts. I mess around on the device to see what it can do.

It has many cool functions, most importantly, it works like a credit card and payment method on campus, it has navigation, call, and text, and most importantly it has personalized scheduling and alarms that are automatically updated. I mess with it more to see if I can get some entertainment apps but am saddened to find I am unable to add any new apps.

As I sit there eating messing with my phone I catch movement from my peripheral as someone sits down at my table in the chair across from me. I set down my phone and look up to see the president of the college sitting across from me. She has her own cup in her hands and that's when I remember her name. Liberty... Major Liberty Turner...

I sit there stunned for a moment as she looks at me deep in thought about something scanning me up and down. I let out a long breath and then smile and ask,

"Madam President. What do I owe the honor?"

She kinda grimaces and then says to me slowly and carefully,

"Your name is Mike Richardson, right?"

I nod and ask now defensively growing anxious and somewhere inside me, I feel some anger start to boil,

"Yeah, that's my name. Why do you ask? Have I done something wrong?"

She shakes her head and then says in an almost sad voice,

"I don't know if that's you lieutenant but, if you aren't you look just like him, and share a name. A very strange coincidence. If it is you, somehow, by some miracle, I just want to talk... That's all."

I sit there quiet for a moment and I feel the anger begin to well up. I don't make it shown but my face drops and I reply stoic,

"Ma'am, I am nineteen years old and am just now starting college. I have no idea how I could be an officer's rank in any military. That's considering if there still is any military anywhere. It is strange that I share a name with someone you knew nineteen years ago but whoever it is, probably doesn't look nineteen still."

I finish talking and realize I made a mistake. She gives an apologetic smile and says,

"You slipped up, but yes, the person I am talking about died nineteen years ago. Supposedly. I see you shouldn't be the same person, but if you were I would say to him, I apologize for my past actions. I live with the blood of hundreds if not thousands on my hands. I can never live past my sins and have been working since then to try and find forgiveness, which I will never find. I-I am so sorry... I can't..."

Her voice shakes as I see her eyes moisten, I guess she really has had to come to terms with her sins. I can't forgive her, but I can't just let her keep crying. Still, there is something off that I cannot remember about her. Again another person from my past I cannot remember fully. This is getting old. I then respond cutting her stuttering off,

"I may not be him, but if I were, I would begin to start believing you have actually changed and would like to think you are a better woman for it, yet considering how you act in your apology I assume what you did was something your own mother wouldn't forgive, for that I don't think he can fully forgive you, but he may not hate you as a whole anymore."

She wipes her eyes and replies,

"Thank you, student. I needed that. If you ever need anything feels free to call my office or just walk in. I'm always there."

She then stands up and walks off and I finish my meal ticked off. One at the conversation with someone who deserves no less than death, and two I cannot remember things again. I go to pay my bill and find Liberty has paid for my meal. I guess she really is trying to get on my good side.

I walk from the cafe full and still struggling with my inner self when I decide to go to class. I use my device to navigate all the way to one of the arenas. It's an undecorated bowl with no stands in it and the center arena part is a simple dirt floor. Attached to it is a huge hangar building. I check the class description and it says,

AMS training class. 11 am-12 pm [1 hr break] 1 pm-3 pm

I guess it's my main class here. I hope it's nothing too crazy. I find the area my class is supposed to go and I just wait until 11.

Eventually, the time comes around and everyone from the purple table arrives. I stand on a line marked for our class just minding myself when I hear a loud female parade ground voice shout,

"AAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTEEEEEENNNNNNNTTTTTIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOON!"

Instinctively upon hearing the order I shoot straight arms to my sides and heels together as I stand with my heels on the line. The other students stand loosely in clusters still talking and ignoring the order. A tall, incredibly muscular woman with short blue-dyed hair, walks in front of the line with a scowl on her face. Her eyes are dark and hard and I easily recognize a drill sergeant when I see one. Her hands are clasped behind her and when she reaches a certain point she takes a deep breath in and shouts in the same voice,

"I said attention! That means you stop talking and face me you sacks of shit. Looks like only one of you even knows the proper response..."

