Bulletfoot One
Page 55
Hammerhand nodded but hesitated for a moment to wait for Tinker to add his input as well, but all the older man could offer was another nod.
"It is a good plan," the Knights’ leader stated firmly. "And a good step toward solidifying peace in the area. We are in agreement."
The Prophet clapped briskly. "Most wonderful. Most wonderful indeed! We should like to begin planning this immediately. You cannot wait for the rain to fall on the desert but must bring the water yourself, as they say."
Jessica13 didn't know who had said that, but it did make some sense to not wait for the rain to fall but rather to dig for another source.
Of course, in this particular case, they appeared to know where the water was. It would merely be difficult to dig.
She wasn't sure how the metaphor held up from that point forward.
The whole group stood from where they were settled on the red velvet cushions. Hammerhand stretched, clearly not used to sitting in that position. The Prophet and Levi both appeared more comfortable and shook hands with each other.
Once Hammerhand was finished, he turned to Tinker and the two quickly began to discuss logistics, almost as if they’d forgotten that Jessica13 was there with them. It wasn't like she had really contributed to the battle plan, anyway.
The word had already spread by the time they reached the other Knights. News that they had found a way to go on the offensive—which was what they had hoped for from the beginning—generated a sense of renewed purpose. The Beast needed to be prepared for the battles ahead, and Jessica13 joined her teammates as they worked to get everything ready. Most of their equipment had been pulled out for easy access during the battle. A great deal of it had been used, as well, and had to be replenished from what could be recovered from the battlefield.
She knew they would probably head into the toughest fight of their lives, which included the two they'd fought over the fate of Auburn. But she had to be honest, sticking around after a battle to clean up and help rebuild did not appeal to her at all. It felt too much like looking the consequences of what had happened in the eye—like they stared at the death and destruction they had faced and even caused and somehow tried to find a way to make it all better.
At least when they were moving again, she could put this all behind her. Unlike the people of Auburn, she would not be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor once everything was rebuilt.
"Jessie, a word?"
A little surprised, she turned quickly to where Hammerhand stood behind her mech. His Excalibur had been left where Tinker and some of the others now fussed over it, and the man seemed a little reduced without it. Of course, an Excalibur was something to see in action, and it was easy to forget that the man inside was, in fact, a man. He was lean, tall, and shaved to his skin to prevent any gunk from getting in the processors, but still a man.
"Sure," she replied and climbed out of her Minato to face him. He was still taller than she was to the point where she had to crane her neck to look at him.
"We discussed the logistics of the attacks that will be required and considered the nature of the fight ahead to determine if all the Knights would be able to hold their own or if some should remain here."
His low tone of voice and the slow, deliberate way in which he spoke said all that needed to be said. Jessica13 couldn't help a small scowl at the man but quickly removed the resentment and irritation from her expression. She might not like it, but he was the leader of the Knights. He could have simply ordered her to stay behind. At least he had taken the time to explain the decision to her, although it appeared as though he wished he didn't need to.
She steeled herself, straightened her back, and tried not to let the disappointment she felt show. "You’ve decided that I'll stay behind."
Hammerhand clenched his jaw. "The Minato is a fantastic mech, to be sure, but we face combat situations where the style of hit and run we are accustomed to might not play out as well as it usually does. Tighter confines underground and in the bunkers mean that you will not be able to move out of hostile situations as quickly as you might out in the open. Not only that, you do not have either the experience or the weapons to protect yourself."
That made sense. It still didn't help the sting, though, but once again, she tried to keep any of that from playing on her face.
"In the meantime," he continued, “your time in Auburn should not be seen as having no value. It will mean a great deal to me that you will remain in Auburn and continue with the mission of rebuilding their homes and their lives."
She had nothing else to say, and it seemed he didn't either. Neither appeared to be any good at this kind of tense situation and after a few seconds during which he simply stood silently in front of her, Hammerhand spun away and returned to his mech.
He'd done his best, at least. She breathed in and released it slowly in an effort to settle the rampant urge to scream before she climbed into the Minato again.
"I'm sorry," Mini said, having heard everything.
"There’s nothing to be sorry about."
A few seconds ticked past while Jessica13 got herself situated.
"He did make a good point. The Minato is best equipped for a battle out in the open where its mobility will give it an edge. That advantage is removed when in the tight confines of tunnels and bunkers."
"I know. I know he's right." She looked at the HUD and ran a couple of system diagnostics before she put them in motion to join one of the work parties and begin her task in Auburn. "It still sucks, though, especially since I’m the only one."
"Indeed it does."
Chapter Forty-Five
"It's not that I like being out there in the action," Jessica13 said. "I'm not a violent person when it comes down to it, and I'm not the kind to get into altercations on my own. You know that, right?"
