On Guard Read Free

wanted to do any real damage. And so he charged forward, still firing his pitgun, and released the front grip on his weapon at the last moment so he could grasp the oval piece of metal and tear it away.
    The terrorist was incredibly strong – either as a result of a similar augmentation, or due to the unique, armoured exoskeleton he was wearing – but Raj’s arms were the very latest in cybernetic technology. With their powerful servos purring with violent precision, he tore the shield away in one swift movement and revealed the terrorist in all his fearsome glory.
    “ Garen Maertikye, ” Raj thought with a rush of elation. “ Today you finally die! ”
    As expected, he saw the terrorist raising the weapon he’d just used on Vick, but Raj’s pitgun was already on target.
    BLAM!
    The terrorist’s weapon was instantly smashed into shards and Raj grinned, glad his own hide was now safe. He quickly began moving his aim toward the terrorist’s face so he could finish the job once and for all, but then noticed that Garen had released whatever magnetic device was holding his arm to the shield.
    He watched in slow motion as the terrorist’s armoured hand rose toward the barrel of his pitgun and realised that it would reach his weapon before he could unload a second round into the terrorist’s skull.
    “ Shit! ” he thought in panic.
    Then the all-too-familiar sound of crunching metal reached his ears and Raj watched in dismay as the barrel of his pitgun was pulverised in the terrorist’s armoured grip.
    Now that both of them were effectively unarmed, Raj realised how bad of a position he was in.
    He might have cybernetic arms, but with no helmet, he wouldn’t last long against a man who’d just taken out nearly a dozen Coalition officers.
    “ Fuck it! ” he thought with a grimace, and pulled the trigger on his pitgun.
    BLAM!!
    Just as he hoped, the barrel exploded in spectacular fashion, but most of the shrapnel went forward, spraying the terrorist’s helmet in a deadly cone.
    Raj’s unhelmeted face was lucky enough to avoid any serious damage, but he was shunted backward by the blast and had to put a hand down to steady himself as he slid to a grinding halt.
    He quickly looked up to see how much damage had been done to the terrorist and felt a sinking feeling when he saw Garen’s helmet had barely been singed.
    Then the terrorist was suddenly up and charging at him, this time without a shield or a weapon.
    “Fucking bring it!” Raj roared in terror-fuelled rage, punching one cybernetic hand into the other with a heavy THUNK!
    In the next instant, the two of them were locked in a vicious exchange of punches that echoed loudly through the small room. The terrorist’s armour held up surprisingly well under the fearsome blows Raj landed with his cybernetic arms, but his own armour protected him in return. He also managed to keep his unhelmeted head safe with a combination of lightning defensive moves and savage attacks that kept Garen on the back foot, but there were plenty of close calls.
    Thanks to Raj’s heightened state of awareness, it felt like the closely-matched battle continued for an eternity, until he noticed the terrorist abruptly change tactics. Instead of attempting to reach his unprotected head, Garen instead tried to grab Raj’s cybernetic arms in a lock that would put them under enormous stress.
    Raj quickly changed his own tactics in response, but it was almost as if Garen was waiting for the change. As soon as he tried to avoid a grappling move that would have snapped his arm into full extension, Garen grabbed his right forearm and slammed it back into the wall behind him.
    Surprised by the move, Raj tried to pull his arm free, but the terrorist was strong enough to hold it firm.
    “ Not good, ” Raj thought, instinctively using his other hand to help pry the first one free. But he soon realised his mistake when he felt a large hand close around his throat.
    The next thing he knew he was