She stares right at me and I keep my gaze forward. From my experience of basic from back in the day, I do not like where this is going. The students slowly walk to the line talking less and snickering at my rigid stance and posture. Many still talk while standing next to their buddy. The lady walks up and down the line shouting at people to straighten up or be quiet. When she makes it to me she says darkly,

"Okay little soldier boy, looks like you're well behaved. I don't like suck-ups."

Then before I can react I am struck in the gut with a solid knee strike. Then I get punted right in the groin. I fall over onto the ground gasping for air holding my gut and lower regions as the lady continues down the line to the shocked cries and gasps of the rest of the line. They all grow straight in their stances on the line.

While I'm still on the ground in agony she begins her speech,

"I am your instructor. I am Professor Dusty Enyo. I will be your main instructor when it comes to combat both on the ground and in the AMS. My qualifications to teach you are that I am a two-time world champion AMS gladiator and one-time world kickboxing champion. You will listen to everything I say and follow all my orders with a 'yes ma'am' . Am I clear?"

There is a pause and a few brave people say,

"Yes ma'am"

Weakly. She seems a little pleased and then continues,

"That's okay for now but we will work on it. My expectations are that you all participate and that you all follow orders. I expect you all to be standing in attention at eleven each day. Here under my command, your titles mean nothing, because to me you are all nothing... Now my introduction is out of the way we will now begin training in hand to hand to build all you pansies toughness."

I hear a grumble down the line and a random boy shouts out,

"Why do we need to know hand to hand? We are piloting AMS, in gladiatorial fights swords and other melee weapons are better, plus its not like an AMS is piloted like a suit."

I know the answer to his question, knowing this is just glorified combat training in case of the possible need for future soldiers. Dusty Looks at him with hatred and replies,

"Don't you just know everything. Come out here!"

The boy steps out and comes up to her. She proceeds to beat the living hell out of him and standing over him she says to the entire class,

"Look here. Look how useful his AMS piloting skill is here. See we do this training as in the event you must fight without an AMS you must be able to defend yourselves."

The boy crawls back to the line and stands clearly crying. Dusty then shouts,

"Since it is combat training tradition I must ask, Who here thinks they can beat me in a one-on-one fight. Flesh to flesh?"

I finally recover from her assault and I am hopping mad. I say in a low voice,

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"I don't know if I can, but I'd like to try."

She smiles wickedly as I walk out rolling out my shoulders. I crack my knuckles and get in a square fighting stance. My fists are only half-closed. She keeps her smile and then says,

"Well students, looks like this guy isn't just blowing hot air... maybe he can land a single punch? Anyways... I'm ready when you are."

She gets in a boxing stance and I extend my right arm fist closed. She extends hers and as soon as our knuckles touch she throws a mean left hook. I am not quick enough to dodge, but I am able to bounce it off my shoulder.

I respond by following up my half duck with a right hook after retracting my arm. She blocks it handily but her arms hit her face. She was clearly expecting all normal AMS pilots to be weak nerds. Sadly I am not. She starts to jab at me rapidly one after another and I either block or dodge the strikes. I am no boxer, so if I fight her like such I will lose. I decide on a new attack. I take a light jb and go for a right hook again which she reacts correctly to block it. I don't continue and spin over my right shoulder bringing my arm around at high speed. It connects with her right cheek and she stumbles to her left as I follow through. She steadies herself and smiles saying,

"Oh, now you made it interesting."

She comes in hard and I start to block for my head, she stops her punch and kicks me hard in the ribs. I let out a loud grunt but hold my ground. Her leg stays up so I drop my arm and hook her ankle. I then drop to the ground on my butt. She is pulled down in the same manner. I then twist her ankle my elbow on her shin. I hear her groan in pain as she rapidly tries to hit me in the head but only meets my shoulder. I then step over her leg. She lets out a small scream as I nearly wrench her foot off and I get a firm boot in the crotch. I let go and get to my feet slowly now even madder at the cheap shot.

She stands across from me breathing heavy and clearly spooked at my near submission. I then say to her,

"That was cheap. Guess I gotta go harder now..."

Her eyes go wide for a moment and before I can react she pretty much growls and charges me brutally. I am barely able to stop her flurry of jabs and hooks. I take multiple heavy hits to the head but I mostly keep the punches to my shoulders and upper arms. It hurts but it is manageable. I wait until she goes for a huge knockout punch. I move forward into it causing it to hit my ear hard but overall miss my head. I duck under her overextended arm.

