As the dropships broke free from the black cloud, they passed over the head of Angela’s yellow Reaper; she had patiently waited until they were visible and used the opportunity to fling a boulder from the ground. The ship swiveled in the air but did not slow down. Glasses turned to the girl with a face of horror. She gritted her teeth in a fury.
“Did you just?”
“Come down here and fight! You cowards!” the girl screamed. The ships didn’t stop, but a mass fell to the ground from the one she hit with a boulder. A sleek black Reaper smashed the ground under its feet. Metal joints groaned as it loosened from the freefall position, which had made it resemble a pole.
Angela screamed and charged forward. Glasses lunged across the cockpit and held the chair for dear life as the armor shook.
The two machines clashed with a loud bang. Angela had tried to smash the head by using her machine’s arm like a hammer, but the opposing Reaper blocked it with a forearm. The girl didn’t let up as she increased pressure to bring her opponent to its knees.
The opposing Reaper used the free arm to punch straight into the machine's stomach; Angela couldn’t keep her mech from stumbling back. Another blow to the head caused her to back up further.
“You can’t just charge in like that!” Glasses shouted as his legs flailed freely within the shaking machine.
“Don’t tell me how to fight,” Angela grunted through snarling teeth.
Her opponent pulled a large device from its back and aimed at the yellow machine.
“He’s got a cannon!” Glasses shouted. A massive burst of energy clipped the side of her machine’s left leg as Angela jumped to the side. She ignored the warning lights from her machine while sprinting across the open field.
The enemy machine pointed a smoking cannon in her direction. Two fins emerged from the side, and it made a hiss as the smoke dissipated. Angela halted her mech and ripped a lone tree from the ground; she held the trunk like a massive club. Charging forward, the girl sidestepped to avoid the next blast from the other Reaper.
She smashed the tree into its arms, and it thrust the gun to the side along with many green leaves. Then, with a wild scream, she thrust the trunk into the chest like a sword. The bark snapped and shredded as she pushed the enemy several steps back.
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Angela took a deep breath as she tossed the tree to the side. The opponent, still reeling from the attack, stood motionless momentarily. Its metal hand felt near the chest where some metal had been deformed from the attack. The young woman didn’t wait any longer. As she screamed, her own machine moved in for the kill.
The enemy Reaper suddenly grabbed her yellow Reaper and flipped the whole body over its head. Angela grunted, and Glasses held on for dear life as the back of her machine imprinted in the dirt.
“Shit, damn, aargh,” Angela screamed through her grinding teeth as her machine rolled away from a killing blow to the open chest.
“We need to think about this differently!” Glasses shouted back.
“I told you–!”
“Just tear open the cockpit and get us close!”
Angela replied with a scream as her armor pushed up and tackled the opponent. They fell to the ground—the yellow machine on top of and holding down her foe with her knee after a bit of wrestling—and she dug her metal fingers into the damaged portion of her enemy. Both squirmed as the black metal was torn open to reveal the Worm inside. The two foes stared at each other, face to slimy head. Angela grabbed each opponent’s giant wrists as the machine tried to sit up. She forced it back to the ground, with the opening in her machine just above the one in the Worm’s. The first to drive their metal hand into the opening would win.
“Happy! As soon as I let my hands free to strike, he’ll go for the kill first!” Angela shouted back—her face as red as her eyes.
“Hold me!” Glasses shouted in reply. He didn’t give her time to think as he let go of the chair and pulled his rifle from his back. With an expression of sheer confusion, Angela grabbed around Glasses’ waist just before he fell. She grimaced as the wires in her body pulled back slightly as they put the cord in tension.
Glasses aimed his gun at the enemy chassis and opened fire. The enemy pilot could do nothing as he dumped the magazine on auto-fire.
[https://imgur.com/Qlshn0r.png]
They stayed frozen long enough for the ringing caused by the gun’s echoes inside the metal armor to end.
Angela’s first inclination as she better took in the moment was to immediately let Glasses go. Her arms loosened slightly, but once she realized he would fall, she waited until the machine was back on two feet before freeing her grip. She settled back in her seat and looked away from him.
“Thanks, I guess, or whatever; I could have done that alone.”
“No time for that; we need to get to the town right away!” Glasses shouted in a passionate enough tone to make Angela jump in surprise. She turned to the mountainside village so they could see smoke rising and another Reaper climbing from the ground below.
“No way I let them destroy another city,” she grumbled as they sprinted to the battle.