Ice nearly screamed again as his arm shifted when he yelped causing him an immense amount of pain.

Shortly after the beep he heard something step on the leaves nearby.  

Ice nearly jumped for joy as the AI finally spoke to him."Ice, your vitals indicate you are under extreme stress and in a great deal of pain.  What happened?"

He was so excited he forgot about the sound and immediately attempted to explain what happened.  Right up until he heard a crack as a stick broke and a black face with bright yellow eyes peered at him threw the roots.  Panicking he kicked the face causing his arm to scream in pain from the movement.

"Raven I need the Drones here right now! Help!" Ice screamed at the AI.

"Drones are 3 minutes out try to defend yourself until they arrive." The AI informed him.

Ice grabbed the stick he somehow still had with him and jabbed it at the face managing to hit one of its eyes causing it to flinch backwards but not seeming to do any real damage.  He yelled as the pain in his arm almost made him faint.  He felt extremely light headed as he jabbed with the stick again, only to have the Theriope bite and jerk the stick out of his hand.  Ice kicked at the head in a panic.  As he connected the creature snapped at his foot the teeth digging into his boots but not quite managing to bite threw them.  He could feel the bones in his foot compressing as he screamed in agony just before he saw his deliverance.  The small almost cat-like drone landed on top of the Theriope sinking 4 small blade like claws into the back of its neck distracting it long enough for Ice to back further away from it.

The Theriope never made a sound as it bucked around trying to knock the small drone off its back and the small drone tried to sink its blades in again.  they seemed to be at a stalemate.

Ice was panicking trying to think of how he could help the small drone when the Theriope got hit by 3 balls of light, scorching its black hide,  then it got hit from the side by one of the doglike drones. Somehow the Theriope managed to turn its head and crunch into the drone which immediately sparked and stopped moving falling onto of the Theriope as they both hit the ground.  The small cat-like drone took advantage of this moment sinking its claws into the back of the Theriope again and again thick yellow blood splurting out every time the claws were extracted.  It managed to get up but stumbled and fell over as it tried to bite the small drone.  It didn't get up again.

Ice breathed heavily as he stared at the body.  One of the doglike drones lay on the ground practically bitten in half still issueing sparks.  The other doglike drone trotted up and took a position next to Ice.  It was also damaged but still seemed workable.  He glanced up as he heard a constant crackling noise.  The small beetle-like drone trundled up and scanned both Drones that were still mobile before scanning the one on the ground.  It began to silently take apart the one on the ground.  Ice guessed it was irreparably damaged.

After a few minutes the small industrial drone moved over to the remaining doglike drone and began repairing the damage done to it using some of the parts from the destroyed drone.

Ice stared for a second consideringly,"Raven if I Upgrade the remaining doglike drone you can control it now right?"  He fingered the chip in his pocket for a second before pulling it out.

"Yes, I can and I would recommend to do so soon there are 3 more Theriopes moving this way."  The AI said from the industrial drone.

He immediately tried to crawl out but the second he moved his injured arm he yelped and fell to the ground holding it.  Somehow it hurt worse now then a few seconds ago.  He reached out towards the doglike drone managing to just barely touch it with the edge of the chip.

The Drone shuddered as light appeared around it seeming to grow in getting almost a third bigger.  That was far from the only change as it now had two arms sprouting out of its back holding what looked an awful lot like sub machine guns. It also had a face now .... A face might be generous, where before it had a single lens on the front it now had two lens on a large doglike head and lots and lots of metal teeth.  All in all it looked quite improved.  As he stared at it his hud opened a tool tip.

[Intermediate Combat Drone - Direct Operations Gunner]

Equipment: 2 9mm sub machine guns fed by Matter Eater ammunition factory ; Internal

1 Class 2 chain maw

1 class 1 LADAR detection suite

Ice stared for a second longer taking this information in.

"It's good to have you back Raven." He said slowly trying to ignore his arm unsuccessfully.  "Please kill the Therio...." He passed out the adrenaline finally wearing off.