[@MelonHead]

[i]Less than a half minute after Higan had started moving again, the mech would once more pick up the monster's electrical signal. It remained where it was for several seconds, doing something weird to itself that resembled how a cat bathes with its leg raised. A moment later twin pinpricks of strange light would spark up in the electric vision, likely throwing the mech's anomaly radar right off the charts. The monster was still experimenting. If the metal thing knew where it was, could it see it? If it did, would the Eyes work? After this good old college try at poking a hole in the metal thing's defences, the Magna Pater would dart off again, this time further left of where it had been initially aiming. If Higan tried shooting at it again as it held still, he'd find it was much more agile on the ground than when leaping from tree to tree. It could move near the speed of a Cheetah in bursts and with superior acceleration, but a steady thirty-nine was its favorite pace when weaving through the trees in a hurry. Right now it was moving at thirty-three, sometimes drifting down to the high twenties. Its right arm was in pain, not broken but lacerated and with the membrane missing. Two miles ahead and on the other side of a small, rocky hill was one of the entrances to its lair. It didn't always scarf down meals in a single sitting. Deep in its sleeping chambers it knew there was the two-week old carcass of a fat woman it had snagged before being transported to that odd realm of smarty-pants aliens. It knew what it wanted now. It wanted to hide and eat and heal in the deep places that were too small for big metal things. It would measure the perception of its prey, bit by bit, until it found a safe distance for observation. Then it would wait and watch before deciding whether or not this one slept, or if it could be subjected to the Eyes. At first the Magna Pater had been convinced that it could just as easily escape and then stalk its prey above ground. That had been before it got shot by an anti-material round. Now it was on high alert and taking no further chances.[/i]