I get behind her and wrap both my arms around her waist and tighten my grip squeezing her. I then say to her,

"One-time high school freestyle national champ"

Then I lift and go backward. I hear her shout in surprise as I perform a fairly perfect suplex. With a loud thud on the dirt and a grunt, she slams headfirst into the ground. I let go and roll away and get to my feet. She gets to her knees and is swaying side to side. Her face was one of near defeat. I stand over her and ask,

"Continue?"

She gets up and gets into a boxing stance again. She throws some weak blows barely even hurting me. I really messed her up with that suplex. I then lunge forward and club her head. She falls forward and I tuck her head under my arm and put my fist over the center of her throat and squeeze. A guillotine choke. She fights for a moment before rapidly tapping my arm. I let her go and she falls to her ass sucking air as much as she can. When she catches her breath I am surprised to see her smile and say,

"Well, it looks like I have a new teacher's assistant and a grappling instructor at that. Good fight boy... you really know how to treat a lady."

I chuckle not taking it seriously and extend my hand. She takes it and I help her up. I look back at the line as I go to fall in and see everyone staring wide-eyed at me. Some in fear, others disbelief. When some guy shouts,

"That was hardly realistic! Name one time when you wont fight with a sword or other dueling weapon? "

I look over and say tiredly,

"Shut the fuck up nerd. Sword or not I'll break your spine."

He has no response. Before I fall in dusty grabs me by my collar and says in a loud happy voice,

"Where do you think you're going. You're my new TA. Like I said."

I groan as I know what that really means. For the next hour, I am used as a training dummy for Dusty to show off new moves to the other students, mostly just teaching them how to throw an actual punch. She also rationalizes the need for hand-to-hand training for AMS pilots. Even though the piloting controls arent able to have you do the actual moves, learning how to take down a humanoid is important as you can use lessons against real humans to learn how to take down the humanoid AMS.

Finally, the lunch bell rings, and all the other students scramble away. I decide to also go get lunch but Dusty grabs me again and says,

"Nah, you're coming with me."

I gulp in fear of what might happen.

Thankfully I ended up having no reason to fear.

She took me to the academic center near the first building. I am taken to an office where Dusty has me register as her TA. I got no choice just had to do it. At least I get a free lunch of some pizza lying around. I then am allowed back to my room. I am told that the next part of the class is AMS piloting. I get changed into my pilot's suit and check myself out in the mirror, in which I look nice. I then put a set of warmups over it as not to walk through campus in a skintight suit.

As I walk back towards the arena I think to myself,

"How did I win that fight? I remember correctly that I did win a wrestling national but I threw some solid punches and did some ju-jitsu as well."

I think about this and come to the conclusion, military training. Of course, in basic, they teach some form of hand to hand. I don't think it normally is that good. Maybe because of how AMS combat many times came down to hand to hand they taught me extra? Who knows, all I know is that I have extra work now and people probably see me as a brown nose. Still, I'm happy I whooped her. She kicked me hard in the crotch completely uncalled for, I was doing what she wanted the others to do.

While thinking I make It back to the arena and the handheld device tells me to enter the hangar. Inside is a large open space with rows of multiple colored AMS. Some are taller than others, some shiny, and some hard to look at due to bright colors. Then after passing the valiant-looking, and brightly colored AMS, I approach Wendigo. The short comparatively stocky AMS in dull army green. The brightest color being the white that makes up the fanged skull on the faceplate. My little hangar spot doesn't have an elevator to enter the AMS. It has a ladder. I say hello to the technicians from the Hussain foundation. They seem happy enough working on my antique.

I just hand around my area as other students enter the hangar and stand in front of theirs putting on intricate suits. I strip off the warmups and am left standing in the skintight suit. It's tight, textured, and black surface dull in the bright lights. Eventually Dusty enters the hangar and has a headset on that connects her to the hangars PA system,

"Alright! Listen up. Today we will start simple when it comes to AMS training, there will be no fighting today, only movement exercises. Not everyone here has piloted recently and may need a dusting off. No weapons, and no horseplay. Understood? Good. Now board and meet me out-back. We will be moving cross country."

