Cameron couldn't bring himself to cheer alongside them. They might have beaten back the first wave of Lady Hoot's attack but that didn't mean they wouldn’t bring in more. Even with the downed buildings blocking most of his view out of Auburn, he could still see the numbers gathered beyond the town limits where they waited for their chance to launch a new assault.
He adjusted his grip on the Cinder's controls and took a deep breath. Maybe he was a little too pessimistic. They possibly needed to celebrate the small victories, so why not let them take a deep breath and enjoy it while it lasted?
There was nothing else to say. He was in the fight with them.
The cheering stopped when they saw those who had retreated vanish quickly into the tree line. They were immediately replaced by another line that displayed none of the same scorch marks or battered armor plates that had been present on those that had withdrawn. The group sobered quickly, celebration already forgotten in the need to prepare to face the next wave.
No orders were incoming, which meant they had no choice but to simply fall back to their previous defensive positions and start the combat all over again from the beginning.
"Do you think the buildings will be safe?" one of his comrades asked. The man also piloted a Cinder and they moved inside together and out of sight.
"There’s nothing we can do except trust that the plan will work again," Cameron replied. He used the wait to make sure his shotgun and flamethrower still had enough in them to face another wave of attackers. "Hammerhand said they would not attack the buildings and we have to believe him."
"Incoming!"
The airborne screaming started again but this time, it sounded closer and more intense. He covered his ears and ducked instinctively, even though he knew the rockets would streak overhead.
To his horror, his assumption proved incorrect. The earth shuddered powerfully, the strike too close for them to have fired at a point beyond Auburn.
"I stand corrected," he said and braced against a wave of shaking as another barrage of screamers assailed their ears. The building around them rumbled and cracks appeared in the concrete foundation when another strike made impact even closer than the previous ones.
It was followed almost immediately by a third.
The building began to crumble and something pounded into his chest to hurl the Cinder on its back as the structure collapsed onto him.
They no longer held back on the buildings. The Raptors had come in closer to the town and established their positions. Jessica13 could barely make them out in the flares that were continually fired into the darkness.
They were mostly shadows, but even those were impossible to mistake for any other kind of mech. She grasped her rifle and frowned at the enemy groups that now advanced on the town while more of the shrieking missiles careened overhead. This time, they were aimed into the buildings where the Knights and rebels took cover.
The enemy had clearly lost patience with the resistance they had encountered and intended to level the town in order to destroy them.
"Shit. Hammerhand needs to know about this," she said and tried to turn the radio on again.
Mini appeared on her HUD. "It would seem he's more than intelligent enough to know what the current situation is and is also spreading the word among the rest of the fighters."
"Fuck."
The new mechs that pushed forward initially marched in formation, but from the moment they reached the range of the jammer, they separated into smaller groups. Assault mechs formed up quickly around the support mechs. The heavier mechs—Guardians for the most part, although she could make out a couple of Argonauts—held back and fired from a distance.
"We need to change our tactics now," Jessica13 snapped. "It's only a matter of time before they hit this building and our jammer is history."
"That might be moot." Mini highlighted a handful of the squads that had begun their assault on the town. "They appear to have found low-tech forms of communication of their own."
Sure enough, when he zoomed the imaging in, lights flashed between the squad leaders. They flickered quickly and with good effect to guide each other through the fire and rubble-covered streets in a hunt for those who had survived the bombardment. From that point, it was mostly a massacre, although she could see that Hammerhand had already gathered most of the survivors and fighters and begun to coordinate a counterattack.
"We've lost the element of surprise and the advantage that came from not letting them use comms. What do you think we have to fight back with?"
"Hammerhand?"
"And they still have Athena, who hasn't been involved in the combat so far."
"That is a good point."
Jessica13 peered down her scope again and studied the troops moving forward. They held their formation as they pushed into the openings the bombing created for them. Their lights blinked at the Argonauts and Guardians, who likely communicated with the Raptors in turn, who continued to launch the airborne strikes into the structures around her. The building she was on began to shake.
"I think we need to get out of here," Mini suggested.
She tensed, unwilling to relinquish her position. The AI was right, but there wasn’t a reason to move yet. While Athena's mechs had found a way to communicate, it was rudimentary and used the old Morse codes, which delayed them.
By seconds only, she acknowledged, but it was still a delay that would buy Hammerhand much-needed time to prepare his counterattack.
"Jessica13, I must suggest that you make your way off this rooftop immediately."
"Not yet," she snapped and raised her rifle. The squads were still moving forward, but she had noticed that only one member of each flashed the lights that communicated between them. She zoomed in on one of them. The mechs themselves appeared to be the same models she had worked on her whole life, but the heavier armor around the midsection and shoulders meant she needed to place her shots more carefully than before.
She pulled the trigger and identified the telltale signs that the pilot was dead and the AI had taken the controls. An AI couldn't send messages, though.
