"A nanobot swarm is a grouping of human robots that operate as one. Each is not intelligent, but as they come closer together, the cluster grows in intelligence and operate together as one, thinking as one. The concept is simple: the more minds working on one problem, the faster a solution is found. Each nanobot works through cloud computing, communicating with its counterparts to fulfill its active protocol. For example, a Security nanobot swarm would be used to capture a fugitive. The more nanobots active, the faster a fugitive is caught." - Excerpt from developmental journals on Security nanobots

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Dane drew the grenades to his lips, bit down on the pins, and pulled both apart. He smirked. "Well, fuck it. Today is a good day to die."

He waited until the grenades were about to explode, then threw his hands down, letting go of the explosives. He timed it so the grenades would blow up in front of his body, and before they could, he tucked his arms in front of his face.

The explosion rocked Dane completely, ripping not only the rubbery black substance of the LNE suit from his body but detonating long tracer lines of blue and black as hundreds of tiny bits of metal impacted against his body.

Kinetic energy threw itself along Dane's body, and he began to focus. "Like water," he said to himself and began to move his hands about in a quick downward wave-like movement. The energy rippling along his body in thousands of tiny bursts coalesced at the tips of his wrists, then extended down, lighting long lines across his body in a solid blue-black light that turned the kinetic energy into usable potential energy.

The chirpy feminine voice that had spoken about pre-startup once again chirped into his mind. "K.R.I.S suit at optimal energy. Kinetic redirection and interaction system is online. The system is now at 20% capacity of the recommended 65%."

Dane could feel his mind connect with the suit fully, and at that point, could feel every piece of the racing energy that looped up and down his arms. He felt their locations, the strength of every particle, how they moved, and then he started controlling where they went.

Dane saw the trees racing up toward him and braced himself for impact.

Just as he was about to hit the ground, he expelled a large amount of the kinetic energy racing through his body and redirected it back out into a flat explosion that absorbed the entirety of the descent instantly.

When Dane hit the ground, he plummeted not through a forest, but a roof meant to resemble one. Throughout, he expelled multiple bursts of energy to break his fall gradually while allowing further impacts to occur to gather more energy into his suit. The regeneration systems built into the nanites in his blood were working overtime—repairing broken bones, torn muscles, and the like. The spider weave carapace under his skin was the only thing keeping him intact, and from having his limbs fully ripped from their sockets.

All around him, Dane saw papers flying, office cubicles with holo monitors being thrown asunder, and he was pretty sure he fell right through someone's desk while they were working. The stunned worker's eyes left an impression on his mind, but he did not have the time or the luxury to linger on what had happened, knowing he had to get moving. “DeWhat did the system mean by recommended 65%? I thought I had access to a full 100% reservoir?"

Dane was finally able to break his fall on one of the mid-levels and just lay on the ground, looking up at the successive holes he had left in over fifteen levels of the building. "Well that was fun," he laughed.

"Sir, it appears a limit has been placed on the suit and prevents you from accessing its full potential."

"Dennis, what happens if I break 65%?"

D.N.I.I.S. was quiet for a moment as he computed the information. "It appears that the suit is set to overload at 65% capacity. Someone appears to have tampered with the system and has placed a locking mechanism on the suit's potential output."

"Can you remove it, Dennis?"

"I can try, but my initial assessment is no. It appears to be a complex geometric algorithm, and without the appropriate counter algorithm, the locks will remain in place."

Squinting, Dane looked up at where he had come through the roof. "We will have to pick this conversation up later. Dennis, get me a closer picture up there."

Dennis focused his eyes acutely, and as a pair of binoculars, he was able to zoom in slightly.

He saw the rough ominous visages of the MKII soldiers as they leered down at him. One waved to the others and dived through the hole, quickly followed by the other four. They crashed past the levels, making the hole slightly larger as they went, uncaring for the structure itself, for it did not damage the durable armored suits.

Dane immediately righted himself and looked about for an exit.

All around him were stunned office workers and papers floating about. You could have heard a pin drop.

Dane started running toward the window and stopped next to one of the desks. He kneeled and gave the young woman sitting at the desk a winning smile. "Miss, perchance can you tell me what city I am in?"

She was pretty, young, and had a nice business suit on that was sharply designed for her figure, with hard obtuse angles that appeared to be the fashion these days.

She was struck almost dumb but then shook herself out of it. "Washington."

Dane saluted her and raced toward the window. He stopped at the glass and looked out. Below, he could see a freeway made from the same Ferracrete that raced underneath. The Ferracrete was lined with long electromagnetic strips that gave off a continuous magnetic field. Multiple cars raced along as well, each equipped with a counter field on the bottom of the vehicle, designed exclusively to travel quickly on the EM rails.

He punched the glass, shattered it, and looked back at where he had come from. The MKII Shadows landed on the ground where he had been laying moments before, then raced across the ground, without touching it directly.

He saluted the girl from before again. "Toodaloo!" he said, and jumped out the window, angling himself toward the freeway.

As he was falling, Dane threw energy around his shoulders and toward his right wrist. He expelled it in a sudden burst in such a way that he changed the angle of his descent to land on one of the cars that were driving on the Ferracrete freeway.

He landed on the trunk of the sleek silver car and felt it rock violently back and forth from the impact. The driver looked back in surprise at his new passenger and winked back at him.

The MKIIs were not far behind. They began to open fire on Dane from behind.

Dane felt the impacts of the bullets as they ricocheted off the hull of the vehicle and he saw smoke rising from the engine. Swiftly, he jumped from that car to another.

Using the increased strength of the suit, Dane knifed his fingers into the top of the new car and pulled upward, ripping the ceiling fully off, then turned about and hurled it at one of the approaching MKIIs.