Everyone gets on elevators that lift them to their open cockpits. I climb the ladder to the top of Wendigo and hop on his back. I slide into the access hole and sit in the fitting seat. I let out a long breath and kick the pedal. I feel the spines fire into their designated ports and my nervous system scream out in pain as it is completely hijacked. Then my vision goes dark.

[Long time no see jackass]

Wendigos voice fills my head as the system comes online. After a bit the visual sensors come online and I feel the exit hatch close. I respond,

(Yeah sorry about leaving you like that. I know it's like a lobotomy when I'm gone.)

[You don't know the half of it *laughter*]

(Yeah, I guess we gotta go show off)

[I know, I'm in your head. I can read your mind dumbass.]

(Fuck you)

[Yeah right back at ya buddy]

I smile to myself happy to hear he is doing okay. The systems finally come on and I gain the ability to move. I check all systems quickly and everything is perfect. My synthetic muscles are already stretched and ready. I deattach the charging cable and step from the supporting frame. I walk out the back hangar door. The visual sensors quickly reacting to the light of the outdoors. I go to the meeting place right outside and I get a radio ping from Dusty,

"Damn, the Hussain foundation put you in that short pile of junk? I feel for ya man"

I spot her AMS, a slate gray sleek shape. It's very masculine in body shape with very heavy armor. It looks to be designed around heavy breakthrough or close brawling. I nod at her and reply,

"Yeah, it looks like hell but I can guarantee it is a testbed for many new systems."

She nods her AMS head in response and gets to the front of the class. Everyone arrives shortly and I feel very short beside the tall sleek AMS systems around me. All of them are what I would call Solar in design, with sleek rounded curves and bright colored exteriors. Mine is very brutalist in nature contrasting directly.

When everyone arrives Dusty begins talking through everyone's radios.

"Alright, today we will simply go for a fun run and an AMS size agility course. There is what looks like an access road. Follow it and it will have us run through everything I wish you to."

I look behind her and sure enough is a well-trodden road cutting through the wilderness of the island. She begins running and the whole class follows. I fall behind almost instantly as it is clear everyone else's is designed to go much faster. I run quickly behind never falling far behind but every catching up either. After a few miles of running, we reach a cliff-face we are to scale as the first agility trial. It's about fifty meters tall so double most AMS here. Everyone tries to climb and clearly, they have major trouble. I come to the wall and with grace climb it like a methed-up spider monkey. I have always been a good climber from memory, and now that I'm in a multiple-ton robot body that can lift more than that amount, plus hardened steel fingers I get up the cliff easily. At the top, I continue towards a valley I am supposed to jump across. I get to the edge and squat down before leaping forward. I barely make it as jumping is not the strong suit of my AMS.

The last obstacle is a parking garage-looking structure. We are supposed to crawl through it to five floors to the tob and jump down and run back to where we started. I get onto my belly and begin crawling. I keep my angled chest off the ground as not to scratch the paint and feel the equivalent of skinning your knee but on your chest. I make it through easily as I have full control just as if I were doing this myself. I make it to the top and hop off the ledge. I activate dampeners and with a loud hydraulic hiss my landing is surprising;y gentle for something that weighs as much as a main battle tank.

[nice job completing a course a five-year-old could figure out]

(*laughing* Yeah, but in my defense, no one else can move and react like me.)

[Fair point]

I finish jogging back to the original meeting point and Dusty is waiting there. She says surprised over the radio,

"Damn, That was stupidly quick. What the hell did you do?"

I laugh and reply,

"Classified information, but I'm a pretty good pilot, and this AMS was designed for me. My father was a friend of the foundation."

I speak in half-truths as not to cause any trouble by avoiding questions. That and corporate secrets aren't that difficult to believe, so it should cover me.

"Oh, so the foundation has some new fancy stuff. I guess your testbed might be interesting. Let me know whenever they start producing that tech en'masse."

She says happily. I respond,

"Maybe, might get discontinued after me. Shits hard to use"

She nods. I think,

"That's not even half of it"

Eventually, others begin arriving their AMS torn up, dirty, and having lots of paint stripped from them. When everyone finally arrives Dusty begins talking,

"Well, this has been a productive day I'd say. You all got over and I didn't have to call a recovery crew for anyone."

I check the time, it is almost time for class to be over. I didn't realize I waited that long. She continues,

"So I guess it's time to head in, get out, and hit the showers. I don't want you late for your other classes, and the mechanics need to work."

