Time War: Invasion Read Online Free Page A

and waited. The explosion rang out; smoke and debris blasted out from the tunnel. He could feel the heat almost burn his arm from dust filling the air. He waited frozen for a moment, hoping it had worked, but just as he began to believe it might have, the mech burst out through the cloud of smoke and opened up with full auto fire from weapons mounted on both arms.
    Corwin leapt into a roll as shots sprayed across the wall. As he landed back on one knee, he fired a burst into the lower flank of the suit, but still to no avail. He raised his shield just in time to take a few hits before leaping back into motion, for he knew he couldn't afford to stay where he was. He rushed at the mech as dozens of shots hit his shield, and one glanced off his collar. As he closed, he drew out a magnetic breaching charge and jumped high over the mech’s one arm, pushing the device on the main receiver of the gun on its left arm.
    He landed on the ground, hit the trigger mechanism, and the small shaped charge blew. The rounds in the gun blew in the barrel and ripped itself apart. The mech seemed to stumble a few paces back, juddering slightly as if having some kind of electrical fault. It came to a standstill and raised its other arm to continue firing, but Lecia seized her opportunity. Her rifle was in hand, and with perfect aim she hit the exposed magazine of the second machine gun, blowing the box off the weapon. Corwin smiled for a moment in relief, but the monster merely rushed towards him. He stepped aside, but the mech seemed to pre-empt him by turning and swinging one of its arms in a back fist action.
    Corwin's shield arm was smashed against his own body. He took the full force of the impact and was launched into the air. He covered two metres, landing and then sliding to a halt another metre further. The wind was knocked out of him for a second. He looked over to see Rane back on his feet and lift the hulking weapon off the ground and take aim. The mech turned and approached Corwin quickly, but Rane had it in his sights and opened fire.
    The sound was deafening as all three barrels flashed with light, and the huge rounds smashed into the back of the mech, pushing it past Corwin as it tried to move into cover. Chunks of metal were torn from the suit and holes punched right through until its back was against the wall, spasming from the impacts. Rane's mouth was wide opened as he screamed at his target, but nobody could hear it over the gunfire.
    The magazine finally ran empty, and the barrels were red hot. The mech slumped down onto its knees, but appeared to be still alive and moving. Rane approached and stood over his vanquished enemy. It tried to reach out from the ground with all the energy from whoever was inside still had. Rane raised the huge weapon up and smashed it down onto the mech's arm, and it crashed to the ground. Finally, he swung the weapon around his head, using all the weight and momentum to smash into the mech's head.
    The impact smashed the badly damaged helmet in half and burrowed the burning hot barrels into the head of the human operator inside. Rane simply let go of the weapon and let it smash to the ground, turning to face Corwin with a smile. He looked so pleased with himself as the Sergeant got to his feet, he was more than happy to accept he was wrong.
    Nylund and Tano appeared from the corridor where the mech had attacked them.   Nylund was his usual perfectly kept self, looking as though he had not even broken into a sweat. He looked around surprised at the carnage.
    "Great timing," stated Corwin sarcastically.
    He turned and looked for Beyett, but could see no sign of him.
    "Goddamn it, can't he just stay put for two seconds?"
    "Sergeant!" he heard Beyett call from a nearby room. They followed the sound and Corwin stepped through into an observation room overlooking a vast industrial facility that spanned half a kilometre. A massively reinforced glass window stood between them and all that lay ahead, and