March 18th, 2096
I sit patiently as the battle suit initializes. It had been two years since the government collapsed and I came into my position as the head of the security force. It was our job to patrol the enclaves and make sure the stragglers didn’t cause trouble. Last week we found a gang of them terrorizing the shopping district. They were heavily armed and had killed three civilians with their assault weapons. They didn’t stand a chance against our new battle suits though. Seven feet tall, glossy black with shatterproof viewscreen. A high power rifle is incorporated into the suit’s right arm, and the left houses a military grade laser weapon. They aren’t even in production. We found these prototypes in one of the last strongholds in the D.C. area. Seeing the screens flicker on, I grabbed the headset. The suits voice crackled through the earpieces. [Suit computer activated. Please input 10-digit security code.] I key in the numbers and the drive motors whine to life. [Weapon system armed. Defense measures armed. Stabilizers engaged. Magnatech BX-2 fully initialized.] I flip down the control sticks and get the suit moving. The BX-2 walks out of the hangar and I turn it around. I see my team start up their suits and follow me out. They’re good kids; a little inexperienced though.
Our patrol route for today is the financial district. There had been a lot of criminal activity there for the past few weeks, and we had reason to believe it would escalate quickly. [Criminal activity reported in sector 5. Threat level: Moderate.] We adjust our heading and move as quickly as possible. We arrive on scene and find one dead civ. Small arms fire erupts to our right. “Engage as needed.” Five of six stragglers crumple to the ground, the hole in their chests still smoking. That’s the beauty of lasers, no blood. The other three flee into a nearby transit station. We need to go in after them. The stations are big and well made, but not intended for the weight of the suits. If we aren’t careful, the floor panels could break, and send us plummeting to the lower level. Carefully, I ease the suit’s bulk down the steps. It seems solid enough, so I tell the team to follow me.
The Advanced Detection System confirms the stragglers went through the Magrail tunnels. We activate the searchlights and follow them through. We need to be careful about finding our targets. Some of the stragglers live in the abandoned tunnels, and while collateral damage isn’t a big issue, we would prefer to eliminate the threats and just leave the harmless ones alone. The ADS helps a lot though. We can track up to eight individuals by detecting exact chemical traces they leave behind. Every one is different, so there won’t be any mix ups. [Trace detected: Subject is approximately 300 feet ahead.] He won’t last long.
We come to a dead end. The ADS reports the target was here, but we can’t see him. We turn off the searchlights and switch the viewscreen to low-light mode. Nothing. “We’ll find him sooner or later, return to the hangar for re-arming.” We began to turn around when my suit detects movement. I turn on the floodlights and come face to face with the target. He has a shoulder launch missile pointed at me. I slam right on the control stick just as he fires. The rocket misses me by inches, and slams into the wall. There aren’t any direct hits, but the splash damage disables two of my teammates’ suits. He drops the launcher and tries to run. He’s out of effective laser range, so I switch control to the rifle and fire off a shot. The .50 caliber round blasts through him, and he dies instantly. With the threat eliminated, I tell the rest of the team to stay there while I head to the surface to call for assistance. I wait around on the surface for a few hours; the civs begin to mill around, even coming up to me and walking around my suit. I don’t mind the publicity. PR would love some photos of this. The repair team eventually comes to work on the two disabled mechs. They have their own security force with them, so I have my two remaining teammates accompany me back to headquarters.
We get back and I return to the hangar. I put the suit in standby mode and leave to speak with the head technician. He tells me that the damaged suits wouldn’t be ready for another day or two. Since these suits weren’t in production, they had to be taken to the mechanic that built the prototypes in the first place. For now, we’re going to be using some old Titan III units that were in storage. The Titans are old but reliable, and the engineers had just fitted them with some modern electronic defense systems. We don’t need any more rookies getting blown up in the field.
Night falls, and it’s about time for our second patrol. Tonight we had been selected for the graveyard watch, literally. The old graveyard had become a favorite hangout for the stragglers, especially the ones engaged in somewhat illegal activities. The biggest problems were sludge dealers. Sludge was the latest drug to flood the markets. It was made from plant that grew outside the safe zone. Anyway, sludge has a peculiar side effect that means big trouble for security teams: users become incredibly strong while they’re influenced. They also become aggressive. I’ve had to deal with my fair share of sludge addicts on the job, and it was never easy or fast.
“Okay team, the suit’s ADS isn’t reading anything yet. For now, we go into stealth mode and wait it out.” Stealth mode was recently discovered via a routine systems check. The engineers ran a diagnostic and found a whole series of subroutines that hadn’t been used before. Stealth mode consisted of a partial system shutdown that rendered the suit invisible to sensors and dropped its height from seven feet to about six. It doesn’t sound like much, but it really is quite a difference. [Movement detected at approximately 500 ft]