Everyone begins moving back when over an open channel a voice rings out,

"Professor. I know it's early and we have done no combat training, but can I have a duel to solve a disagreement."

It takes me a moment to realize it is Seraphina's voice. I only know of one disagreement, and that she also said she would handle it later. I see Dusty pause and then say,

"Well... Who will you fight?"

Seraphina responds,

"Mike Richardson."

I see dusty turn to face me and respond,

"Both of you grab your weapons and wait in the arena. Mike, no backing out. That's an order."

I lower my head and return to the hangar. I am given my modified bushmaster, my grenade pistol, and a bunch of ammo. I top off my charge and walk into the arena.

[I guess we get to fight now. I'm excited]

(Yeah, but I'd rather not fight already. I don't know the full combat capabilities of us yet.)

[Haha same.]

Now a bit disheartened I wait for the empress to come.

Across from me, out of the hangar strides a recognizable golden light. I think the AMs she pilots weren't at full power earlier. When My visual sensors recover I get a full view of the AMS across from me. The blinding light is emitted by the wings of golden fire coming off its back. I don't immediately see any weapons in its hands but I know they are somewhere and are probably pretty sneaky. The figure made of shining golden metal is sleek and feminine with a flat golden face. In purple written across the blank faceplate is the roman numerals for three. It easily stands a few meters taller than me.

I get in a ready stance and await orders to begin. over the radio Seraphina says,

"If you wish not to fight me I would not hold it against you. I believe you know the wager I am offering and have no reason to explain it. I hope I do not kill you in that little can of yours. Now prepare to face divine fury."

I keep my stance and let out a breath calming myself. I get rid of my battle jitters just as dusty speaks over the radio,

"Listen up. Rules are simple. Upon a critical hit of your opponent's AMS they should eject, From there the last standing fighter wins. Easy enough. Also, try not to actually kill one another I may get in trouble. Okay....BEGIN!"

As soon as the 'N' sound escapes her lips I fire three rapid shots towards my opponent. She dodges them barely the explosive shells hitting the wall behind her with a harmless splash. I hear a laugh over the radio as the golden wing fire two blinding bolts of energy. The wings are weapons... not flying tools.

The golden bolts come at me faster than I can react and I expect to feel the burning heat of plasma but instead, they splash harmlessly a few feet away off an invisible force. In the corner of my vision, I see my shield diagnostics and see it completely stopped the attack. I begin moving quickly not wanting to test my luck against another attack in which multiple volleys begin flying my way.

(Okay, that was cool. Am I immune to her attacks?)

[Yeah, as long as the shields stay put. I'm working hard to keep it up at the moment. The shield is barely rated for that level of energy. Also, don't get hit. They were hot enough to completely remove one of your limbs or even core us. That and the shields can handle maybe one more hit before we die a horrible death.]

(Okay, try and keep them up if you can. I don't know the tech and I guess you don't either, so I'll keep us alive you try and make us invincible.)

I am forced to do a combat roll as two more shots barely miss again. While running I send more rounds downrange and a few hit their mark causing the enemy AMS to stage a little. 25mm isn't the biggest explosion but the size of the round means a bunch of energy is transferred to the opponent. The stagger causes the next shots to go wild.

I notice at that time the brightness of the enemy seems reduced. Considering how hot those attacks were they must take a metric ton of energy per shot. If I can only last a little longer I may be able to really put in work. I then adjust my aim to the wings of the AMS. One shot gets lucky and the right-wing explodes in a massive burst of energy knocking the Empress down. I then stop running in circles and begin a charge forward, they bayonet on my bushmaster bared.

The enemy AMS stands up quickly and in a loud crashing of steel and other metal, I slam into it with my bayonet putting my weight behind it. This sends the surprisingly light AMS flying where it hits the wall behind it. I then hold down my trigger emptying a magazine into it before reaching back for another. During my reload my entire vision is filled with a brilliant light as a massive heat wave hits my shield. I see in my diagnostics that the shields are now down. I backpedal quickly and just barely dodge a swing from a massive sword made of golden fire.

[Shields are down. That was interesting]

(I can tell, and yeah it was. I think we got this though.)

