Bulletfoot One

by Marshall Rust

  The reasonably short journey through the riverbed, as it turned out, was the easy part of their operation. When the water’s path cut deeper and moved underground, it became necessary to climb out. This proved more difficult for the other two, especially since they needed to remain low.

  "Stay down," Jessica13 whispered to Windchime as she helped to pull him out of the dried riverbed.

  "Oh, shut up," he retorted sharply, but she could hear a hint of mirth in his voice as they all huddled together and hunkered as low as they could while Mini mapped the streets they could use to reach the checkpoint.

  She would have preferred to circle, but the AI pointed out that those manning that particular checkpoint would be able to see them the whole way until they reached the bunker and if an alarm was raised, that would be the end of it. Or, at least, the end of any attempt at stealth.

  No lights were on in any of the buildings they passed, which made her think there might have been a curfew possibly dictated by their electricity, or maybe it simply meant the good folk of Auburn were already in bed.

  Remaining silent on the streets was a little more difficult, and Windchime quickly decided that moving faster was their best choice if they wanted to avoid notice.

  Movement was, however, considerably easier as hurrying from one street to another while they tried to keep to the shadows was better than crawling through dried mud. Mini kept the mech in Bulletfoot mode, which allowed them to rush ahead of the other two and move quieter to ensure that they drew no attention.

  Windchime pinged at her to halt as she approached the checkpoint. The electricity flowed freely for those within, by the looks of it. She wasn't sure how she had missed it the first time around, but searchlights swept across the field between them and the bunker. They also moved randomly like their pattern was generated by a computer.

  Not only that, but the lights traversed their side of the checkpoint too.

  "How do we get across?" she asked in a whisper. Mini brought them to normal mode and she peeked out of her mech to talk to the other two.

  "If a light shines on any one of us, we've had it," Tinker said grimly and pointed out the obvious.

  "Do we need to move through the lights?" Windchime asked.

  "Any path in would take us through the open stretch where the lights pass randomly," she said.

  "I have studied the patterns," Mini interjected, his voice soft and calm as always. "I calculate that there is a seventy-five percent chance I could move the Minato across the field without being seen."

  "You mean there's a twenty-five percent chance that you'll be seen?" Windchime asked.

  "It’s a better chance than we'd have if we go in there blindly," the older man grumbled.

  "Tinker is correct," Mini said. "I calculate…forty-seven-point-three percent chance of success."

  "We can get across," Jessica13 said. "Once there, we can alter the patterns a little to make it easier for you guys to come across as well. "

  "You'd still need to disable the men inside that checkpoint without letting them raise an alarm," Tinker reminded.

  "I'm in a mech, and they aren't," she said. "The odds should be in my favor. We'll send you a ping on the comms when it's safe."

  Windchime reached to his back, drew one of his swords clear, and handed it to her. "You won't be able to activate the vibro-function but the blades are still sharp enough. It would be quieter that way too."

  She nodded and let Mini adjust for the extra weight before she put the sword on her back.

  "It appears to be down to us," the AI said as they settled into Bulletfoot mode.

  "Like I wasn't feeling the pressure already," she said softly and shook her head as she settled into her position. She had become a little more accustomed to how Mini moved while on all fours, which enabled her to adjust accordingly, but she still ended up with bruises here and there.

  They stepped cautiously from the cover of the buildings. While she watched the calculations that ran across the screen, Mini quickly identified the pattern of the lights and pushed forward at a brisk pace but remained as low as possible. In this way, he was able to prevent even a hint of a reflection from catching their armor as they pressed forward.

  Her heart thumped painfully and her body tensed every time one of the floodlights approached, cut through the darkness, stopped, and swept on again. Her mouth was dry and yet her palms sweated onto her controls of the mech, which were thankfully released to the AI so he could direct their movement.

  Jessica13 wiped her hands quickly on her shirt and took deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself when they reached the edge of the area scanned by the lights. Mini remained on all fours as darkness engulfed them and the mech eased toward the mostly wood and concrete building that housed the lights and the men manning the checkpoint.

  They inched forward, slipped through the open door, and paused to listen. Men talked and laughed in the next room.

  There was no room for error in this. The mech resumed the bipedal stance, which enabled her to retrieve the sword Windchime had loaned her. It felt a little unwieldy in her mech's hands but it was better than simply swiping at the men with fists.

  Mini inched them toward the door where light streamed through.

  "Are you ready?" he asked and pulled up a visual of what was happening on the other side of the wall they currently hid behind based on the noise that came through.

  She nodded and he whipped them around the corner.

  It was more or less how he had plotted it. One of the men sat at the radio in the corner of the room closest to them, while the other two looked through cameras that gave them a view over most of Auburn and laughed at some footage they were watching.

  Bottles of spirits stood on the table between them and smaller glasses, which accounted for their raucous behavior. All three had put their shiny boots up and were enjoying themselves.

  They barely registered that someone was in the room with them as Jessica13 pivoted and brought the sword to bear on the closest man near the radios.

