The wheels on the ACE's feet spun about quickly, and the squealing of the breaks that held the mech in place was replaced with the hum of the ACE moving at high speeds across the paved ferracrete.

The view from the ACE gave Hale a holographic look of the area from interval pulses from the radar unit in the ACE.

The area they were in was the north end of the UEDF base, and that marked the edge of the military base.

As they skied through the base on the wheeled feet of the ACE, Hale caused it to weave around parked vehicles and scurrying random military personnel. Suddenly, an explosion in front of the Ace's feet caused the ground to turn into a small ramp.

Hale tucked the ACE's torso in and jumped off the impromptu ramp, then landed with ease before pushing off with the right leg, sending the ACE back into its forward skiing movement.

More explosions snapped up all around the mech and sent ferracrete flying in the air in random directions.

Without the need for hand controls, Hale was able to concentrate on other aspects of the mech's operations. He tapped a couple of buttons. "Dennis, can you send me a detailed Geo map of the area beyond the north wall?

"Yes, sir."

A holo grid of the outlying area appeared above the console, and Hale flashed his finger in front of it, sending get spinning around before he tapped a location on the spinning map with his hand and brought it still. He flipped his finger up and threw it flat so that he was looking at it from the side view with elevation. "It looks like the edge of the north wall ends in a steep downward slope, but not quite a dead drop."

More explosions popped up around Hale. Ahead, a building was blocking the way. he jumped the mech up, placed the right hand on the side, and used it to vault over, landing once again on the other side, unimpeded.

Dane was impressed. "This thing is flexible."

Hale continued to tap buttons on the holo-screen as they skied through the base and around obstacles to avoid incoming fire, lest the tanks were chasing them do more damage to the military base. "Dennis, based on the steepness of the slope, would a hover tank be able to follow?"

"No, sir. It is beyond their capabilities."

The wall loomed up ahead, and Hale flicked a switch above the console and triggered the jump jets for a two-second burst that sent the mech into a forward jump. He turned it off at the apex of the flight, and the mech flipped over the top, using both arms for support. The ferracrete broke under the mech's hand, but the brief resistance was all he needed to pull himself over the top. "Let's see them catch us now."

Behind them, three ACEs suddenly popped over the rim of the base in pursuit, and all four landed on the downward slope at the same time, with the pursuers just behind.

Hale dodged around a tree and flipped the mech around. He raised his right arm and let out a salvo of missiles at the lead mech.

The mech dodged to the right, and the missiles hit it in the right arm, causing significant damage.

Meanwhile, the other two mechs let loose a salvo of missiles of their own that zoomed in on Hale.

The other mechs had less time to react because the missiles were coming at them, while they moved towards the missiles. Hale was in a better position, and the missiles had to catch up to him.

He unstrapped the assault rifle from his shoulder and let loose a booming retort of blue fire that shot down the swarm of missiles before he swirled the mech back around and crouched down, hitting the incoming patch of rocks like a ramp and launching himself into a forward jump.

Mid-jump, Hale spun the mech around and let loose another volley of fire at another one of the mechs as it was pulling its assault rifle out to fire off a reprisal. The sudden counter-attack, however, riddled the mech's assault rifle arm and caused it to drop the weapon uselessly.

The mech that Hale assaulted did not stop to pick its weapon up, and they continued their downward chase.

Hale landed back on the ground in a forward position and skated toward the bottom of the slope.

He tapped the display a couple of times, but a warning light caused him to revert his attention quickly.

The undamaged mech hit its afterburners and quickly caught up to Hale. It drew its Sonic resonator sword and slashed out at him.

Hale quickly skated to the right and drew his own.

The two wound back in at one another, and just as they were about to hit, Hale hit the afterburners for a tenth of a second. His mech outpaced the other by a hair’s breadth and was able to slip by, but while the other mech had prepared its slash to take him across the head, his sudden change in position caused the vibrosword to catch on his shoulder instead, and the heavy armor caught the weapon.

Hale swiped his weapon across the sternum of the mech and aimed his slash at the mech's internal engine. He clipped the afterburner compartment with the blade and caused a sudden influx of fuel to leak into the rest of the mech's body.

The ACE that Hale was fighting began to burn bright hot white.

Hale slashed again in passing and caught the mech's leg, causing it to fall without the support. Sparks flashed from the destroyed metal, and the Mech tumbled into the ground and was left behind as he turned his mech back around as they reached the bottom of the slope.

The other mech tumbled away and exploded between the two other damaged opponents who dodged out of the way of their fallen comrade.

The mech's sonic vibrosword was stuck in Hale's shoulder, and he reached up with his free hand and pulled it out. The sword operated off its internal power source, so it was still active.

He angled his feet to the right and hit a full arcing turn to face the incoming mech's blade in both armored hands.

The three faced off, and the thrum of the motors was all that was heard for a bit. Then, as if on cue, all three raced at one another.

One fired a hail of penetrator missiles from its shoulder. Hale dodged to the right and the missiles autocorrected. "Damn!" he roared and then hit the afterburners to race at the missiles faster.

Then he cut the power and fell backward, his legs sliding along the ground and sending rocks flying across the air.

The swift maneuver was enough to cause the missiles to stutter, and when they corrected to dive at Hale, they curved out over his head and smashed into the ground, leaving bubbling explosions in his wake.

A short burst from the afterburners on the ACE's back was more than enough to send the ACE back to its feet without using his hands. The other mech readied its vibrosword with its free hand, ready to meet Dane directly.

The three met in a sudden clash. Hale threw the ACE's right hand into the opposite Mech's readied vibrosword, and the grind of metal on metal caused it to be crushed backward, while the ACE's other hand's vibrosword dived into the different mech's chest, cutting into the chest mechanisms and sparking a swift white fire.

Hale did not wait for the other mech to recover, and he removed the vibrosword from the mech's dying chest before hitting the afterburners and sending himself spinning into a quick circle around the other mech. He flipped the vibrosword around, kept the pressure on the mech's other raised vibrosword with his right hand, and then twirled around his opponent's back. He used the momentum to send his free hand's sword into the mech's head.

Hale let go of the second vibrosword with it sticking out of the second mech's head and then skated away as the two mechs exploded into twin balls of white fire.

Hale let out a breath of relief as the adrenaline from the battle died down.

"God damn bro! Whooo!" Dane clapped his hands on his brother's shoulders and gave him a shake. "You weren't kidding. These ACEs are awesome!"

Hale took the ACE back off and then reached a nice clip, but the movements were smoother and more relaxed. "Dennis, do we have any more tails?"

"No, sir. We are free and clear for the moment. I have taken the liberty of disabling a tracking system built into the ACE so that we could not be traced. This mechanized combat suit is, for all intents and purposes, yours."

Hale cast his brother a quick look behind him. "You remember what you said earlier? About our hacker friend Syntek? How he could not possibly know you were in Outlook 6 without outside knowledge."

"Yeah?"

"Want to visit him? Maybe he can give us a bit more information, maybe give us a few bread crumbs to finding your kid."

Dane's triumphant demeanor became radically more severe instantly. "Yeah, I still don't know how to deal with this. But yeah, let's go."

- End of Episode 14 -

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