"Jessica13, we need to get off this roof now!"
Whether it was because this was the first time Mini had ever raised his voice at her—if only by raising the volume of the internal speakers—or because the sound of the screamers was now perilously close, she quickly surrendered control of the mech to the AI.
He was quick to act, strapped the rifle to their back, and immediately launched the grappler to embed it in the building across the street.
As they were dragged over the edge of the rooftop, she looked over her shoulder. Missiles pounded into their previous position. Perhaps they had identified where the jammer was or maybe seen where her shooting had come from, but the strikes were too accurate for it to have been a random assault.
The impact of the high explosives thumped into her back as they hurtled to the other side of the street. The shockwave threw them faster than the grappler could pull them in, and she braced herself for the impact with the building.
They punched through the thin walls almost without effort, and the Minato fell through the floor as well to land heavily about three floors down from where they had intended to be.
Her chest had difficulty dragging breath in, and the dust and smoke around them made the blaring alarms in the cockpit that much more obvious.
"Shit… Mini, are you still there?"
"I am here, Jessica13." The AI's voice was back to normal volume and as soothing as ever. "Are you all right?"
"I might have bruises or nicks, but I should be fine."
"My diagnostics tell me that you have pulled a handful of muscles in your back. I would recommend stretching to relieve eventual pain."
"Maybe later. For now, we need to get the hell out of here."
"Agreed. I would suggest using one of the windows?"
Jessica13 had no better ideas and besides, the last time she tried to get creative, she'd almost got them blown up.
"This is your show, Mini."
"Affirmative."
He still had control of the mech, and after a few corrections were made to the electronics, they were on the move again. She braced herself as the Minato pushed out of one of the nearest windows, almost removed the whole frame, and launched the grappler to the top of the building which allowed them to climb down smoothly.
Speed was of the essence, as one of the squads already advanced on their position.
"Jessie, are you there?"
Tinker's voice spoke through the comms.
"I'm here. Still alive for the most part. I guess the jammer is down."
"We were worried when we saw them target your position and the comms came back a few seconds after that. Head on back. We've created barriers and defensive positions for the rest of the Knights and rebels to rally behind. Get back here now!"
"I'm on my way." She cut the connection instantly to be sure that none of Athena's fighters could key in on their commlink and trace her.
Even so, the same squad she’d seen earlier was now even closer and despite the fire, smoke, and dust kicked up, they saw her quickly.
"I suppose their comms are back too." Jessica13 hissed through clenched teeth as she took control of the right arm and drew the rifle from where it was held magnetically. She’d felt a definite twinge of pain in her back with the movement.
There were four of them, she realized as she studied them quickly. Three assault mechs worked together like they had done so forever. They circled and checked corners to make sure no one else was in this part of the town. At the same time, they tried to maintain formation as they advanced and all remained tightly positioned around what looked like a Watson. It carried two crates, ready to resupply them when they needed it.
"What are you thinking, Jessica13?"
"I think we need to get out of here as quickly as possible."
There wasn't any other option. They wouldn’t fare well against three assault mechs, and that was assuming others wouldn't be drawn in by the shooting and decide to join the fight. They needed to return to the fortifications Tinker had told her about.
But still, there was something to be said for slowing the bastards if she could.
She looked down the scope as Mini turned the Minato and pulled the trigger. The round struck low and hammered into the hydraulic junction on the knee of the Lancer at the head of their squad. It almost doubled over, tried to right itself, and as hydraulic fluid began to spray from the hole, settled slowly on the ground.
The other in the group took a moment to make sure their comrade was all right before they trained their rifles on the position Jessica13 and Mini attempted to move away from.
"Any time now, Mini!" she shouted. While she didn’t want to sound annoying, she also knew their shooting wouldn’t create a defensive area around the Minato for long. She fired another shot but this one ricocheted off one of the armor plates on another of the Lancers.
Mini pulled back, the grappler still attached to the building, and she finally realized what he was doing. A crack appeared in the concrete of the wall above them and the Minato strained for a moment before a massive chunk fell free. He immediately disengaged the dart from it.
The wall tumbled to land with a massive thump on top of the enemy squad and generate another cloud of dust.
It was likely not enough to kill all of them but certainly enough to slow them down.
The mech pivoted in place before it twisted and altered its shape until they were on all fours. The AI needed no adjustment period and raced them away from the other squads that had begun to converge on the position of those buried by a wall.
The inertia dampeners in the Minato were still not quite in perfect shape, and Jessica13 needed to hold on tightly to avoid feeling every jolt and bump that resulted from their headlong race across the town. Mini hurdled or dodged the chunks of building and mechs that still littered the roads and made it difficult to navigate but certainly not impossible.
It wasn't long before she could see the barriers that were already being thrown up to slow the advancing forces as well as to provide the Knights and rebels with some cover.
