They stood in a large, circular room surrounded by a huge, single-paned window that gave it a full view of the city below.
Below the window and in a single line, a vast array of different digital and analog controls followed the entire circular wall. The center of the room was the most interesting, as a handful of panels connected to controls that were directed into the antenna in the spire.
About a dozen men and women in white coats were busy there, all surprised to see the small mech suddenly appear in their workspace. None of them were armed and they seemed unsure of what to do.
Jessica13 had a few ideas. "Get the fuck out of here or I'll drag you out. Choose now!"
They still looked a little confused.
"Now, dammit—now!"
The shout snapped them out of their shock and they sprinted toward the door, where they wisely avoided Robert7 as he made his way into the room.
She climbed out of the hatch of the Minato, stiff from being knocked around in the cockpit.
"You're a little terrifying, do you know that?" the pilot pointed out as they moved toward the central panels.
"Mini did most of the work."
"Well, yes, I was referring to your mech's AI, but you have much the same effect too."
She couldn't help a small smirk as they situated themselves in front of the controls.
Most of the time, machines and controls simply spoke to her. There was always something about them that made it easy for her to interact with them, but these controls were different. Nothing about them seemed familiar and even the readings displayed on the screens around her felt completely foreign.
"Shit," she muttered before one particular control caught her eye. It certainly stood out. A switch flanked by two marble angels had that kind of effect. She approached it and after a moment of hesitation, pulled the switch down.
Unfortunately, nothing happened.
"No, not that one," Robert7 said and waved her toward one of the smaller panels. Only a few screens were connected to it and the board held three switches.
He flicked all three at the same time. "There we go."
"Are you sure?"
"Fairly."
Jessica13 sighed, having expected something a little more emphatic. Her gaze drifted to the angel-flanked switch. "I wonder what that one did."
Chapter Eighty-Two
“Mommy, Mommy—the world is ending! The world is ending!”
The mother looked up from her work and wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. It was an uncommon claim, but a child’s fanciful thoughts didn’t lend themselves to common occurrences.
A loud, metallic groan from above made her drop the steel pail of water she had carried and her gaze turned to the ceiling. She froze when she registered movement up there.
Massive gears turned in a mechanism that had rusted with age. They resisted every cycle forced by the machine but continued to move anyway. The entire contraption shuddered and shook, but there was nothing to prevent or hinder what was to come.
Large steel cords were suddenly strained, tugged, and pulled as the gears continued to turn. Some of them broke and whipped wildly under the pressure as the wheels moved. Redundancies kicked in and the cavernous chamber was filled with the noise of centuries-old machinery being awoken and set to task.
The gears began to throw sparks as they were driven against the rust that had set in. They spun slowly and worked what had settled on them loose to jettison it all in a shower of dust that poured over everything below.
People screamed, dropped whatever they had in their hands, and hastily took cover in the nearest buildings to avoid the apparent mayhem around them.
Suddenly, a crack appeared in the ceiling. The nuclear lamps that had acted as their sun for so long extinguished and descended to where they had been recalled into a night phase prematurely.
The darkness that filled the cavern was almost palpable as the sound of thousands of voices rose in terror greeted the inevitable. Nothing could halt the inexorable outcome. The world was ending.
While those trapped tried to come to terms with their imminent demise, a light appeared. At first, it was only a single beam with a blueish sheen that cut through the darkness like a knife and illuminated the ground like a spotlight. A few other sources were soon dotted around it, although none were quite so intense as the singular orb that floated over the ceiling of the cavern.
No, not on the ceiling—far, far above it. A disk of blue light was revealed as the ceiling itself was drawn away. The gears began to spin faster now. The rust had been removed and oil was pumped in automatically so everything worked in unison. Every gaze turned to see their world change rather than end.
It looked like a flower suddenly in bloom being drawn up and away from above them to slowly display more and more of the sky above. The moon—yes, that was the name on everyone’s lips. They’d all read the instructional texts of the world above.
Thousands of stars were spread across the sky in tiny yet iridescent pinpoints of pure light. They glimmered against the velvet backdrop and made the darkness a little less dark and even then, it only seemed to emphasize the majesty of what was revealed above them.
“No…not ending,” the mother murmured in awe and gathered her child in her arms. “Not ending, I hope.”
“What’s happening, Mommy?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know, dearest.”
Chapter Eighty-Three
Most of the surviving Knights were now mounted in the captured prison mechs. There had been a small warehouse full of them, so their numbers were bolstered by a group of prisoners who wanted to be involved in the fighting too.
Hammerhand still felt a little naked without his Excalibur. The inability to deploy a shield to cover his people and sweep around it with his hammer was annoying, but for the moment, he was happy to be inside a mech and have the chance to carve out his own destiny. He would search for his mech again once the battle was over.
They wouldn't have destroyed it, right?