Mini added a thumbs-up to the HUD.
"It's only… I want to feel like I'm contributing and pulling my weight with the Knights. It's not that I wanted to be a fighter or a champion like Hammerhand is. I only wanted to head out and be free here in the Outside."
"On that we have to disagree."
She paused in her work of clearing rubble from the road. "What are you talking about? You know me better than anyone else and you have to know that all I really wanted was the freedom the Outside provided."
"I will not deny that freedom to do as you will plays a large part in who you are. But, if you will recall, one of your first actions once outside the confines of Sanctuary was to go and help people who were in need. And when they needed more help, you went out of your way to provide it. That included putting yourself in danger to find Hammerhand and bring him to aid those you couldn't help yourself."
Almost absently, she noted that the AI core ran a little hotter than usual, which was what usually happened when Mini considered human behavior.
Or her behavior, in this particular case.
"Well…I couldn't leave them out there without any help. They had lost their home and there were children who would have died if I didn't help. How could I not at least do my best to help them rebuild? Kind of like what we're doing here."
"Calculations picked up from the database tell me that the average response to seeing the bunker smoking as it was would have been to turn and walk away. The second most likely action would have been to loot whatever you could and kill those who stopped you. Helping people would have come in as a very distant third."
Jessica13 scowled. Was it too much to ask that people stop making excellent points when all she wanted to do was sulk at not being called in to help the Knights in something that felt more relevant than putting Auburn together again?
Maybe it was. Mini only wanted to help, not unlike she did, and to the AI, that meant pointing out that she liked to help people.
A small alarm emitted inside the cockpit to cut her sulk off and she looked around.
"What the fuck was that?"
"An alert."
"No shit. What kind of alert?"
They turned the mech toward the section where the explosives had collapsed buildings on top of the invading forces. Or maybe that was the section that had been demolished when FEMA's artillery shelled the town. If she had been outside the Minato, it would have been fairly easy to distinguish.
The fertilizer that had been used for the explosives left the smell of manure hanging over the area.
But, reluctant to expose herself to the possible stench or any falling debris, she was relieved that she was still in the Minato and intended to remain in the mech. They clambered over the rubble and wreckage around them while Mini called up a couple of programs that would help them clear it and hopefully not injure the person beneath. The delicate nature of the operation forced them to move a little slower than they had before.
As they inched deeper into the fallen building, it became more and more apparent that the structure had been brought down by the fertilizer bombs. The presence of the pale white and grey mechs was telling of exactly who they might find still alive under there.
"How could someone survive having a building dropped on them?" Jessica13 asked, more wondering aloud than actually asking Mini to tell her.
But she also liked it when he went through the process of educating her. "The chances are infinitesimal, although they depend on a number of variables, but they are there. Besides, someone in a mech does stand a better chance than someone without."
It wasn't necessarily comforting to hear, and as they dragged one of the mechs away, the auditory receptors on the Minato picked up a human voice.
Another couple of layers of rocks needed to be removed before they located the source. A man covered in dirt, grime, and soot, coughed when her actions raised a cloud of dust.
He had already managed to climb out of his ruined mech and begun the process of digging himself out. The movement had likely been what had triggered the sensors on her mech.
"It would seem the survivor is one of Athena's men." Mini had a knack for pointing out the obvious. "Or, should I say, attackers from FEMA City?"
"So it would appear, yes."
She honestly didn't know what to do. A small, angry part of her insisted that she simply leave the man to his fate. The chances were that no one would be around this part of town for a while, and his injuries would make sure he didn't last very long.
The solution was enticingly simple. She didn't even need to do anything herself except turn and walk away from him.
The man looked at her, his demeanor tense and frustrated like he was ready for her to simply trample him. He held a rifle in his hand and struggled to pull it up to aim at her. It was made to be carried by a mech and he would have had difficulty lifting it even if he were in perfect health.
He was afraid, that much was obvious. Now that the cloud of dust had dissipated, she registered that he wasn't much older than she was or maybe had one of those younger-looking faces.
"Not a step closer," he shouted, coughed, and dragged one hand across his mouth. "Not another step or I'll blast you in half."
Jessica13 sighed and shook her head. "I will regret this, I know I will."
"You're going to help him, aren't you?"
She didn't reply, not in so many words anyway. Mini did know her rather well, there was no denying that. And she wouldn’t cold-bloodedly kill a wounded man. She retrieved the first aid kit from her cockpit and opened the hatch, climbed out of the mech, and approached the man.
"Stay…stay back. I mean it!"
"It's only the two of us here.” She snorted and tried not to laugh. “You don't need to pretend you could even lift that cannon, much less reach the trigger in your condition."
He looked at her and tugged resolutely at the rifle a few more times before he gave up. "Why are you…. What are you doing?"