The AMS stands up sword in hand. The remaining left-wing is out of power and folds carefully onto the back of her AMS as the golden light fades. She stands across from me in a kind of fencing stance. Ifinish my reload and she says,

"Fight me in melee coward"

I reply,

"Nah, fuck that"

I then fire rapidly and precisely at the joints of the AMS. The shots causing it to jerk around violently as the rounds splash against its frame. They cause no visible damage but the staggering is appreciated. Then it lunges at me at an intense speed. I barely manage to react in time and dodge. I follow up with a bayonet stab and get a glancing blow before my gun is split in half. I drop it and pull the massive combat knife on my hip. I then dodge and do quickly targeted stabs into the golden metal. I take a few glancing blows. I feel the intense heat as it scorches my metal skin. I let out groans and shouts of pain as I feel the metal melt and warp.

I realize now her AMS is much faster than mine, but due to the piloting methods, the reaction time is off. That's the only reason this fight continues. I wait for another slash before I begin my counter. The massive blade barely misses and I grab the arm holding it under my AMS armpit. I toss the knife to my left hand and drive the blade into the wrist. This destroys the hand mechanisms causing the blade to drop and go out. She tries to throw a high-speed punch with her off-hand but I dodge and leg sweeps the lightweight AMS. It hits the ground with a mighty crash and I go down and wrap my legs around the arm and pull the wrist up to my chin. I complete the armbar as the metal frame cracks before completely giving. The incredibly hard and heat resistant metal Seraphinas AMS is made of cannot bend much as I rip the arm in half at the elbow.

I stand up and get over my enemy straddling the golden may when I am suddenly hit with intense heat. The left-wing had recharged a little and fired a shot into my right arm. I fall off holding my arm in reaction to the searing pain. She stands up and picks up her sword as I fall down as it shifts under me. She activates it and brings it up to strike,

"yield and I will not destroy your AMS. You fought well, but I am divine, you stood no chance in the end."

She says smugly. I see that past her pauldrons I can see the power pack on the back of her AMS. I quickly draw my sidearm and fire three 40mm grenades into the exposed pack. There is a massive explosion as all the power releases at once. The sword deactivates as the AMS falls over.

I stand up as the AMS catches fire beside me. Over the radio, I hear,

"Mike Richardson is the winner by opponents inability to fight. "

As I start to walk off I notice there was no ejection as the fire grows more intense. I freak out and rush to my fallen enemy. This was just a small competition! I don't want her to die from an honestly stupid argument.

I bring out my wrist blades as I start cutting into the metal. The hard metal is difficult to move but once I have a hold the brittle metal is easy to peel away and crack. The fire isn't normal as I can feel my armor begin to warp and crack under the intense heat and in some places melt. I power through and finally reach the pilot chamber in the center torso. I rip the chamber open and grab the empress inside and hold her close to protect her from the heat. I quickly move away and set her on the ground a safe distance away. I then hear the sound of a powerplant about to explode. One I knew well from the war. Using my body I cover Seraphina as the powerplant explodes a final time. The head slags most of my back and causes a small ammo explosion which hurts extremely bad. I feel a couple of fragments of metal tear through my internals as my armor begins spalling from the pressure.

When it's finally over I move my hands and see the empress unscathed from what I can tell with her eyes wide. I then stand fully up and now limp into the hangar where I redock and begin charging.

(Alright Wendigo... I'm going on)

[Yeah... Good job saving her. I'm proud of you. plus we kicked her ass}

I laugh as I turn off my AMS.

When I gain my normal human vision and feeling back I feel a sharp pain in my left arm. I look down to see a shrapnel piece sticking out of my arm. I painfully crawl from my AMS and climb down the ladder. THe matinence crews come running up to me and I say to them,

"Sorry boys, I didn't mean to cause such a mess. I'll tell em to give you a bonus."

They are shouting something I cannot hear as my ears begin ringing. I notice my steps are becoming heavy. I look down again and see the shrapnel piece is much larger than I thought and there also is a hole burned right through my side. I start to stagger as pain overtakes me. My chest also looks like someone shot me with birdshot, not penetrating deep enough to kill but bloodied beyond belief. I then fall to the concrete hard bouncing my head off the floor before going dark a few moments later as hands grab my shoulders...

I find sleep... comforting...