Suddenly, as the Knights and their new recruits gathered in the prison yards, the floor of the entire structure began to shudder. Loud, metallic groaning and rumbling echoed through the cavern and deafened the whole team to the point where conversation was impossible.
Something was changing around them, although he couldn't quite make out what it was.
"Is it an earthquake?" Windchime asked from where he had used the quiet moment to adjust to his new mech.
"I don't think so," Hammerhand said with a small smile as the cavern began to open slowly. "I think Jessie came through for us. Not that I ever doubted her."
It was an interesting view, and as much as he wanted to continue to watch and study the handiwork that had gone into making the city work, the loud rumble was quickly replaced by the unmistakable sound of a firefight. Loud booms from cannons, repetitive cracks of smaller gunfire, explosions, and other signs of fighting seemed located not far from them.
If that wasn’t the Prophet, he would give up piloting his Excalibur for the rest of time. He turned to address the group assembled. They weren't all Knights and they weren't all in mechs, as some of the prisoners had taken possession of the weapons the guards had carried.
"Knights Mechanica!" he roared through the external speakers of his mech. "To me! The time has come to prove your valor, your mettle, and your worth. This battle will define our legacies and show the world that there is still goodness and brotherhood left in it. For our brothers, we will not fail in this fight. For Tinker, we will show that his death was not in vain. Unto the breach once more, my brothers!"
The Knights, whether they had been among the ranks before or not, roared and rushed through the streets of the city toward the battle. He was at the front and ached to get into combat. Playing at chipping away at the inside of their enemies was all well and good but getting out into the open and into a real battle felt right.
They soon reached the area where a fight was in progress. A gate had
been opened and a group of Quadrupeds, painted black, had locked together and formed what appeared to be a shield wall to repel an outside attack that was still ongoing. He raised his assault rifle as he had identified that four smaller mechs—two assault mechs and two Guardians—held the back line.
They opened fire in an attempt to slow the advance of the Knights who attacked their rear ranks. Hammerhand wove his mech forward and tried to keep it in motion while making its movements difficult to predict. A couple of rounds impacted and three of his Knights faltered in their charge, but the rest remained undaunted.
The four were no match for the dozens that suddenly swarmed their position, and a hail of bullets brought the two Assault mechs down. The Guardians tried to back away to find cover among their heavily armored comrades, but one lost control of its left leg. The hydraulics had been compromised, and he reached it first. The vibrosword had never been one of his favorite weapons, but it was more than effective to hack through the armor and into the Guardian that attempted to pull back.
The Quadrupeds tried to turn to engage the new threat, but it was painfully apparent that while they had been adequately set up to stop any attacks from the front, they were unprepared to deal with those coming in from behind them. They were all locked into position and therefore unable to move unless the entire shield wall turned.
They began to disengage the interconnected barriers and a couple managed to maneuver somewhat awkwardly to face the new enemy, but there was little point to it. The gaps in their shields were suddenly swamped by those who had attacked from the outside, while the Knights, wielding the weapons they had allocated from the reserve held by the prison guard, began to operate as a unit to pull them down.
It was a slow process, as the massive cannons the Quadrupeds carried were still dangerous. A couple of the prisoners were caught in the fire while the Knights continued to press them.
"Be careful, you sons of bitches!" Hammerhand roared through the comms. "There is no point in rushing in when we can wear them down. I'll personally murder the next dumbass who gets himself killed because he’s in too much of a rush."
They did as they were ordered, even the newcomers, and advanced but acted carefully to simply feint at the edges of the larger mechs until an opening was found. The Desert Warriors were more reckless, and he could see why. Without a doubt, they had taken severe losses by engaging the heavily fortified enemy and now looked for revenge. They demolished the mechs and hauled the pilots out, kicking and screaming, and tossed them aside.
He couldn't say he approved but at least the pilots were left alive, captured quickly, and bound to be dealt with later.
The last of the Quadrupeds—five of the sixteen had survived the dual-pronged onslaught—dropped their weapons. They had no way to raise their hands to indicate surrender, but the pilots climbed out slowly to show that they had no further desire to continue the fight.
Hammerhand paused for a moment and let the adrenaline from the battle continue to wash over him.
They'd won? How the hell did that happen?
He looked around at the mechs that milled around the entrance and realized they were as shocked as he was. Somehow, even with all their efforts and planning, the concept that they might survive this had never settled in as a definite possibility.
In a battle, that kind of thinking didn't come to the fore until the end.
A familiar if heavily battered Argonaut marched through the group toward him and he opened the hatch to his mech and climbed out.
It came to a halt in front of him and after a few seconds, the cockpit opened to reveal an even more familiar face as the pilot scrambled out to greet him.
"I bet you didn't think you'd see us again, eh?" Hammerhand asked with a small smirk and an extended hand as the Prophet approached him.
"No, and I'll concede that your timely help came as a surprise," the other man admitted, ignored the hand, and moved closer to embrace him instead. "But I did not think nature would allow for an imbalance to exist between us, my friend."