  She had aimed at his neck and struck perfectly. The vibroblade was sharp enough to cut without being active, and the power behind the blow was more than sufficient to sever his head.

  His companions looked shocked to see the mech appear as if from nowhere. The Minato was smaller than most but in the confines of the room and to the two men who weren't in mechs themselves, it was dauntingly large.

  The first one darted from his chair and scrabbled for the radio on the table as well as a small, sharp weapon. He couldn't hope to use it effectively against the mech, but he was the first one to be knocked back. Jessica13 swung her blade and caught him in the midsection. A sharp crack confirmed that his ribs were shattered by the impact which hurled him across the room and into the wall where he crumpled.

  She had no chance to bring her sword to bear before the last man was able to snatch his radio but fortunately, she didn't need to. The dart was still engaged in the grappler's air gun and the man's eyes widened as she turned that on him instead and pulled the trigger.

  The almost foot-long dart punched through his chest in a spray of blood, and she immediately reversed the wind on the cable to prevent the dart from piercing through him completely and into the wall. While it looked strong, there was no way to be sure that the damage wouldn’t bring it down, which would draw unnecessary attention.

  It somehow felt like hours had passed, and her pulse still ticked with adrenaline as she looked around the suddenly silent room. Somehow—impossibly—it had all happened in under five seconds and three men were now dead.

  She shook her head. That was something she would have to deal with later.

  It was quick work to retract the dart into the grappler. While it was still covered in blood and viscera and even a few chunks of bone, there was nothing she could do about it now. Jessica13 took a deep breath, selected a few wires she would need, and pushed the hatch open. She climbed out gingerly to skirt the puddle of blood that spread closer al
l too rapidly and forced herself not to look too hard at it as she stepped toward the computers the men had worked on.

  "Ignore the bodies," she whispered quietly.

  "Would you like me to clear them?" Mini asked and moved closer now that he was in full control of the mech.

  "That's not…maybe later," she replied and plugged the AI's core into the computer system. "You should be able to access the algorithms from there so they can cross, right?"

  "Affirmative," he replied.

  She let the AI work and simply watched as the patterns were quickly and subtly shifted to create a clear pathway through the open field that would allow not only Tinker and Windchime to come across to her but also for them to reach the bunker itself without being seen.

  Her gaze was drawn to the videos the men had watched and laughed at. The audio was still on and somehow sliced through the deafening silence like a vibroblade. The video in question showed a younger woman and two children forced to strip in front of the men before they were allowed to pass through the checkpoint. The footage quickly cut to a man dragged from a lineup and forced to his knees as a weapon was pressed to his head. He began to cry and shook his head before the trigger was pulled and he fell.

  "Why were they watching something like this?" she asked aloud, suddenly sick to her stomach.

  Mini paused before he answered. "It looks as though they played a drinking game. It doesn’t make all that much sense to me, but they apparently watched the collected footage from the checkpoints and assigned importance to certain aspects that would then cause them to drink a shot of the liquor on the table."

  The video shifted quickly to another young woman pulled out of sight as two of the guards stepped after her.

  Jessica13 turned the footage off hastily as the woman was forced to her hands and knees.

  "Are you all right?" Mini asked.

  She shook her head. "I…suddenly don’t feel so bad about killing these men."

  "Your guilt over acting violently toward them is assuaged by knowing they were guilty of acts of violence against others?" He sounded genuinely curious.

  "Not entirely," she responded, still fighting for control of her stomach. "But…it's a little easier to accept now."

  "Understood."

  The seconds ticked by until light footfalls sounded outside the room. Windchime was the first through the door and aimed his weapons inside first before he gestured for Tinker to follow him.

  "Well…" he said and looked around the room. "It should be known that I always believed in your ability to handle this."

  "Noted," she said but still felt queasy.

  "The algorithm has been changed," Mini announced and moved to where she could climb into the mech. "We will be able to move across the field without being seen, and the lights will continue to move as they did before without being noticed."

  "That’s good enough for me," Tinker said as she settled herself in place. "Let's get moving, shall we?"

  They slid out the other side of the room and hugged the side of the building as they studied the way ahead. Mini bunched onto all fours and moved forward as the HUD showed the path he had plotted for them based on the new algorithm.

  "How sure are you that this will work?" Jessica13 asked.

  "There is always room for error," he responded. "I would place the chances of success at ninety-eight-point-four-three percent."

  "Oddly, that's not really encouraging," she said softly, knowing the other two would be close behind. She needed them to stay close to her. Even once they were past the floodlights, they would need to get past the men in the Cinders that held position outside the bunkers.

  The group covered the open field rapidly and without incident and remained as low as they could. She moved more quickly than her teammates and reached the barbed wire that had been erected around the bunker. Steel obstacles had been set up around the taller concrete building that towered into the sky. If kept in place, they would prevent larger mechs from getting within striking distance and so would need to be moved manually as they came closer.