The closest MKII was hit full force with the flying car top, and it was sent rebounding against the freeway.

Sparks lit up the ground as the MKII cartwheeled across the ground, before slowly righting itself and continuing its pursuit.

D.N.I.I.S. spoke up. "Sir, security nanobots are in route, converging in on our position."

"Dennis, how long do I have?"

"The first one is already here."

Dane looked up and saw a sight that chilled his blood. A nanobot security drone was designed for the apprehension and elimination of fugitives. This one was no different. It operated off quadrotors on its back and twenty grasping arms equipped with different weapons on each. He had not heard it come up behind him because of the whistling of the air as it passed his ears.

The nanobot security drone pressed in on Dane, and he saw the twenty grasping arms pinched their claws onto his own arms and forced him into the swerving car. The driver looked back in abject fright as he tried to keep the car under control, while a bug-like nanobot was trying to kill him buried underneath and pushed deep into the cushions.

The main grasping arms were sharp pincer-like appendages that snapped in and out at Dane's face.

He dodged left and right, timing his actions precisely moments before the arm could touch him. Meanwhile, he felt multiple repeated impacts from the other smaller appendages that were slowly causing more and more damage to him.

"Sir, we are reaching 35% of the 65% current restricted maximum capacity. I would advise using your current reservoir, lest you begin to overextend yourself to the 65% mark as we discussed earlier."

Dane shoved up against the grasping arms and dug his hands into the nanobot's innards. The suit's self-repair function repaired the tearing on his skin in moments, but the strength of the polymer weave underneath easily held out against the metal carapace of the bug-like robot. "Dennis, where is its AI core?"

"A scan of the bot's internal structure tells me it is one inch to the right of your left forearm."

Dane put in a burst of strength as his hand touched the smooth sphere. Knowing this was what he was looking for. He ripped his hand back and the nanobot immediately went still. He threw its massive bulk off his body and onto the road, where it screeched along and sent sparks up along the magnetic strip of the highway.

Dane rolled back up onto the seat and noticed the driver looking back in wide-eyed awe. "Keep your eyes on the road!" he cried, but it was too late. The car slammed into another—and without a seat belt, was thrown from the back seat. Flying, he looked back only to see the MKII Shadows zig-zagging through traffic.

The first MKII was upon Dane in moments, and it collided with him in midair. The two struggled against each other, then he was able to get the upper hand and pushed the trooper under him.

The two of them slowly descended to the ground and put his palm against the trooper's helmet. The helmet itself was highly durable, but the contents were not. Dane pushed the headpiece against the road and caused the metal helmet to rattle violently. Even with its shock absorbers, the man inside had to have suffered from impact concussions, for the suit suddenly went limp. It continued forward, but he bounded from the trooper's chest toward oncoming traffic on the other side of the highway.

He bounced off the window of the first car and hit the one directly behind it. This time he was able to dig his hands into the front windshield and held on. Quickly, Dane pulled himself to a crouched position on top of the car. He could see another trooper flying directly at him. He jumped off the car that was headed in the general direction of the trooper and collided shoulder first into the MKII shadow. The two of them went skidding along the side of the ground between the two highways and kicked up a large dust cloud that was mixed with grass, leaving a long groove in the ground where they hit before being sent back up into the air.

Dane managed to grab hold of the trooper's chest.

Dennis chirped to life. "Sir, we are approaching 45% maximum capacity. We are very near the danger zone."

Dane smiled evilly as he clutched the MKII shadow close to his body. "This ought to do the trick." A sudden current of kinetic energy extended from his body, looking like long lines of blue sparks shooting from his wrists into the trooper's main core.

The suit was lined with an explosive gel that was designed to protect the body from incoming projectiles by preemptively exploding outward at any sign of direct impact, but if it were to be agitated, it causes multiple tiny explosive bursts within the suit itself. The trooper was rattled from the inside by multiple impacts from his suit's explosive gel protection agent being agitated beyond its breaking point.

From within, Dane could see a red liquid oozing out from the cracks in the suit.

The thrusters continued, and Dane propelled them toward the side of the highway. As he looked up, he saw the sky darken with multiple nanobots that were closing in on his current position. "Dennis, I need another exit."

"Very good, sir. If you would kindly propel your makeshift transportation towards the side of the highway, there is a river below. You can use the remaining energy from your kinetic bursts to slow the vibrations of your body, cooling it to the same temperature of the river below. This should mask you from the nanobot's vision. The MKII Shadows will not be able to follow into the water."

He nodded and aimed the now-dead trooper's thrusting body at the side of the highway. He collided with the side wall and was propelled over the side. He found himself free-falling once again, but this time toward a large river below. "Cannonball!"

"Sir, this is no time for jokes."

Dane hit the water with a splash. He used the flow of the river as a guide and began to still his body using the remaining energy he had and became colder and colder. Using the suit's internal systems to stop himself from going into shock.

"If you will sir, the nanobots are almost done searching this quadrant. I believe that you will be able to surface soon."

He nodded in response but hugged his arms close to keep himself warm, though he knew it would not help.

"You may surface. My sensors say that they are gone now."

Dane broke the surface with a loud intake of air. Then he swam toward a small pillar that supported the highway above the river and crawled out of the water. He then huddled close and began shivering uncontrollably. "D-D-D-Denn-is, I need warmth."

"One moment, sir."

As he felt the warmth entering his body, he began to fall back into memories of the past. He closed his eyes, and images of what had been beginning to play across his mind.

Dane looked down and watched drops fall from his nose. "Like water," he reminisced.

- End of Episode 4 -

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