The Knights’ leader stiffened at the hug but returned it awkwardly before both men parted again. "I'm fucking glad to see you survived those tunnels."
"And the same to you. Not that I ever doubted your ability to survive the impossible, but—"
"You did doubt. That's understandable. I had some of my own."
"It’s good to see them thoroughly expunged, then."
The conversation ceased when the rumbling above them finally registered again and this time, they were able to take time to see the effects. Slivers of the cavern's ceiling had opened and peeled out to slowly reveal the sky above.
Hammerhand couldn't help but stare at the slightly cloudy sky peppered with stars and with a hint of gray to suggest that morning wasn't too far away.
At the far right, a blimp moved slowly in the wind and fought to turn.
"What—"
"It is best not to ask until we have time to explain in detail, my friend. And there are a great many details to share. For now, let us enjoy the first sunrise this city has seen in its entire history, most likely.”
He nodded. “That sounds like a good idea.”
Chapter Eighty-Four
There would have been a time when she would have paused to marvel at the gorgeous sight of the sun rising in the east. It cast a bright red hue across the sky as it slid above the horizon. If one paid heed to the old proverbs, it would probably rain.
Today, however, she had no time for it. The sight of the petals opening from the spire to expose FEMA City told of a story that would not have a happy ending for her if she remained.
Athena climbed into her Excalibur and activated it as quickly as she could. She even took the chance to push all the startup engines into a red line to make sure they wouldn’t remain for longer than was necessary.
Her raiders were woken by the noise, and when they realized that their leader was mounted up, moved quickly to enter their assorted mechs and vehicles. They had been with her long enough to know that when she was raring to go, she wouldn’t wait for anyone.
"Fucking asshole," she muttered when she finally brought the Excalibur online. "If he'd only taken to the knife, he would have saved all of us a whole ass-load of trouble. But what does he do instead? Throw a fucking coup!"
"Oy!” one of the FEMA City guards shouted when he saw the raiders mounting up. "Where the fuck do you think you're going? We're to stay here until further orders."
There were only five of them assigned to oversee the raiders and report to their superiors in the city. It was adorable that they thought the orders meant anything at this point.
"We're leaving," she announced loudly and clearly. "No one will give you orders anymore, so if you want to come along, you'd better pick up your step."
"We won’t go anywhere until there's confirm—"
His voice cut off quickly when Athena charged her spear and stepped closer. She thrust her hand forward to drive the weapon through the cockpit, ruin the mech, and kill the man inside.
She stepped away, yanked the spear out, and spun it to catch a second mech that rushed to help his comrade. The tap alone wouldn't have done much damage, but the electrical charge the spear shaft carried was more than enough to overcome the isolators of the Lancer and fry all the circuits inside as well as the pilot.
The rest of the FEMA City mechs froze in place, cognizant of their vulnerable position as the raiders were all mounted, armed, and ready to fight at the behest of their leader.
"Come or stay, I don't give a shit which," Athena snapped. "But if you come between me and where I want to go, you're dead—understood?"
It was an easy decision. They all knew that, against all odds, the city had fallen and they wouldn’t be accepted with open arms. The three remaining men quickly joined ranks with the raiders and the group headed west, away from the city and into the grasslands.
The entranced look in the eyes of every single citizen as they opened their windows to look at
the sun for the first time was awesome to witness. Jessica13 remembered feeling the same way when she had seen her first sunset, and it was a feeling that would never fade. It was funny how being trapped inside for one’s entire life made one appreciate the Outside so much more.
She was settled on a small seat beside the Minato. There was something final about watching the petals open to reveal the sky, but there was still considerable work to be done. The Knights and the Desert Warriors had their work cut out for them to isolate the last few pockets of resistance and make sure no further skirmishes would break out. Peace was the idea, and it was long past time that the FEMA City assholes accepted that.
There seemed little that she could do at this point, though. Most of the work was carried out by the assault mechs that could actually bully other assault mechs into compliance, which left her with little to do until Hammerhand found something that needed repair.
Likely his Excalibur, if and when he ever recovered it.
In the meantime, though, she was content to go through the repairs the Minato so desperately needed. Even so, speakers across the city called for all FEMA City soldiers and fighters to surrender and turn their weapons over, mechanized or not, to the Knights Mechanica for appropriation. He was very insistent that while this was most definitely a coup, it was done so the people of the city could decide who they would have governing them.
An election was in the works too.
"I guess that's what the switch did," Mini commented as she pulled the back panels open. “What are you doing there?"
"I want to try to find that damn inertia dampener. This is the last damn time that I'll nurse bruises from being knocked around in the cockpit all day long."
"Follow the red wiring until you reach a small control panel. It'll light up."
Jessica13 grunted. "Thanks. I would have found it myself, you know."
"Clearly, but efficiency is the idea, is it not?"
Bulletfoot One Page 72