In response, she merely snorted again as she removed a few chunks of rubble before she dragged him clear of the fallen mech.
"The battle's over. What's your name?"
He said nothing as she propped him up against one of the mechs and inspected his injuries. She wasn't a doctor, of course, but he didn't appear to have any internal bleeding. Bruises and cuts were visible almost everywhere, but nothing appeared to be life-threatening.
At least, not immediately.
She took padding from the pouch, together with the cleaning agent, and set to work on the cuts on his shoulders.
"Robert7."
She looked up. "Hmm?"
"My name. It's Robert7."
It seemed like an odd time to tell her what his name was, but at least it meant he’d moved past the need to threaten to blast her in half.
"Nice to meet you, Robert7. I'm Jessica13, by the way."
"You're…not one of the town people."
"What gave it away?"
"Well, they don't use our name-numbering system, for instance. How old are you?"
"Not that much younger than you are." She finished with the cleaning and applied the bandages. While she had attended a few classes on how to help people who had been injured, it certainly hadn't been her strong suit. Still, cleaning and bandaging were fairly instinctive. She paused in her efforts to remove a few small pieces of rock and gravel from one of the wounds and Robert7 gritted his teeth while his breathing became a little heavier.
"Well, still, it seems like a battlefield isn't the place for you," he said once she resumed her ministrations.
"It seems like even less of a place for you, Robert7. Besides, the battle is over and people are talking about a lasting peace in this area, which means you have no reason to threaten me with that rifle you can't even lift. Now please, stop squirming and stay still while I bandage you."
"I'm sorry, but it hurts."
"It'll hurt more if any of the injuries get infected," she snapped in response and covered the last of the cuts she could see.
"I…I don't understand. I mean…okay, the fighting is over, but why would you help me? Not that long ago, we were fighting each other. How…how long ago was it?"
"A couple of days now. Some folks from the desert came in and pushed your FEMA asses out of town. I think they didn't want to risk losing more troops here, even if they won. I merely assumed that you don't know how the battle ended and are curious as to why it's me and not one of your comrades coming to rescue you."
He nodded slowly. "Well, I guessed that when no one came looking for me after a day buried under that building."
"Speaking of that, I do remember there being lung complications from inhaling so much dust. Aside from the other injuries."
"Which means I'm still confused as to why you're spending resources to help me."
Jessica13 sighed and shrugged noncommittally. "I don't know. There's something I was told about, and I think that carries over. Like I’ve promised this world every ounce of goodness, sanity, and brotherhood I can give it. Not that it's much, but if it means treating someone in need, I guess that's how it works."
He studied her as she double-checked to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. "I guess that means I surrender to you now."
"Not that you had a choice. Now, let's see if someone can make sure you won’t die sometime today due to internal bleeding or something. Let's get you out of here."
Mini moved the Minato to where Robert7 lay and slowly pulled him up to support the man while they scrambled out.
She wasn't sure if they would find a doctor there but hopefully, they would find someone better equipped and trained than her to handle a person who was wounded.
Chapter Forty-Six
Robert7 wasn't one of the most talkative characters in the world, although Jessica13 didn't think she would have been that talkative while she was marched into the town she had failed to capture.
Of course, she wouldn't have said anything at all and FEMA's fighters probably wouldn't have bothered to take her in either.
"Where are we heading?" her captive-p
atient asked. He was perched on the Minato's back and used a couple of smaller, empty crates to give him a position to relax on as they moved through the town. It probably wasn't that comfortable but it was certainly better than being trapped as he had been with little option but to wait for help.
The people of Auburn certainly put the hours in to rebuild their home. It wasn't the kind of place she could think of as home for herself. There were too many confining walls, which she now realized had been one of the things she had left Sanctuary to avoid. Of course, it wasn't something she had thought of at the time, but after months spent in the open, she doubted that she could spend too much time in that kind of environment again.
But it was still their home. People needed something established, a haven where they could protect their children and loved ones, and she could understand that. They willingly expended the effort it required. Those who still had mechs continued to help to clear the rubble, although a couple of the ruined mechs had been repurposed and taken out into the fields, where crops were being sown to raise food to sustain the rebuilding process. Not much reconstruction would happen on empty stomachs, after all.
Others had worked to set up temporary living situations in the town center for those who had lost their homes. A few buildings still remained standing, of course, but those were already filled to capacity.
Jessica13 remembered asking why people didn’t reclaim the buildings that hadn’t been demolished, and one of the builders still in the town had explained that the attacks had weakened the structures and many were currently on the cusp of total collapse.
They didn't appear to know of any way to effectively repair them. All they could think of was to tear those down and build something else. No one seemed overly distressed about it.
Maybe it was simply preferable to living in a building that could collapse on top of them at any time of the day or night.