19 Reunion

However . .. thought Sousuke.

"Why did the enemy fire just once? They should have known that an outdated anti-tank missile would be ineffective against an AS. Were they testing my abilities?"

He checked, but he saw no one following him. No response on optical or infrared sensors.

It was most unusual.

Something just felt wrong to Sousuke. He caught the scent of danger the would be noticeable only to experienced warriors --- a scent-invisible to all the fancy sensors in the world.

He reached the bank of a river, but just as he started to cross ...

A sniper shot came from downstream-at his two o'clock, a completely unexpected direction.

Reacting instantly, Sousuke dodged, and the orange-colored shells grazed the machine and obliterated several nearby trees.

Right away, a grenade made an arc through the air. Sousuke identified it as a high-powered bomb with a blast radius of about one-hundred fifty feet. Even if his AS could survive an explosion like that, Kaname, vulnerable and exposed, certainly would not.

"Damn!"

Before the grenade came down in front of the Savage, Sousuke turned his back to it to shield Kaname from the blast.

On the grenade's impact, the Savage lost its lower right leg from the knee down.

Unable to balance, Sousuke toppled into the river, flinging Kaname through the air.

She screamed as she splashed into the river.

"Chidori!" yelled Sousuke, bringing the mech up on its remaining appendages.

At that point, Sousuke noticed that the grenade round was completely intact.

It had not exploded because its fuse had been removed. It was secondary gunfire that took off his leg; the grenade was just a decoy to get him to stop moving!

Kaname's face broke the surface, and she let out a lungful of air.

"Chido-" began Sousuke, until three well-placed shots struck his Savage's right arm and flank, stopping the crawling machine in its tracks. He lowered the mech.

"Lower right arm damaged," warned the AS.

"Control lost.

Main condenser: complete loss. Condenser: output falling."

"Crap!"

Alone AS emerged from the darkness. It was silver and different from the others at the base.

Although the AS was roughly three hundred yards away, it closed the gap frighteningly quickly.

From his Savage's prone position, Sousuke lifted the AS rifle and returned fire, but it was a completely ineffective act.

He couldn't even brace himself while taking the shots.

The enemy fired, too. Methodically, the enemy took one shot at a time, as though conserving ammo.

Really, all Sousuke could do was lie there and hope not to get hit.

"The main sensor: lost. Fire outbreak in the latissimus dorsal actuator."

More and more bullets further debilitated the Savage, which was unable to change the magazine in its rifle with only one arm.

As the attacking AS came near, Sousuke swung the rifle like a club, but the enemy deflected it and pushed its carbine against the Savage's chest. Just one shot into the cockpit ...

The gun fired.

If Sousuke took a fraction of a second longer to turn the mech's hips, he doubtless would have ended up splattered on the wall; the blast ripped through the Savage's armor plating, destroying most of the instruments in the chest cavity and plowing through the generator in the head.

Its control system completely destroyed, the Savage fell like a marionette cut loose. Crashing face first, it splashed into the water, throwing its arms toward the bank.

The night air reached Sousuke, and blood trickled down his forehead into his eyes. A sharp pain twitched in his back. When he tried to move the mech's levers, he confirmed its complete demise.

Swimming toward the wreckage, Kaname grabbed its arm.

"Sagara?" she called.

"No, stay back!" shouted Sousuke, ignoring his pain.

The silver AS stepped in front of Sousuke. It was unlike any other Sousuke had ever seen-its stylish design suggested it was

Western. But where did it come from?

"You handled that thing very well until you got to the river,"

The enemy called through the speaker. "Did you really think I'd set off a grenade? We want the girl alive."

"It wouldn't shock me if you did," answered Sousuke. He could see two Arm Slaves and some kind of armored truck en route from the base. His number really was up this time.

"Hey, you're that student from the plane. I never expected an agent to be in high school. Fooled me! You with Mithril?"

"I don't have to answer that."

"Fine. Then die."

"Wait! What are you doing?" shouted Kaname.

Ignoring her, the enemy's AS leveled its carbine rifle at Sousuke's chest.

For a moment, everything was silent.

Then, there was a low rumbling as the shoulders of the silver AS shook, and the left hand slapped its head, which shook as a sign of its operator's disbelief. The huge machine was, in effect, laughing.

"Kashim! What a surprise!"

"You are one of I met at the Siberia, right. I'm Gauron twin brother, Lauren."

Sousuke winced at his former name.

"I barely recognized you. So, you've stuck with Mithril, eh?

How's that coward, Lieutenant Kalinin?"

"I thought you were dead," answered Sousuke.

The silver AS pointed to its forehead, right where Lauren's scar would be.

"Ha! Fortunately, I had a titanium plate in my skull from an old wound. The angle was just right, so here I am! Wow. I'm so glad we got to meet again this way. It's great, don't you think?" Lauren laughed.