Front Lines (Chapters 11-15)

===Chapter Eleven: Combat===
Shade watched in awe as the electronic marvels decended from above. Two perfect examples of human technology, each one a bulky mass of close combat artillery. From each side protruded twin sharp swords.
Those not just swords, thought Shade, they're katanas...
Shade cursed. Katanas were the pinpoint of close combat artillery - they were sleek, sharp and incredibly light. Shade had seen his share of them, and on some occasions he had carried one or two around himself. They were used as a weapon not only of their slashing power, but also for quick swiping movements that could lacerate an enemy in seconds. They were picked by close combat specialists due to their ease of use and the fact that a katana could be drawn in time to hack at or even decapitate an enemy before they could make a move of their own. Movies portrayed them as a weapon carried by ninjas and shady Japanese warriors, when in the reality of military warfare, they could be carried by anyone from a reconnaisance marine to riot squad sergeant, as long as the wielder had training. Shade swore again, because not only did they have katanas, but four of the weapons between them.
The bots, ow sealed to the floor by countless wires and cords. Once again their was a hiss from behind Shade as he unsheathed his own gleaming acidic katana. "When we get back to HQ I'm gonna break every bone in Lester's body," grunted Shade.
"That's if you get back to HQ, those things look pretty tough." grinned Rapid as he turned and started walking toward his favorite firing range.
Shade laughed. "All the better practice for me. Now, let's see if these katanas are as sharp as my reflexes." He expertly twirled the sword three times over before rising it above his left shoulder.
Shade lept forth, covering the distance between him and the bots in seconds, he came down with a brutal over head blow towards the 1st bot wich was blocked by one of its feirce katanas, acid and metal met and Shade could hear the sound of acid sizzeling against metal. Another katana made a streem line for Shades head, he ducked just as the sword sailed swiftly above his black hair. Two more ktanas sliced through the air between Shade and the bot, Shade arched his neck to stop the swords from slicing his throat. Shade had nowhere to go, his sword was trapped under two of the bots, and the other to katans were ready and waiting. Shade did nothing, he could do nothing, nothing but wait for the final blow. What happened next was totally unexpected by Shade. All the swords went limp..... Shade's sword was now free while the bot hung liflessly infront of him, katananas by its side. It appears that this bot has a sense of fair play, thought Shade as he walked calmly to the other side of the room. Comeence round two thought Shade, This time he'd be going for the second bot. Shade was just sizing the bot up and down when something caught his eye, at least two meters above the bot was a gymnastics ring.
Shade didn't hesitate, he sheathed his sword behind his back and sprinted of towards the second bot. His speed was unimaginable, unique even, his stride covered a metare, with each step his legs would fling upward and come sailing down once again to propel him through the air. he was two meters away from the bot shade flung himself into the tangerene air, the surface of Shades training compound was made out of a special sort of grey rubber, rubber strong enough to prpel shade through the air, but not so strong as to give Shade the sense that he could fly. Here Shade used the floor to his advantage, Shade's fingertips scraped the edge of the ring, he thought he'd missed for a moment, until his extra spring kicked in, Shades grasp was like a vice, strong and in control. Shade swung forth over the bot, landing inches awayfrom it a catlike position, swiftly Shade unsheathed his sword, ready to deilever the killing blow.
With superhuman like intensity the bot swung around, catching Shade's sword in its first katana. Shade choked back a curse, this was the second time he had been outwitted by a scrat of metal. He was once agian a sitting duck, at the very mercy of a creation of mankind. One of the bots many advantages over Shade was its full 360 degree spinning motion of its swords. The bots other 3 katanas were at one time infront of it but were now rushing through the air between its front and shades neck.
Shade was between two minds, on one hand he knew Lester would not let a training exarsise kill Shade, but on the other hand he was fearing for his life.
What if the bot malfunctioned?
What if the bot loses control?
What if I can't move and my own head gets decapitated?
A million thoughts raced through Shades head in the mere seconds it was taking for the 3 swords to rain down upon him. bare inches from Shades throat the swords suddenly and abrutely halted. Shade opened his eyes and looked down at his neck then quikly thought better of it because with every movement of his shoulders upwards Shade would wince as his neck brushed the Sharp, sleek edge of the 3 katanas. Shade heard a faint tapping behind him, he looked arounds to see Lester, Scope, Rapid and Timer all looking at him and smiling the most evil smile you would ever see.
Shade cursed..............
===Chapter twelve: Sulking===
"Now boys," whispered Lester, "I don't want you making too much fun of Shade when he comes in. You have to take into consideration that those are the latest in close combat training artillery." However, as Shade stepped through the watching rooms left door the four burst into a fit of hysterical laughter. Even Lester, who was normally stern and serious, wiped a tear from his eye as Shade grimaced and went to go have a look at the video footage.
Shade had been looking at the footage for 6 minutes until he broke the silence . 
"I could not have been that bad!" he exclaimed.
"Yep," chuckled Rapid, "you were pretty shocking!"
"and look at my left foot!" Shade screeched "its totally off centre!"
This all went on for another ten minutes until Shade slammed his fist down on the pause button. "Look! Look!" shouted Shade pointing viciously at the screen "Watch when I twirl the sword." Shade played the first ten seconds then looked expectantly at his companions
"Look! Can you not see?"
"Sorry, mate," Said Timer looking completely baffled "I can't see anything." Shade turned to Lester,
"That sword of yours is putting me completely off centre!" Shade growled whilst replaying the tape once more.
He was right,
now that Shade had said it they could all see the slight quiver of his foot and the twitching of his swinging arm.
"There's no way in hell," snorted Shade "That I am taking that a mission, I'd rather a pocket knife to protect myself than that lopsided piece if silver."
with that said Shade calmly picked himself up and walked and the the rooms right door, proudly heading towards the shower block.
This only left Lester shaking his head in sadness "I know he's right," he whimpered "But that damn sword cost me a couple a million dollars...!"
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