[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 92: Double Trouble

"Two coins!" Lovejoy exclaimed as he approached the edge of a tangled battle between five different mechs. He guessed that two pairs of runners and pursuers had bumped into each other, with another mech joining in afterwards.

What made him hold his breath was that all of the mechs were of the medium weight class. They excelled at head-on fights but their speed was nothing remarkable. As the mechs all had to devote their full attention to the fight, the original holders of the coins all dropped them to the side.

The cadet formed a bold plan to snatch the coins before making off. If he squeezed past the battling mechs correctly, they'd never catch his tail.

"Ten seconds. If I can avoid getting hit in that timeframe, I can get away scotch free."

He was confident he could avoid getting hit by melee weapons, but had less faith in his ability to dodge projectiles. As the mechs in the battle started to accumulate damage, Lovejoy's window of opportunity quickly closed. He had to make a choice.

"Ah, let's go!"

The Unicorn burst out from the trees and steadily approached the nearest coin. Of the five battling mechs, one of them noticed the newcomer but could not respond. As for the rest, they were too consumed in their attempts to constrain each other and only noticed the newcomer when he was within grabbing distance of a coin.

"Oh no you don't!" A pilot of a rifleman exclaimed as he shot a laser beam at the Unicorn.

The light mech managed to grab a coin but suffered a heavy hit on its waist. Its legs still worked fine, but another hit would definitely cripple its mobility. Lovejoy gritted his teeth and danced around the battling mechs in order to approach the second coin.

"Get the thief!"

"He's too fast!"

The Unicorn received another couple of hits, but they only scraped off the armor. Lovejoy picked a good moment to make his move, as all of the mechs suffered from depleted ammunition or severe overheating. After bending down to pick up the second coin, the Unicorn raced off like a cat who caught the canary.

Even the commentators who were watching from above noticed the daring raid, though the pilots could not hear their words.

"Cadet Lovejoy is in for it now! He dared to snatch two whole coins from a crowd of serious-looking mechs. Can he get away from their clutches?"

"Ouch! One of his mech's legs got hit! But wait a moment! The mech is still running like a horse! Incredible!"

"He got away! The medium mechs lost track of the little bugger. How tragic! They fought so long only to end up with nothing but damaged mechs. Their chances of making it through have dropped down to almost zero."

In fact, while the Unicorn appeared to be running at full capacity, the damage was a lot more serious than the observers thought. The pace the mech had set increased the burden on the damaged leg, which decreased its effective lifespan. Lovejoy had no choice but to keep running at full tilt in order to lose his pursuers.

"That should do it." Lovejoy tiredly said as he let out deep breaths. He looked down his leg and saw that the damage was fairly bad. "It won't last very long, but I should at least last long enough to deliver my coins."

Lovejoy sacrificed a lot in order to obtain his spoils of war. He directly discarded his pistol and sword in order to lower his encumbrance.

At this stage of the battle, he could scavenge any weapon from a broken mech as long as it was simple. The more sophisticated weapons usually featured identity controls that locked them out against unauthorized users.