Read Beware the Black Battlenaut for Free Online Page B

cockpit. Sensor data scrolled on the visor before him, displaying the lack of damage in columns of figures that left him stunned.
    It didn't seem possible. How could a Battlenaut take that much firepower at close range and not suffer the slightest damage?
    No Battlenaut he'd ever seen or fought or heard of could do it, that was for sure. The Red was something new, something completely outside his experience. It was the kind of thing that could win the civil war between the Commonwealth and the Rightfuls.
    It was also the kind of thing that could kill him with ease.
    Switching to the image from his topside camera, he saw the Red lean down and aim its forward cannons at him. Yellow and red plasma danced in the heart of both barrels as the guns powered up and made ready to fire.
    This is it. Even as the words burned in his mind, Scott recalibrated his own lasers, guns, and sonics, bringing them to bear on the Red. He also tripped the self-destruct and started the 60-second countdown; maybe his exploding fusion power plant would finally put a scratch in the Red Battlenaut's hide.
    He felt zero fear as the glowing red digits on his visor ticked from 60 seconds to 50 to 40. He wasn't a fearless man, but death itself didn't scare him; it hadn't frightened him since the time he'd died at the age of thirteen. He'd come back a different person...a Marine in the making even then.
    The digits read 30...then 20. Come and get me , he thought as he opened up hard with all weapons, frying circuits and emptying out his remaining ammo.
    Nothing he did seemed to faze the Red Battlenaut at all. When the Red suddenly straightened, it did so with no sign of strain, as if the barrage had nothing to do with its choice of movement.
    That's okay , thought Scott. "You'll notice this ." He grinned wickedly as he watched the countdown on the visor tick from 20 to 15.
    And then to 10.
    Scott hooted and howled and kept pouring on the punishment. The timer changed to nine, then eight, then seven, then six...
    And that was when the Red Battlenaut abruptly charged away from him.
    " Scudge !" With the timer at four seconds, Scott put the self-destruct on hold. He threw all camera feeds on the visor at once, looking for the Red that had gotten away.
    But it was already gone, vanished into the dense mist.
    Suddenly, the voice of Captain Rollins burst out of the speaker. "Echo Charlie Bravo! This is Kilo Papa Zulu, responding to your Mayday!"
    "About time," said Scott, and then he flipped on the mic. "Watch your six, Kilo! There's some kind of souped-up Red Battlenaut on the loose!"
    "I've got eyes on you, Scott." As Rollins said it, Scott spotted him on his leftside camera. "Looks like you've taken a beating."
    No kidding. "Recommend you call additional backup, Kilo Papa." Scott's eyes roamed the feeds, watching for signs of his red-hulled foe. "I threw everything I had at that thing, and it didn't even chip the paint."
    "I didn't see it on radar or telemetry," said Rollins as he walked his sand brown Battlenaut toward Scott. "How long ago was it here?"
    "Thirty seconds before you arrived," said Scott. "At the most."
    "Well, it's gone now," said Rollins. "And no reports of a Red Battlenaut elsewhere, either."
    "Trust me, it's out there," said Scott. "And I'm telling you, the damn thing's a colossus ."
    Searchlights flared to life on Rollins' armor, combing the mist around him on all sides. "Must be fast, too, if it ran out of sensor range just before I got here."
    "Must be." Even as Scott said it, he didn't think it rang true. If the Red had been a speedster, wouldn't it have beaten him a lot faster? Wouldn't it have crushed him before he could get in any shots?
    "Wish I could get my hands on this thing." Rollins kept combing the mist with his searchlights. "Sounds like the kind of tech we could put to good use."
    Just then, Scott glimpsed a flicker of movement on his frontside feed, in the mist behind Rollins. "Bogie on your six!"
    Rollins spun and focused his