Of course, that barrier would do little to no good once the Raptors and Quadrupeds came into firing distance. It was a delaying tactic, at best.
Hammerhand gestured for more to be erected as they set their defenses up in a tighter formation to block access points and build more traps with what remained of the explosives they had.
At the center of it all stood the Beast, which was apparently their last line of defense.
Mini skidded closer to the blockade and proceeded to vault up the rubble until they were finally over it.
Tinker saw her immediately and rambled over to where the AI brought them into a bipedal stance.
"Jessie, it's damn good to see you alive and well."
"Right back at you, old man. What's happening here? What did I miss?"
"The bombardment forced the rest of our people out of range, but now that the comms are working again, their artillery won’t hold to the perimeter anymore."
"Do we have any plans for when they do come into firing range?"
"Well, we could always run the fuck away, but—"
Hammerhand marched to where they stood and the heavy steps of the Excalibur shook the earth beneath it. "We will make our stand here. I've promised this town and this world every ounce of goodness, sanity, and brotherhood I can give it. Keeping that promise is the hill I will die on."
Tinker turned to face the larger mech, and Jessica13 didn't have to see his face to know he was angry. Even in a mech, it was all about body language, and his body language screamed all kinds of pissed-off.
"What about us, Hammerhand? Have you thought about that? Will you have the rest of your Knights and the people of Auburn die on that hill of yours too?"
"My guess is that the hill is a metaphor and not a literal hill?" Jessica13 asked privately for only Mini to hear her.
"That is correct. It refers to the military strategy of finding high ground or an equally defensive position and being prepared to give it up only once you are dead."
"Understood."
"Every one of these men and women is willing to fight for what they know is right," Hammerhand continued.
"They fight for you and believe in you because they trust that you, as their commander, will make the right choice for their sake. And in this case, the right choice is to get the fuck out!"
The disagreement was cut off when the alarm was raised by those who acted as sentries to watch for their enemy’s advance.
"We will talk about this later." Hammerhand was quick to turn away and he marched toward the front lines, hefted his hammer, and rested it on his shoulder.
"Damn fucking right we will, and if we die, you can be sure that I'll hound your ghost for answers, you hulking shit-ton of useless fucking scrap metal!"
The other man either didn't hear Tinker still shouting at him or didn't deign to respond as both returned to the front of the combat lines.
The opposing squads had now begun a forward push and in the distance, the artillery mechs started to close as well when they realized the Knights had fortified their positions once more. Jessica13 had never thought it would be an easy fight, but at this point, surviving felt like a dream that seemed to slide farther and farther away from a very harsh reality.
The sense of impending doom strengthened when her gaze settled on something larger than the Guardians and Argonauts that moved closer. The flapping cape on the mech's shoulders and the spear in its hands told her that the most dangerous of their enemies now approached as if she had smelled blood in the water.
Athena strode forward and lightning crackled brightly from her spear as she advanced and motioned for the other mechs to follow her lead.
"Let's get this started," Jessica13 muttered, tightened her grasp on her rifle, and checked to make sure she had enough ammo for their last stand.
Chapter Forty
Not that anyone had expected them to, of course. They had fought against Lady Hoot and done better than anyone could have thought they would, given the circumstances, but the end was approaching and it was time for them to accept it.
This didn’t mean that anyone had to accept living under the woman's boot any longer. But Auburn wasn't the only place for them to live, and as the fighting began to escalate inside the town, there was no place for women, children, the sick, or the elderly. They wouldn’t be able to help in the fight either.
Even the mighty Hammerhand had agreed and those who were able to prepared for a final attack, which would hopefully prove enough of a distraction for the rest to make their escape.
It was the only kind of hope someone like Karina could dream of. Surviving an onslaught like this was likely not in her future, not if she stayed and fought. She had helped them set the traps up and even carried barrels of fertilizer to where they would be used to blow up the buildings that had been their homes and places of work only days before.
They had all been swept into this fight by the Knights Mechanica, but in this moment, it was best to simply call the end of their ability to help. The Knights and those capable and willing to fight would remain, and everyone else scrambled into what vehicles they had available and headed out on the other side of town. The enemy had bombarded the area but rather than hinder them, the smoke and fires would only help to cover their retreat better.
A handful of mechs were directed to help them, mostly selected from those that had been salvaged from among Lady Hoot's fallen. They were damaged and some were still stained with the blood from their previous pilots, but it was hopefully better than no escort.
No one could honestly say it was a pleasant situation but heading away from the shooting and explosions was something Karina appreciated, especially with the little one on the way.
The ATV continued to move over the bumpy roads that led away from Auburn. They moved quickly, but there was nothing that would make the vehicle comfortable. She and the other ten Auburn citizens were strapped into narrow, hard seats. The rest of the space was dedicated to giving the driver enough space to operate and the couple of assault mechs that rode with them enough room to fight should anyone be sent to pursue them.
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