The machine was already precisely where it wanted to be.

Johannes could be reckless when the situation demanded it, a bonus of working with a body that wasn't his, but as things stood his opponent wasn't posing enough of a threat to force decisive action on Johannes' part.  He knew the mage couldn't simply run away- if he did, he would eventually become tired, allowing the virtually inexhaustible drone to catch up -which meant the only options remaining for his opponent were to destroy or disable Johannes' mechanical body.  Therefore, all the engineer needed to do was catch his target before he got the chance.

Of course, that was easier said than done.  Thomas was fast and coordinated, apparently capable of moving about in the canopy with ease, and while the machine was hardly slow, it was too bulky and heavy to climb about like that.  To directly chase after its target would be suicide.

However, even if it could have, it needn't bother.  Why waste energy on a difficult pursuit, when it could simply strike the mage down from a distance?

It stayed where it was, watching and listening, feet planted as it raised its right arm.

Johannes had already been able to hear his opponent's rapid, undisguised movements, which was what had led to him setting up the holograms.  The problem was, Thomas had been too fast to get an easy lock on.   It was tricky to pinpoint someone through sound alone, and if Johannes had tried to carefully aim an attack, Thomas would likely have moved to a different location before he could fire.  The holograms, however, were a calculated solution to this problem.  If Thomas didn't notice them on time, he likely would have accidentally jumped into one and fallen, making him a sitting duck.  If he [i]did[/i] notice them, however, which Johannes had obviously suspected he might, the natural response would be to stop- giving the machine enough time to aim.

And it had been charging its right arm, the one with the heavy plasma cannon, beforehand.  Just waiting for the right moment to make a shot.

The moment Thomas leaped to a tree and then [i]stopped[/i], with neither sound nor sign of movement following, the drone focused, its right hand splitting in half to reveal the barrel of its weapon.  This alone might have been enough to give it somewhere to target, but then Thomas chose to fire his gun as well.  Guns, whether or not they fired spells, tended to be [i]loud[/i], and this additional action was just making it even easier for Johannes to figure out his target's location.

He knew more or less where the mage was, now- but it waited.  An approximate location was not so good as an exact one, and for all it knew that gunshot could have been a diversion.

A moment later, however, there would be another noise, another shaking of leaves, as Thomas made another of those big leaps, and fired off another shot-

At the same moment Thomas fired as second time, the machine fired once.

Within its arm, a superconductive gel was overloaded with thermal energy, explosively expanding and propelling a superheated bullet out the barrel of the cannon.  The firing would produce a thunderous [i]BOOM[/i], but by the time Thomas heard this, it would already be too late: the projectile wasn't so much slower than the sound, and even with enhanced speed, the mage could only react so fast.  Johannes hadn't had a direct sight of his target, and hadn't been charging his cannon for very long, so he was unlikely to actually kill his target with this shot.  Nevertheless, the drone had excellent aim, and the projectile still carried more than enough power to punch through flesh and bone and deliver a serious injury.

And if the mage were somehow able to avoid being taken out with a single shot, his problems would only be beginning.

Given the fairly high amount of vegetation in the area, the projectile's path would take it through and near a great deal of vines, leaves, and branches. Its heat was such that a good deal of what it touched would be set on fire, a flame that would quickly spread if not contained.  Thomas would find his ability to move hindered, as a fair number of the real trees he could still jump to would begin to burn.  

And as if the projectile and the fire weren't danger enough, fire produced smoke.  The machine had no respiratory system, and would not be troubled by this development, but Thomas would quickly find it difficult to breathe and see, as burnt particles filled the air, threatening his vulnerable human nose and eyes.

Johannes, meanwhile, was already moving.  Immediately after firing, the drone would carefully take a few steps to its right, keeping its movements as quiet as possible.  The shot it made might have revealed its location, so it wasn't going to stick around.  At the same time, however, it wasn't advancing any further towards its target.  Its right arm was now filled with built-up heat from its shot, and Johannes was already diverting energy to the left arm, which had its own weapons just waiting to be deployed.

Would this first attack be enough to take down the mage?  Possibly not.  But Johannes was already preparing his next moves.