War of Grit

The air assault continued. The bullets rained down killing friends and foe. The situation became an advantage for Richard since the Zeros were indiscriminately killing themselves. It made him wonder if they really had brains.

He rolled again, evading the slug that exploded behind him. He jumped up aimed his electromagnetic weapon at the nearest exoskeleton and shot another wave of EMP at it but the metal soldier twisted its upper body at an unnatural angle, just enough to let the shot miss it by a few inches.

An advanced warning system!

Richard came to a realisation and put away his electromagnetic gun. It was for two reasons. First, the electromagnetic gun could only hold up to five rounds a time and since he hadn't brought more he couldn't reload.

The electromagnetic weapon was—as at now—the most effective weapon against the metal soldiers. It was made and modified by his mother after he was rescued from the Zeros. That day, they also had two exoskeletons with them.

His mother was afraid that such situations might happen again so she had someone make the weapons for him. Just like most weapons in his weapons room, they were made by his mother and most of them came in small pieces that could be assembled and disassembled.

A barrage of bullets rained out towards Richard and he dashed around the trees, moving in uncoordinated manner. The metal soldier followed his movements and turned the bullets towards him wherever he went.

Soon enough, Richard jumped behind an unsuspecting exoskeleton and used it as a shield to take the barrage of bullets the other was sending his way. The bullets left huge holes in the armour and electric sparks flew out and whining sounds followed but the wounded metal soldier was still on his feet.

Only his torso and the side had been hit. The vital spot would have been the chest. The exoskeleton that Richard was hiding behind spun around and aimed his muzzles at him, preparing to fire the missiles.

Richard grabbed the metallic arm with a vice like grip and turned it a bit to the side, making the projectiles rush for the third exoskeleton.

The latter used its advanced warning system and easily evaded all the projectiles. Two compartments then opened up on its shoulder and it fired more explosives towards his companion. The explosives left the armour even more vulnerable.

Richard had rushed out in time. He quickly unstrapped his electrocutor and did a forward jump before doing a twist in the air just to avoid a projectile that came at him.

He fired the electrocutor at one of the metal soldiers. Bits of metals flew out, wrapped in silvery electric arcs that kept spinning at they moved towards their targets.

The exoskeleton used the warning system yet again and jumped to the side but this time the bits of metal made a turn and followed it. The slit that comprised its eyes lit up with a tinge of red. The metallic bits latched onto its armour spreading lines of silver white electric currents that quickly spread through its internal systems and circuits.

The electric current short circuited the whole system leaving the metal soldier vulnerable. The other two metal soldiers paused but then they raised their weapons and released everything they had on Richard.

Richard—who had anticipated this—rushed to the side and kept running. The explosion that followed killed the other group of Zeros that had rushed out towards that direction.

Richard was pushed back by the resulting shock wave of the explosion. Just then a bullet scratched his arm and he ducked down. 'Damn, I was almost shot.'

The two metal soldiers kept firing at his direction and he meandered between trees, using the trees as shields to slow down the projectiles.

In minutes he was breathing heavily, out of breath. The metal soldiers didn't give him a breathing space. As he stopped to catch his breath, the metal soldier jumped in front of him and back handed him.

Richard flew into a tree and spat out blood. He felt a few bones snap. He groaned and hissed in pain. The exoskeleton aimed at him again.

….

Arianna—who had just put down the remaining three that threatened her area—looked around just in time to see Richard being hit into a tree trunk.

She looked around and spotted the grenade launcher he had used to take down the first fighter jet. She quickly pulled it up. She had seen it being fired before so she tried her luck. She pulled the trigger and the powerful projectile rushed out towards the metal soldier.

The exoskeleton, thanks to its warning system, sensed danger and quickly turned, ignoring Richard. Richard quickly pulled his electromagnetic gun and took a well-aimed shot. The exoskeleton froze in place giving Richard an opening and a breathing space. Richard slowly stood up with a grimace. His waist was hurting. He picked up the machine gun that had fallen off one of the Zeros that had been killed and aimed at the frozen metal soldier. He buried it in a salvo of bullets, leaving large holes in the armour.

The destroyed armour leaked the blood of its pilot. It slumped to the ground the exploded. Richard then turned his attention to the last metal soldier. The latter began to aim at him as well. It shot waves after waves of slug till it ran out of slug.

It detached the weapon and rushed at Richard who had just emerged from behind a tree.

….

Marco held the gun up and steadied his aim. Someone was coming through. The moment the three Zeros stepped into view, he shot at them. The bombardment of bullets ended and the smoke died out but the three men were still standing!

Marco looked at his gun and realised that their uniform was a bit different from the others. Were they using bullet proof materials from top down?

The three men used a few minutes to recover from the slight pain the bullets left on their skin and bones.

They aimed at Marco and he made a flimsy move to stand up but his shoulder rang with pain and he fell again. He raised his gun again. 'If I'm dying then I'd better die with the last shred of honour I have left.'

Bang! Bang! Bang!