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N scanned the snow-crusted ground with both eyes, his HUD attempting to pick out the location of his assailant. He had not been able to gain a positive visual on the attacker. Just a flash of movement and a square haymaker across his metal jaw. Oil creeped out from between his lips, his pupils erratic in their movement.
Target Visual Lost. Attempting Reacquisition.
Failed. Target Identification in progress…
Failed—unregistered biological lifeform.
He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Biological!? He heard a faint crunch on the snow behind him and quickly raised one of his bladed arms to intercept another blow. He felt as if the blade cracked under the force of the black-gloved fist of his attacker. His assailant, a humanoid in an orange jumpsuit, stared unreadably into N’s gaze with a hidden set of eyes obscured by a glowing red pair of goggles that seemed to bore into N and past him.
Frighteningly, his blade seemed to dig into the man's skin barely. As if he were built from adamantium. N let out a strained groan with his vocal processor.
“Who are you!?” he posed the question, maintaining his defensive posture as the two raw contested strength against each other. Notably, N felt himself losing ground.
He couldn't believe it. Is this really a human being!? He noticed a sequence of numbers on his jumpsuit.
106.
A serial designation? Was he some kind of drone?
He barely had time to let the thought process in his CPU before the figure broke contact between the two, throwing N off his feet and against a nearby tree. N barely had time to make an evasive maneuver with his wings, kicking off to the side as a few tracers ripped into the wood he had just launched against. His HUD tracked the rounds. 7.62mm. A caliber his very own lead-based weaponry also utilized alongside 9mm.
The man had retrieved a rifle which had been slung across a black plate carrier strapped over his jumpsuit. He ejected a magazine, quickly replacing it with one from his vest and slapping the bolt carrier group into motion, chambering a new round.
Drones didn't use handheld firearms. This puzzled N, but this reload time allowed him to act. He quickly dashed forward, clearing the distance between him and this “106”, striking at him again with a blade. His blow was intercepted, as he expected, but that was fine. This was only the feint. He quickly followed up with the ace up his sleeve. His tail, loaded with a nanoprobe plague, flicked out, striking the man in the shoulder.
He felt the needle penetrate the fabric but surprisingly did not make contact with flesh as 106 seemed to shift his position just enough that he merely scratched the man’s flesh. He had moved quicker than expected. N felt a flicker of both frustration and surprise. No human being should be able to move that fast.
He quickly disengaged, using one wing to create a shield as 106 counter-attacked with another burst of fire. Rounds pelted off of N’s metal wing, but did not make successful penetration as he repositioned himself further into the dead treeline. The snow storm kicked up, obscuring the area. As he fell back, he witnessed as 106 seemed to simply vanish into thin air.
So that's why I keep losing you. N thought. Tricky.
He turned his analytical program towards the snow on the ground, searching for a disturbance.
It was silent only a moment before…
There.
N saw a footprint in the snow and immediately pounced, wings at full spread, claws extended.
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106 was caught off guard when the machine suddenly lunged at him. He clearly had been spotted. He went to react, to intercept the attack, but before he could suddenly he was tumbling, the world a blurry whirl of color and sound as he and his opponent tumbled to the ground. A claw pressed against his throat. The machine repeated its inquiry.
“Who are you!?”
106 considered retaliating. Despite the machine’s position on top of him he could easily turn the tables, maybe even end the fight now. But he knew it probably had determined the same thing.
So why had it not struck?
106 hesitated. Was this thing a Horizon Corporation asset? If it was surely it would have tried to finish him by now.