  She looked at the enemy mechs once they were out of the field, making sure to stay out of sight.

  "Mini, what can you tell me?" she said, her voice virtually a whisper almost without thinking about it.

  "The pilots are out of their mechs," he said. "Motion sensors tell me they are seated outside and eating at a small table. That could change over time, but the risk is minimal. Like the group of men at the checkpoint, they do not appear to be ready for any kind of attack."

  "Lucky us," Windchime said.

  "Can you detect where they would be able to transmit a signal out of the valley?" she asked while her gaze searched the building.

  "I identify the only possible point as being at the top of the bunker," he told her and highlighted it on her HUD. "There should be a handful of transmitters at the top that you can disable to stop any transmissions from going out."

  "Why would they only have one contact point?" Tinker asked.

  "Again, I think it’s because they don't expect any trouble," Jessica13 surmised. "The only other location high enough to transmit in this area was the church at the top of the other hill and it was burned down because someone else used it. I think Athena wanted only her people to have access to anywhere that could send messages out of here."

  "It makes sense," the man said. "You won't be able to get to the top of the bunker without alerting the Cinders, and they’d definitely attack."

  "They're out of their mechs now," Windchime pointed out. "Which means they don't have access to their personal radios. They're also drinking and eating—in other words, distracted. We take them by surprise and pin them down while Jessie here climbs up and does the dirty work."

  Tinker looked at their adversaries, tilted his head in thought, and scratched lightly at his beard. "All right, let's do it."

  Jessica13 hunkered in the grass and felt no better about watching them than she had when she was the one who moved forward. Windchime was faster and the other man hung back a little to provide support if it was needed.

  The Cinder pilots did appear to be drinking, eating, and generally enjoying themselves as the two Knights snuck up on them if the bursts of laughter were any indication. She couldn't hear much, but Windchime reached them in moments and had drawn his remaining vibroblade as well as both his assault rifles. He pushed in closer than he needed to in order to intimidate them and draw them away from the tables. Tinker climbed out of his mech and moved quickly to make sure the men would have no way to send any communications out.

  They were fast and professional like they'd done this kind of thing before and done it together. It was as if they knew how the other would act and react, which in turn created the opening she needed to do her part.

  Jessica13 hurried to the base of the bunker, primed the grappler and, after a moment of Mini's help to aim, launched it.

  The dart impacted with a loud clang and sealed itself in place, and the retractor tightened the cable immediately. Her teammates had been right. That noise would have been easily audible to anyone who was nearby. She wondered if the folks in Auburn had heard it.

  The bunker's tower stretched almost thirty meters, more than high enough to send clear signals out of the valley and to Lady Hoot if something happened.

  "Are there any signals?" she asked as she reached the top.

  "None being transmitted by the tower," Mini replied quickly.

  She crossed to the sections that had been highlighted, climbed out of the Minato, and took her tools with her when she reached the transmitter. It was quick work, fortunately. A simple connection had been established to link it to nearby systems, and she had set up more sophisticated comm systems during her time in Sanctuary.

  Of course, complex didn't mean it was any less effective, only that it was a little more difficult to eavesdrop, but there were always more ways for things to go wrong.

  Simple was best when simple was all they needed. She had a distinct f
eeling that it was all that they needed to contact Athena about a possible insurgency.

  Only a few minutes later, her part of the mission was accomplished.

  "Are we finished here?" Windchime asked.

  "There are no transmissions leaving this valley," Jessica13 replied and scrambled into the mech.

  "Do you think there's anyone else inside the bunker for us to worry about?" Tinker asked.

  "Probably," the other man replied.

  "The chances are they will come out to see what went wrong with their comm system," she pointed out as Mini clambered down and angled toward the only door that opened to the bunker below.

  She wasn't wrong. A few minutes passed before a small group came out of the elevator that opened. They froze when they saw the three mechs standing out in the open.

  "Nice work, Jessie," Windchime said and kept his weapons trained on the new arrivals while Tinker forced the doors to remain open. Mini connected quickly and easily to the system inside the bunker as there were no AIs in place to operate it. Most of it needed to be done manually and only a small group remained there to keep the water and weather systems functioning the way their leader wanted them to.

  "Do you think Athena will know?" Windchime asked. "Maybe she has a system with her people where if they don't communicate with her regularly, she simply comes to see what the problem is?"

  "We'll have to risk it," the other man said as they disabled the captives.

  "Remind me why we don’t simply kill them," Windchime asked a little irritably.

  "That’s not our choice to make," Jessica13 said firmly and shook her head as she moved to the men who had been bound using spare wire Tinker had carried in his pack.

  "There will be more of them around the town, though," Windchime said. "Those with the shiny boots you mentioned who make trouble with the local townsfolk with Athena's blessing."

  "Should we bring them here?" she asked.

  "I think you and Tinker should stay and keep an eye on the bunker as well as our prisoners," he said. "I can go to the other checkpoints, gather those who are still loyal to Athena, and bring them here, whether they want to be brought or not."